The basketball production team at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas – MustangVision – streams its games to ESPN Plus and uses two Studio Technologies Model 214 Announcer’s Consoles in its Moody Coliseum arena as well as a Model 46A Intercom Interface, located in the central control room at the Ford Stadium football field.
SMU more recently began broadcasting to ESPN Linear, including ESPN+, ESPN2 and ESPNU, placing more strenuous technical demands on the production team. With the new plan to stream to these national networks, one of the main challenges facing MustangVisionwas that the ESPN Linear network had additional redundancy requirements for on-air talent audio over what they were currently deploying. Turning to premier full-service A/V integration specialist Digital Resources, MustangVision chose the Model 204 Announcer’s Console as the solution.
‘We had to figure out the redundancies and make sure we had the appropriate equipment on hand,’ says Spencer Jones, Director of MustangVision, SMU Athletics. ‘Digital Resources recommended we again turn to Studio Technologies since we were already familiar with their products. While the Model 214 was not in stock at the time, they did have the Model 204 available. Stock availability continues to be a factor in specifying and acquiring equipment, and we are grateful that Studio Technologies took the time to find us a comparable solution for our application. Once we had the product in our hands, we realised it had everything we needed.’
The majority of the production is managed using a Dante Network, which is why the team relies heavily on the Model 214 Announcer Consoles. ‘There are 36 strands of fibre between the two venues and, from there, we connect to network switches,’ says Jones. ‘With the Model 214s, and now the Model 204, we were able to get everything ready to go within 30 minutes of the product being here with us. We plugged it in, saw it on the network, configured it, and then our audio guys started assigning channels. One cable, one headset, and we’re done. As long as it’s on the Dante network, I can see it anywhere. It was pretty seamless and straightforward.’
In addition to serving as a backup, the Model 204 has been put to direct use several times. A case in point, for quick post-game interviews the SMU team can now do that directly from the desk.
‘Even the intercom is robust, solid, and easy to work with. As far as the audio, the quality has always been clean; I never have any ground hums or other issues,’ Jones says.
While the Studio Technology gear is currently only used to stream the school’s volleyball and basketball games, the production team hopes to extend that same workflow to the upcoming seasons of their other athletic teams. ‘We’re eventually planning on using these same devices for men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, as well as for football,’ Jones concludes.
Studio Technologies is now shipping an upgraded version of the Model 214. Named the Model 214A, it offers the same audio quality and features as the original but with the added benefit of being fully configurable using STcontroller, Studio Technologies’ software application. Available for use with the Windows and macOS operating systems, STcontroller eliminates the need to use of DIP switches or LED indicators to configuration the unit.
