The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has selected Riedel Communications' Artist digital matrix intercom technology for its four new HD OB vans to be used at the FIFA World Cup. SABC is the official broadcaster of the games.
British systems integrator Sony UK, in cooperation with the South African service provider and Riedel distributor Inala Technologies, collaborated on the installation.
Weighting 30 tons, each truck features 15 HD cameras (wired for 24) and three super-slow HD cameras. Two of the units were finished by the summer of 2009 and have already been used for the broadcast of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The third truck was finished in time to do the FIFA World Cup Official Draw in December and the fourth truck was delivered in March.
All trucks feature one Artist 32 and one Artist 128 mainframe to provide the necessary intercom ports. If needed, the systems can be expanded to up to 1024 x 1024 ports in a nonblocking matrix. Both mainframes are equipped with redundant power supplies and CPU cards to provide maximum reliability.
MADI client cards integrate the Lawo mc²56 console into the intercom system. The system's digital broadcast-quality audio enables commentator audio directly via the control panels. In total, 32 Artist 1000 series rackmount and desktop control panels are installed in each of the HD OB vans.
Modules provide fiber connections for the intercom in all four trucks. The fiber modules are used to connect the intercom matrix over greater distances. This way, the trucks can form a single integrated digital intercom matrix.
Artist Connect Solo and Duo integrate POTS and ISDN telephones into the communications matrix. In addition, control panels can be remotely controlled through ISDN connections with Connect Duo interfaces expanding the flexibility further.
