Leading Chinese broadcaster Zhejiang TV is also high among the country’s broadcast innovators. It has pioneered the adoption of new technologies to serve its audiences in the Hangzhou City/Zhejiang Province of Eastern China since beginning operation in 1960. Along with carrying the popular Voice of China talent show (broadcast under license from Voice of America), a cinema adaptation of its ‘Hurry Up, Brother’ reality comedy TV series was released as Running Man, grossing US$70 million at the box office in China.
The broadcaster’s most recent developments have centred on a facility renovation that will give it new 2,500-sqm and 1,200-sqm studios, with extensive use of audio and video technology from German innovator, Lawo. The new studios will serve the annual production and broadcast of Voice of China, as well as other popular shows.
Zhejiang Television (ZJTV) is operated by the Zhejiang Radio & Television Group (China’s fourth largest television network) and currently broadcasts in Mandarin. It has been using Lawo equipment for six years, having previously invested in a number of digital mixing systems, most notably for the conversion of its Concert Hall into a multi-function theatre and HDTV television studio using a Lawo mc²66 digital audio console.
Now, the broadcaster has committed to adding Lawo video units to its technical infrastructure.
‘We have been using Lawo audio products since 2009, including mc²66 and mc²56 mixing consoles in our most major studios,’ a ZJTV spokesperson confirms. ‘We are very satisfied with their performance and reliability, and we believe that the IP-based Lawo video products will give us the same quality of technology as well as Lawo’s after-sales service.’
As well as the Concert Hall, the existing Lawo mixing consoles are installed in two studios in Hangzhou City. Experience with these consoles has given Zhejiang TV confidence in Lawo’s SDI embedding and de-embedding products because of their use of RAVENNA technology, developed for audio and video transport based on IP Layer 3, and which will help simplify the integration of broadcasters’ audio and video systems in the future.
When complete, the new studios will incorporate a total of six Lawo V__pro8 digital video processors. These 8-channel 1U-high rackmount units provide all of the ‘glue’ needed in broadcast production workflow, combining both video and audio management. Pulling these duties together in a single processor guarantees efficiency and operating security, along with significantly reduced space, wiring and costs.
The Lawo V__pro8 offers more extensive functionality and SDI embedding and de-embedding than conventional modular processors, including colour correction, up/down conversion and MADI interfacing. At ZJTV, this functionality will be matched by its ability to integrate the broadcaster’s video and audio, and sharing of I/O.
More: www.lawo.com
