Turkish media company Turkuvaz Media Group counts TV, radio, newspaper and magazine operations among its assets, as well as a recently updated media centre in Istanbul. System integration services for this key broadcast installation were provided by Radikal Elektronik Ltd, Lawo’s distribution partner in Turkey.
The Turkuvaz Media Center is Turkey’s largest media campus, comprising a plaza, a TV block and a printing block. The company operates nine TV channels and four radio channels here, with 12 12m-high studios measuring from 200m² to 1,500m², and five 6m-high studios between 100² to 350 m² in the TV complex. The TV buildings also contain ten TV studio control rooms, six producing in 4K and four in HD.
Turkuvaz’ IP infrastructure includes several networked Lawo mc² mixing consoles and crystal radio consoles linked with a sophisticated central routing system, as well as a V__matrix video processing system equipped with Lawo C100 software-defined processing blades. In addition to renovating the broadcast studios, the project saw a new OB van equipped with Lawo IP networking rolled out in November 2020, with the overall project completed in December.
The modernised studio control rooms are customised for their individual operations – news, 4K-video postproduction, HD sports programming, and a shared HD SCR, with an IP infrastructure built upon Lawo systems. This major renovation allows for efficient, flexible IP workflows, including remote production capabilities for future-proof operation using the highest quality standards.
Lawo equipment installed during the upgrade includes eight 48-position mc²56 mixing consoles fitted with the Dual-Fader option to provide 80 total faders, giving Turkuvaz operators direct surface access to large numbers of audio channels. Audio connectivity comes by way of Dallis stageboxes; a central routing matrix with 8,192 x 8,192 mono crosspoints was built using a Nova73 HD Router.
In addition to an mc²36 console, the audio set-up includes six radio studios with Lawo crystal mixing consoles and companion Compact Engines. The media centre’s video and audio processing is handled with eight V__pro8 video processing units and Lawo’s V__matrix software-defined IP Core Routing, Processing and Multi-Viewing platform, fitted with two C100 processing blades to perform SDI IP encapsulation and de-encapsulation. The networking fabric of the new Turkuvaz facilities connects the Dallis units to the Nova73 central router via Madi, with Ravenna linking router and console cores. AES67/ST2110 networking with video devices between console cores and router are also implemented.
‘Before we even started planning our new facilities, our project team analysed the market situation to find a coherent future-proof solution for an IP infrastructure,’ says Turkuvaz General Technical Manager, Yavuz Nart. ‘With Lawo, we found a company with of the latest IP broadcast technology under one roof. Lawo IP technology has been long established in the market, and they are known a technology leader with high-quality products and extraordinarily high expertise in broadcast. And who better to install this new system than Radikal, who has been a trusted audio partner for many years?’
‘As an audio engineer and systems designer in broadcast, you must of course have faith in the quality of the products you offer to your customer,’ says Radikal Systems Engineer, Seha Akbaş. ‘With Lawo, we are working with a manufacturer that delivers the very highest quality standards, paired with innovative solutions and fast, expert support. We are very happy to be involved in what has turned out to be one of the biggest projects in Radikal’s history, providing Turkuvaz the best broadcast solutions available on the market, with the most modern IP infrastructure found anywhere in Turkey today.’
‘Our new IP infrastructure enables us to apply radical new workflows inside the studios, as well as the capability for remote production,’ adds Turkuvaz Assistant Technical Manager Mustafa Yavuz. ‘Desire for this new option had already been on the rise, but with the pandemic affecting operations, remote production has proven to be the best solution for maintaining up-to-date and reliable broadcast production. Radikal and Lawo have always listened to us, presenting and installing optimal solutions to achieve our goals. We can now proudly look at our new facilities as one of the most modern broadcast centres to date.’
