BBC Northern Ireland embraces IP with new multifunctional outside broadcast truck
Weybridge, UK, September 11th – Sony is delighted to announce today the delivery and provisioning of BBC Northern Ireland first IP based Outside Broadcast (OB) truck together, with integrator Megahertz. For the BBC, the aim was to secure a sustainable path to the future of broadcasting, by gaining greater flexibility in production, optimizing equipment usage and supporting existing and creating new workflows.
The project is a keystone the broadcaster’s regional re-generation effort. The renewal came about as the current facilities are coming to the end of their life. Based on learnings around distributed production from COVID amongst others, the new truck project needed to consider that, in time, the central BBC facilities in Belfast would be moving from SDI to IP. This meant that interoperability both with SDI and IP were required, ultimately allowing processing capabilities for both the truck and the facilities to be used and controlled by staff located either in the truck or the facilities.
The other drivers of this project were flexibility and optimisation, both achieved through the technological and design choices made: the truck will be able to serve as a main gallery for productions in the Belfast headquarters or be sent to locations as needed. It is designed to be extremely versatile, able to deliver quick turnaround times between programmes.
From a technological deployment point of view, the truck provided is built around Sony’s Networked Live, an ecosystem of solutions for live production with hybrid on-premises and cloud capabilities. It, also includes a large number of 3rd party products. Networked Live products used in this deployment include the camera network adaptor CNA-2 for camera control, HDCU-3500 CCU for SDI-IP adaptation for cameras, MLS-X1 for video switching, and MKS-R4020 remote control panels. The media network is a fully redundant spine-leaf configuration and SDN (software-defined network) orchestration, based on SMPTE ST 2110, under the control of Nevion’s VideoIPath. VideoIPath controls not only the network, but also the end devices. It does so with a combination of custom-made drivers and NMOS interfaces.
BBC Northern Ireland, Megahertz, Sony, and Nevion (a Sony company) managed the project, which began after a public tender in 2022 and was delivered in spring 2024.
VideoIPath’s cloud capabilities will be demonstrated on the Sony booth (A10 in Hall 13) at IBC 2024, in Amsterdam, 13-16 September.
Further information about VideoIPath can be found here: https://nevion.com/videoipath/
About Sony Corporation
Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) business. With the mission to “create the future of entertainment through the power of technology together with creators,” we aim to continue to deliver Kando* to people around the world.
For more information, visit: http://www.sony.net/
*Kando is a Japanese word that roughly translates to the sense of awe and emotion you feel when experiencing something beautiful and amazing for the first time.
About Networked Live
Sony and Nevion’s Networked Live is an ecosystem of solutions, products, services, and partners that combines hybrid on-premises and Cloud processing with network connectivity to transform the logistics and economics of high-quality mission critical live production. It does this by enabling resources (places, people, and processing) to be connected, used, and shared optimally and seamlessly in productions – regardless of their locations. For more information, see: https://nevion.com/sony-nevion/
