Lawo IP video and audio solutions specified for groundbreaking cloud production platform
Lawo and DutchView Infostrada collaborated on the infrastructure used for the historic RTL broadcasts
On Sunday 22 November, the Carlo’s TV Café television show was broadcast on leading Dutch commercial TV channel, RTL4, using DutchView Infostrada’s new Cloud Production system – representing the first live multi-camera broadcast aired using cloud-based technology. Subsequently, on 23 November, ‘Voetbal Inside’ was broadcast on RTL7, becoming the second live broadcast to use the new technology, followed by many more TV shows as the Cloud Production Platform is now in regular operation.
DutchView Infostrada commissioned Lawo to assist in the implementation of its concept of IP broadcast production. The result, Cloud Production offers a comprehensive IP-based video and audio production platform for innovative flexible and efficient workflows.
Integrating Lawo’s IP-based video, audio and routing equipment, the complete Cloud Production infrastructure is centrally controlled via VSM, Virtual Studio Manager. The setup comprises numerous V__remote4 IP video production units as well as Lawo mc²56 audio mixing consoles, Nova compact routers, DALLIS I/O systems and A__mic8 analogue-to-IP audio interfaces.
DutchView Infostrada’s Cloud Production centralises resources such that they can be shared more efficiently and sustainably utilised across productions. Structured in this way, both technology and personnel can be applied across multiple productions each day, working more efficiently and allowing production teams to focus on the quality of their work.
“While many media companies and broadcasters are working on remote production and video over IP, we have made the leap to a cloud platform on which resources are available on demand. Our technical infrastructure and LiveCenter are the foundations of Cloud Production. We operate our own data centers and a 100% uptime dark fiber network. The entire infrastructure is monitored by our in-house developed monitoring tool GrandCentral and supported by a 24/7 expert service desk. This results in a very stable base for our new Cloud Production technology. I am extremely proud of this world first,” states Peter Bruggink, CTO of DutchView Infostrada.
With the new setup, it is no longer necessary for DutchView Infostrada to dispatch a large OB truck to a location. Instead, Lawo stageboxes handle video/audio I/O and processing using an IP network – the same network that connects the studio and the location. All connections use DutchView Infostrada’s proprietary fiber-optic network to connect to its data center, where all of the technology is housed. The Cloud Production suites (directing, audio and shading) then provide complete control over the production process, as with traditional productions. Depending on the type of production, the director can work either from a location near the studio or from central directing, audio and shading suites.
Engineering teams from DutchView Infostrada and Lawo worked closely on the installation prior to the broadcast, including on-site at the Media Park in Hilversum: “We all learned a lot while working on this project. DutchView Infostrada and Lawo teamed up as partners to turn a convincing concept into reality with Lawo IP-based equipment and VSM control – but equally important was the trust, communication and absolute dedication required to make it work,” continues Bruggink.
A DutchView Infostrada press release quotes RTL Netherlands Productions’ Business Manager, Mark de Vink: “It was quite exciting to be the first shows ever to be aired live in the cloud, and it was a huge success. Cloud Production is more efficient than any other solution, as we only use the resources that are strictly necessary for the duration of the recording. Using centralised resources, we need significantly fewer crew members on location, which also greatly reduces travel and accommodation costs.”