The recent Wimbledon Tennis Fortnight saw Portuguese broadcast audio specialists CLS Audiovisuais press BroaMan’s versatile Mux22 transport into use for the first time.

The company purchased a Mux22 system from territorial dealer Garrett Audiovisuais, installing the 1U multi-format transmission device in one of its full HD camera and control OBs, but has been using Optocore devices soon after setting out in 2004.

The single rack space Mux22 series is well suited to OB truck applications, supporting every signal type required between the truck and the remote stagebox – combining 3G/HD/SD-SDI I/O with Optocore and SANE digital audio networks, it can transport video, as well as audio and data, on a single duplex fibre. CLS constructed a point-to-point system with 12-input/4-output at one end and 4-input/12-output at the other.

Configured with a master control room and two galleries for beIN Sports (MENA) in France, CLS’ OB truck includes a studio, two commentary positions for each plus reporters and ENG crews.

For the past two years, the Wimbledon tournament has formed an essential part of the busy CLS international sports schedule and the Mux22 enables them to uplink the signal, elegantly and economically, to the studios in Paris. CLS Audiovisuais’ historic relationship with Optocore, and the reliability of its products, played an important part in their decision to adopt the new system: ‘We have been working with Optocore since 2006, so we know their products well,’ says CLS owner, André Senos. In fact four X6R-FX AD/DA network converters are incorporated into the OB van signal chain.

‘We had been seeking a solution to and once we had seen the product at IBC in Amsterdam, and Garrett had arranged a demo we knew this was the right technical solution.’

During the Wimbledon Tennis Fortnight, the OB van received 14 signal feeds from host broadcaster, the BBC, over a distance of 250m from the transmission centre; they were one of 2,500 broadcasters providing an HD experience from all nine courts to viewers in more than 100 countries.

‘Mux22 enabled us to take a lot of HD signals and transmit down a single fibre,’ Senos says. ‘Everything worked extremely well.’

Established in 1978, Garrett Audiovisuais has been working with Optocore almost since its inception, and has a portfolio of audio, lighting and video brands geared to meet the ever more demanding A/V requirements from customers in the so-called PALOP countries.