Nevion solution boosts ESPN’s sports coverage

Nevion has supplied its NX4600 H.264/AVC Media Gateway products to Coastal Media Group, for use in conjunction with ESPN’s REMI (Remote Integration) workflow. Using REMI, ESPN projects to dramatically increase its remote sports production in the near future.

ESPN’s remote integration programme (REMI) began in January 2015 and seeks to reduce assets on location at sports venues, moving more of the live production back to a central location. Part of this programme has seen the sports broadcaster increase its remote production capabilities through the use of outside broadcast uplink providers, such as Coastal Media Group.

Coastal Media, a provider of turnkey satellite and fiber transmission solutions, selected the NX4600, an ESPN-approved encoding product, for their work with ESPN.

“The Nevion NX4600 is ideal because each unit provides 4 encoders, thereby meeting ESPN’s 8 encoder requirement in 2RU, which is essential for projects like this where space in a vehicle or shipping cases is at a premium. It is also easy to use, setup and maintain, and above all, creates excellent contribution quality pictures at low bandwidth,” says Bob Adler, a principal of Coastal Media.

Two Pairs of NX4600 media gateways are utilized by Coastal Media to carry eight synchronous HD-SDI signals, whose audio can be advanced or delayed by 100MS to meet studio requirements. The encoders are used in remote locations- such as arenas and stadiums, over a satellite path to ESPN’s DC-2 facility in Bristol, CT, where the content can be produced.