Fremantle Football Club builds first-class multimedia facility with Techtel

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe takes Channel Seven on a tour of Freo's new facility at Cockburn.

Sydney, Australia, 27th September 2017 – Techtel was selected by the Fremantle Dockers Football Club (FDFC) to build a state-of-the-art multimedia centre to be used by both the AFL club and wider sporting community for interviews, media conferences, post-game analysis and to produce more innovative training tools. The AFL is leading other sports for their use of technology and it is becoming increasingly common for clubs to utilise these means to gain a competitive advantage and allow for greater exposure of their sponsors. FDFC’s Perth facility is part of the new Cockburn Aquatic and Recreation Centre (Cockburn ARC), a fully integrated sporting complex that caters for a full range of aquatic, indoor and outdoor sports for the Cockburn community and surrounding areas of Perth.

Through a tender process, Techtel was selected to build FDFC’s new TV studio, control room, multiple edit suites, interview rooms and a theatrette. Drawing on both their technical and production consultancy capabilities, Techtel was responsible for the detailed design, system build and configuration, and then ultimately the final installation.

The FDFC studio features a Panasonic AJ-PX380G HD camera with Fujinon lens, CueScript EMCP15M prompting system and lighting from Lumos, while in the control room there is a Panasonic AV-HS6000 2ME vision switcher and a turnkey VidiGo graphics system from ChyronHego. Storage is provided by the Verde Enterprise NAS from Spectra Logic, monitoring by TVLogic and video terminal gear by LYNX Technik, as well as a number of converters from Apantac.

Those attending sessions in the new theatrette will enjoy 7.1 channel surround sound and a 140” deluxe screen wall. The Medialon Showmaster LE Embedded Show Controller will automate and synchronise dimmers, lighting desks, video projectors, video servers and sound processors within the lecture theatre to allow for a seamless transition between the various presentation tools available. Players will also benefit from post-game analysis and strategy sessions in the theatrette with ChyronHego’s Coach Paint, an easy-to-use visualisation tool helping coaches improve their players’ technique. 

"Working with Techtel has been a great experience”, commented Adrian Lacquiere, Strategic Projects & Facilities Manager at the Fremantle Football Club. “They had to work within our building programme over a 9 month period to deliver the final solution and the feedback of the end result from the coaching and playing group has been positive. The club saw the need to significantly invest in multimedia due to the exponential growth of the industry as well as the increasing amount of content being delivered by the club. As a result, we now have state-of-the-art facilities that have set the benchmark for the next generation of elite sporting facilities. We continue to develop new ways to use the system all the time and we're working closely with Techtel to draw from their experience in the media business”.

”Fremantle’s new facility has really put them up there as a team that embraces technology to improve their fans’ engagement and involvement with the club, said Techtel’s CEO, Mal Chandler. “The added benefit of all this technology also affords the players easier access to coaching aids and analysis.  Techtel was thrilled to have the chance to work with the club and we’ll be cheering them on in the years to come”.

The install is now complete following technical handover of the system and training of staff. Techtel will provide ongoing support for the facility.

SMPTE 17: Techtel Booth Preview

There will be plenty to get excited about on Techtel booth C40 at SMPTE 2017, with a range of new products and new releases from some of our long standing business partners. We will have three key areas of focus on our booth at the new International Convention Centre in Sydney:

Techtel’s IPTV partners will exhibit plenty of new tools and new ideas to improve efficiency and maximise returns for service providers and platform operators. We’ll be showing compressed video monitoring solutions from Bridge Technologies, while media networks and scheduling expert Net Insight will be on hand to show off their latest turnkey remote production solutions. Edgeware returns to challenge the Content Delivery Network providers by offering a means to build your own CDN. Techtel has developed a custom Appear TV integrated Amino STB solution for a turnkey campus-based IPTV platform with options for integrated Conditional Access from Verimatrix – ask to take a look when you visit the booth!

File-based workflows are fast becoming the dominant means for content distribution, so we’ll be showing Vidispine’s media discovery tools, designed to be part of a true open-stack media architecture. Aligning with Vidispine will be complimentary software micro-services like Venera Technologies who make Pulsar™ for file-based quality control. Spectra will be showing their cloud-friendly BlackPearl object storage platform which uniquely allows for either cost-effective LTO tape or disc architectures. Masstech Innovations will be on hand with their storage & archive solutions for news and GrayMeta return to exhibit IRIS™, a true end-to-end production collaboration solution for TV or feature films. Etere, loved for their TV automation, sales and traffic software will also show off their latest MAM and production workflow tools. 

Live Production also plays a key role on the booth, with Techtel showing the collection of studio software and hardware elements that formed part of the latest national ABC News technology refresh, including the AP ENPS newsroom software, CueScript teleprompting, Telemetrics robotics, Apantac multiviewers, Lynx Technik terminal gear and Viz Mosart studio automation.

LYNX Technik Launches H.264 Streaming & Recording yellobrik at NAB 2017

April 11, 2017 – Weiterstadt, Germany -- LYNX Technik AG, provider of modular interfaces for broadcast and professional AV signal processing applications, today announces a new yellobrik, an SDI/HDMI to H.264 encoder for live streaming & recording. LYNX Technik will showcase the new yellobrik at NAB 2017 on booth SL10321.

The PEC 1864 H.264 encoder provides a solution for users to simultaneously stream content while recording it, an ideal solution for delivering, streaming and archiving content efficiently and affordably. The module houses two independent encoders; a stream encoder and a record encoder. Users can stream content with simultaneous recording, stream-only, or record-only. The independent encoders support different quality settings for the streamer and the recorder. For example: a user may wish to simultaneously stream content directly to the web in lower quality due to limited bandwidth, and record at a higher master quality for further editing or archiving.

The yellobrik accepts either an SDI or an HDMI input supporting up to 3G (1080p @60 Hz) and compresses it using the H.264 encoding standard. It supports a variety of popular streaming outputs including RTMP for streaming to Content Delivery Networks. Using this streaming format, a user enters their CDN log-in credentials into the yellobrik’s web-browser based GUI, and streams the content live on their CDN Channel; e.g. Wowza, YouTube, Facebook.

The PEC 1864 also supports RTP/RTSP streaming, TS over UDP and TS over RTP. These three steaming formats can be configured as unicast or multicast. A forward error correction (FEC) can be activated for the TS over RTP stream. In addition, the PEC 1864 supports the HLS (HTTP Live) streaming protocol.

The module records to a micro SD memory card or USB stick as a .mp4 or .ts.

Two channels of audio are deembedded from the incoming video signal, which can then be embedded into the streamed and/or recorded video signal. An alternative audio source is provided via the stereo audio input.

Each video encoder includes a region of interest (ROI) scaler, enabling the user to crop the image and stream/record only that portion of the image. Users can even insert a logo into the content stream, ideal for branding & copywriting content and when the Content Delivery Network provider doesn’t provide a logo insertion tool.

The new yellobrik fits the needs of broadcast-quality streaming applications, for example: electronic news gathering, head-end encoding for TV stations and lower budget broadcast streaming. It is also suitable for a wide variety of ProAV applications including: live event streaming and media delivery over the Internet using a Content Delivery Network provider (e.g. Wowza, YouTube, Facebook), corporate or enterprise broadcast/streaming of media assets, presentation and conferencing, digital signage, houses of worship proceedings streaming, AV system monitoring, security camera streaming for monitoring and so many more.

As with all yellobriks, the PEC 1864 comes in a portable brick form factor and is easy to use with all instructions printed directly on the module. Users can configure it remotely via a web GUI on any computer or mobile device with a web browser. Recording can also be controlled using the push buttons on the unit.

About LYNX Technik:

LYNX Technik AG is an industry leader and technology provider of modular interface solutions for broadcast and professional use. LYNX Technik AG is an independent privately owned company with its headquarters, research and manufacturing facilities based in Weiterstadt, Germany. Sales and Support is covered through secondary distribution channels managed from its headquarters in Germany, USA (California), and Asia (Singapore).

Product brands include: Series 5000 rack and card based series, APPolo control system, yellobrik standalone plug-and play modules, the Testor | lite 3G digital test signal generator and the new greenMachine.

Products include: audio / video / fiber conversion, audio / video distribution, fiber splitters, CWDM mux/demux, audio embedding / de-embedding, audio delay, image processing, frame synchronizers, test generators, 4K transmission solutions, as well as a line of rack frames and accessories.

LYNX Technik launches 12G capable yellobriks

WEITERSTADT, GERMANY — LYNX Technik AG announced that it enhanced its yellobrik series with three new single link SDI 12G capable modules. A fiber transmitter (OTX 1410), fiber receiver (ORX 1400) and fiber transceiver (OTR 1410). 

LYNX Technik’s line-up of fiber-optic transport platforms are now augmented with three new technologies that provide error-free transmitting and receiving of 12G (4096 x 2160 @60 Hz), plus 6G, and 3G signals if required, all with full uncompressed video quality. All modules provide support for a maximum distance of approximately 10 Km (6.2 miles) using LC single-mode fiber. 

The complete video payload, (including any embedded audio and metadata) is converted and transmitted transparently over fiber. No settings are needed as the modules auto detect the video standard (12G, 6G or 3G) and adapt accordingly for complete plug and play functionality. 

As with all yellobriks, they are intuitive and easy to use with all connections clearly indicated on the module. They are fully compatible with the unique yellobrik rack frame and all standard yellobrik accessories. 

The 12G capable yellobriks help facilitate and support 4K infrastructure applications that send and receive content with exceptionally high data rates. They are perfect additions to the LYNX Technik 4K yellobrik portfolio, which also includes the self-contained quad link 4K fiber transmission kits that support 4x SDI signals (12G uncompressed).

Contact Techtel for more information and pricing for the new 12G capable yellobriks. 

Techtel to install for nationwide news and current affairs replacement project for the ABC

Sydney, Australia – Techtel today announced that it has been selected by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to replace their legacy newsroom automation systems with a brand new technology solution from a consortium of vendor partners led by Techtel.

The new solution is a turnkey systems integration project, employing VizRT Mosart live production automation software, Telemetrics camera robotics, CueScript teleprompters, Panasonic cameras, Canon lenses, Apantac multiviewers, Yamaha audio mixers, TVLogic broadcast monitors and LYNX Technik terminal equipment.

Techtel, a leading independent broadcast technology systems specialist, was chosen by the ABC after an exhaustive selection process. The Techtel solutions implementation includes the provision of a zero downtime migration from the old legacy system onto the new VizRT Mosart automation. The Mosart automation system chosen has a simple interface and proven interoperability.

Techtel CEO Mal Chandler said “We are very excited to be working closely with the ABC on this important new project. Our solution seamlessly integrates Mosart with other best-of-breed products to create an elegant and user friendly environment for news creation”.

The solution features widespread use of Telemetrics camera robotics. The Telemetrics RCCP-1 control panel with studio software provides a flexible architecture for studio automation and provides an integrated and intuitive robotics control surface. This control system is mated with a number of Telemetrics PT-LP-S5 robotic heads, EP6-600 elevating pedestals and TG4 TeleGlide tracks.

Panasonic AJ-PX5000G ENG camcorders comprehensively feature. The camcorders combine excellent image quality with cost-efficient operation while offering the flexibility for varied use in the news environment. The camcorders support comprehensive remote control operation under the Telemetrics control panels while also providing contemporary network workflows such as media card recording, automatic FTP transmission and on-air streaming. The camcorders are equipped with Canon HJ24EX7.5B IASE S lenses, CueScript CSP17L on-camera prompters and CSTM19 19" talent monitors. 

A Grass Valley Karrera K-Frame switcher features at each studio as does a Yamaha CL5 or QL5 audio mixing console. The Yamaha audio consoles offer all-in-one mixing, processing, and routing capability, making them idea for the application.  All audio connections and cabling will use the revolutionary Dante standard that leverages the network fabric for maximum flexibility for routing and transporting audio throughout the facility.

Interfacing comes courtesy of Apantac and LYNX Technik equipment. There is extensive use of Apantac T# (T-sharp) multiviewers, including the T# 64x8 which is capable of accepting 64 inputs and displaying any input to any one of up to 8 monitors. Also widely used are various products from the LYNX Technik stable, such as the DVD 5820 3Gbit dual channel SDI/ASI distribution amplifier and the PDM 5280 3G/HD/SD 16 Channel AES audio embedder/de-embedder.

TVLogic monitors also feature widely. In programme preview roles the LVM-245W HD broadcast monitor utilises a state-of-art high definition TFT-LCD panel with 10bit colour depth, while the TVLogic VFM-058W 5.5” full HD monitor does duty in viewfinder roles.

The project commenced in Canberra at the end of 2016 and will continue to roll out across the nation over a period of 18 months.