Catalonia News Channel Deploys R&S PRISMON Multiviewer To Monitor IP, SDI Signals

3/24 Channel has deployed the Rohde & Schwarz R&SPRISMON multiviewer
(Image credit: Rohde & Schwarz)

BARCELONA, Spain—Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals’ (3Cat’s) 24-hour news channel 3/24 Channel has deployed the Rohde & Schwarz R&SPRISMON multiviewer to monitor uncompressed IP feeds alongside SDI and NDI signals.

A highly watched television network in Catalonia, 3Cat delivers a broad mix of content from its studios and headquarters here. The channel recently underwent a renovation and transition to HD with SMPTE ST 2110 technology alongside SDI signals, NDI and transport streams, Rohde & Schwarz said.

The R&S PRISMON architecture leverages networked servers to allow users to build up large numbers of tailored multiviewer displays. Each server can accept any mix of SDI and IP feeds, eliminating the need for external converters, saving capital costs and reducing the carbon footprint, it said.

Each feed needs to be connected to only one of the servers. The resulting mosaic tile feeds are shared across the network, simplifying the processing demand while delivering complete flexibility in displays.

Engineers can set up multiviewer displays capable of meeting the specific needs of each operator and area regardless of the source format. With R&S PRISMON, operators can monitor feeds side by side as well as audio VU meters, various tally signs, countdowns, stopwatches, clocks and warnings.

“We have a very busy technical setup, and we need a large number of different multiviewer layouts,” said 3Cat specialist engineer Marc Sanclimens. “Rohde & Schwarz was able to demonstrate how Prismon could provide all the different layouts we required from just three servers, and allow us to freely mix SDI, NDI, ST-2110 and other feeds as necessary. Like all modern broadcasters, we need to be flexible in our operations, and Prismon gives us the complete freedom we require to set up and dynamically change our monitoring.”

R&S PRISMON runs on COTS hardware and is cloud-ready. It supports Ultra HD inputs and displays, and its networked design means that in complex applications each feed only needs to be processed once. Easy to integrate into control and automation systems for live production, R&S PRISMON links directly with IP-based tally and UMD signals, the company said.

Unitecnic, a distributor and systems integrator with an office in Barcelona, installed 3Cat’s R&S PRISMON.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.