CREATION
September 2017
23
SkyPanel lights up
RTL City studios
Following the move to its
new headquarters in RTL City,
Broadcasting Centre Europe
(BCE) has installed ARRI’s
SkyPanel LED soft lights across
its three new studios housed in
the new complex.
As part of RTL Group, Luxemburg-
based Broadcasting Centre Europe
(BCE) provides media services,
systems integration and software
development for the media market,
particularly in Europe.
In April this year, BCE inau-
gurated its new headquarters in
RTL City, which comes with three
state-of-the-art studios lighted up
by ARRI LED fixtures.
Studio 1, with a grid con-
struction, is a multifunctional
production studio, mainly used
for magazine programming with
live audiences. In this studio, ARRI
deployed the first “real” Cyclorama
application of its SkyPanels with
the SkyBender. The SkyBender
is an asymmetrical reflector that
produces a uniform intensity light
field over the length of any surface,
transforming the beam by sliding
into the front of the fixture. This
accessory can be deployed for
lighting a green screen, cyclorama,
translight or backdrop while creat-
ing colour wall washes.
The second studio, or the news
studio, also utilises a grid construc-
tion and contains three sets for
live shows, while the TV or virtual
studio is the third studio at the new
BCE headquarters.
Combining a technical infra-
structure to support the production
of more than 30 TV channels and
various radio stations, BCE also
decided to minimise its carbon
footprint by equipping the three
new studios with LED lighting.
This, according to BCE, reduces the
cooling infrastructure and keep the
background noise to a minimum
during shows.
Andreas Fleuter, manager spe-
cial projects at BCE, added: “With
LED fixtures, heat dissipation is low
but the light output is good
enough to handle most
situations in the studios,
even at greater distances.
Another big advantage
with LEDs is the possibil-
ity to adjust colour tem-
peratures via remote. With
respect to these issues, LED
lighting was mandatory,
and we wanted to use them
in all the studios.”
As to why ARRI lights were
chosen, he explained that they
provided BCE with a large colour
spectrum that covered the com-
pany’s needs for various types of
productions. “Standard production
nowadays prefers daylight colour
temperature,” Fleuter said. “How-
ever, the flexible colour control we
have for atmospheric lights, as well
as show lights, is impressive. With
ARRI lights, it is even possible to
use a green key on a white curtain
background.”
RMG runs AoIP throughout its
radio and TV facilities
Headquartered in Moscow, me-
dia conglomerate Russian Media
Group (RMG) runs five radio sta-
tions and two TV stations, includ-
ing RUTV.
For the past six years, RUTV has
been adopting Livewire+ AES67
audio-over-IP (AoIP) infrastructure
within its TV facility, having suc-
cessfully utilised Livewire+ for its
radio stations.
At the heart of RUTV’s Livewire+
AES67 AoIP infrastructure is the
Axia xNode console, which is cap
able of connecting the TV studio
to the master control mixer via a
single CAT 5 network cable to de-
liver up to eight audio pairs. Studio
microphones, IFB (interruptible
foldback) studio talk back and cue
can also be managed using a single
network cable.
In addition, RUTV has installed
an SDI de-embedder/re-embedder,
which allows audio from a new
clip server to be controlled on the
mixer, as well as a six-line studio
telephone system, talent micro-
phones and feeds from outside
broadcast (OB) trucks.
Introduced as Livewire in 2003, the second-generation
Livewire+ AES67 technology is able to carry
uncompressed digital audio, device control messages,
programme associated data, and routine network
traffic, all via a single Ethernet cable.
Livewire+ AES67 is the second-
generation of Livewire, a technol
ogy developed by the Telos
Alliance, to convey audio over
switched Ethernet. Prior to the im-
plementation of Livewire+ AES67
in the TV facility, RMG has already
been using Livewire in its radio
stations for over a decade.
Andrey Mamontov, CTO of
RMG, explained: “Usage of Livewire
offers great flexibility in manage-
ment of audio signal delivery for
any programme. In addition, it
greatly speeds up audio workflow
for the creative team.”
The installation RMG’s radio
stations comprises Axia AoIP con-
soles, Telos phone systems and
digital hybrids, and Axia xNodes,
which are all used as the system
core, as well as to extend the
Livewire infrastructure to AES (Au-
dio Engineering Society) digital
audio and analogue audio.
Livewire is designed to manage
general purpose interface (GPI) in-
formation; together with the physi-
cal GPIs provided on Axia xNodes
and Axia consoles, it extends the
core infrastructure to support GPI
on equipment that is not equipped
with Livewire+ AES67 AoIP natively.
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