Professional Audio & Television has devised and commissioned a large VSM system Nine Networks’ new purpose-built facility in in Adelaide. Lawo V_pro8 interfaces for the embedding/de-embedding of audio and processing, as well as an RTW TM7 for audio monitoring in the main control room were also part of the package.

L-S-B’s Virtual Studio Manager sits at the heart of Channel Nine’s new facility, providing the platform for facility-wide control. It interconnects with all of the sites broadcast systems – an Imagine Communications Platinum router fitted with SX Pro multiviewers, Grass Valley K-Frame Karerra production switcher, RTS Adam-M intercom matrix, VizRT’s Mosart Automation, IHSE Draco Terra KVM, Imagine Communications X100 and 6800 series gear, Ross Opengear’s UDC modular cards and six Lawo V_pro8 interfaces.

Integrating a diverse range of products into a centralised and manufacturer agnostic control plane speeds up the broadcaster’s operational workflows and allows more time for content production.

The Lawo V_pro8 8-channel video processor ‘toolkits’ offer audio embedding and de-embedding, and video processing in the facility-wide workflow. Their high-density Madi I/O provides efficient video-to-audio bridging within the Nine Networks studio infrastructure, with the interfaces operating as a flexible matrix – each V_pro8 offers an 8 x 8 video matrix and 384 x 384 audio matrix enabling switching of any signal to any other. A modern GUI based on HTML5 provides an ideal operating interface.

‘Using four of the V_pro8 units as static embedders and de-embedders allowed audio channels to output direct to production. Embedders being used for applications with no specific vision for them (such as a voiceover booth) are able to drive a slate on the screen via the V_Pro8 to identify the signal visually,’ says PAT Engineering Manager, Adam Langham. ‘The two further V__pro8 units are used for MCR processing applications, giving 16 channels of ad hoc processing.

‘To interface the six Madi streams from each of the V__pro8 units, we daisy-chained all of the units to achieve efficient use of Madi ports, resulting in one Madi port for northbound and one for southbound traffic as backup. This was achieved via VSM tieline management.’

In Master Control, inbound signals via the V_pro8 interfaces appear as a single page of the VSM panel with access to all parameters Nine needs. VSM streamlines operations by routing any processing channel to black, and therefore resetting the entire Proc Amp ready for its next use. Similar workflows were achieved in the control room, with delegation lines being able to disconnect hybrids and reset intercom gains upon switching a delegation line to black.

Through VSM’s centralised control plane, Nine Network now also has a central control position for a Talent Operated Studio (TOS) to the point that the entire studio can be set up with a single button press. Building on advanced studio control principals, VSM was also set up to operate Ross OpenGear UDC cards as a standby vision mixer that would switch synchronous with the Grass Valley K-Frame via Mosart. Using VSM in this application removes the need for expensive standby vision switchers, while still offering expanded input selection and DSK control from the co-pilot’s seat via either a touchscreen or a hardware panel.

When Nine began talks with Professional Audio & Television and L-S-B in Germany, the broadcaster also wished to control Dante-over-IP networks through traditional XY style router panels – and L-S-B agreed to add Dante IP network control to its list of protocols. The ability to integrate baseband and IP routing workflows of both video and audio, along with parameter controls, provides future-proof control with the operator detached from the engineering complexities of the broadcast system.

‘PAT has good local expertise, which has been crucial to developing a system from the ground up for our new station that suits our operational and technology requirements,’ says Nine Network Technology Manager in Adelaide, Don Dyson. ‘Through PAT, VSM  has been proactive in assisting us with product development, and we’ve ended up with a system that can be used throughout the Nine Network. This has been a new system to us, and as our needs and expertise grow we can see VSM becoming more central to our day-to-day operation.

‘Looking back, I believe we could not have achieved what we have, in the timeline we had, without VSM. As VSM is installed at other Nine sites around Australia, I see VSM being a network integration tool that will enable us to have better control and monitoring of facilities, both locally and remotely.’