At the recent Intel Extreme Masters Championship (IEM) 2019 in Katowice, Poland, a variety of RedNet Dante-networked audio converters and interfaces from Focusrite were employed to provide connectivity solutions across multiple stages over the festival’s two and a half weeks. The IEM Championship represents the world championship for e-sports games, and this year’s competitors vied for top honors in Starcraft 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, among other titles. Much of this competition was live-streamed, and RedNet interfaces provided a key solution in keeping the audio content properly networked.

“An event of this scale requires the use of reliable, scalable, easy-to-use audio solutions,” said Domninik Samborski, brand manager and marketing specialist for Audiotech, the Poland-based firm that provided AV solutions for the festival. “For a few years now, Dante has become the leading standard in audio-over-IP. The benefits that come with the use of Dante technology are the lack of degradation of audio signal and avoiding artifacts like ground loops, because it is a digital signal, and global management of the system clock. Focusrite was one of the first companies to implement Dante technology in their audio converters. Focusrite RedNet can be a bridge between analog and digital audio formats, thanks to their interfaces for AES / EBU to Dante, MADI to Dante, Pro Tools HD to Dante, or analog to Dante. The wide range of input and output formats supported by the RedNet system makes it the most versatile Audio-over-IP system on the market.”

Sound engineer Marcin Kondziela of the firm 120dB Sound Engineering, who served as the on-site tech for the festival, remarked, “At IEM 2019, we are using Focusrite RedNet devices at approximately 15 points, which gives us a total of about 200 connections in the entire network. Everything comes back down to one OB truck and is manageable on the network. Thanks to that, we gain the flexibility of having multiple connections accessible, with functionality and scalability across the entire system.”  

Fellow sound engineer Michal Mika, also from 120dB Sound Engineering, added, “Focusrite RedNet converters are used to take the signal from microphones in a given location and return the signals back to the host or the reporter. We also use RedNet to collect signals from the commentators' desks or studios with pre-match or post-match analysis. We also provide signals back to the commentators so that they can hear each other and that they can be in contact with production staff. Some of the converters are used in control rooms to send and receive signals to communication systems. We use Riedel communication systems, and we are connecting to this system through RedNet converters via analog.”

Mika added that 120dB has been employing RedNet devices in a variety of different applications. “We’ve used Focusrite RedNet not only for television and e-sports, but also to fulfill the needs of a large stadium event where we had to send signal to the roof of a stadium. We also use some of them in recording studios, and they are also great interfaces for post-production studios. We have been using Focusrite RedNet converters for 3-4 years. We chose these devices because they are easy to use—they are very reliable and they have never let us down. They are very durable and travel with us all over the world. A few days ago, the entire system returned from Montreal, Canada, by air. A few months ago, the whole system was with us in Rio, Brazil, and now it's in Katowice and as you can see, it's doing great!”

For the second year in a row, Bannister Lake partnered with Montreal's Boombox Group to provide live data management and populate graphics for the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships 2019 Series. The June 21-22 event took place at the renowned Nürburgring Track in Germany, home of the world's most challenging 24-hour motorsports endurance race.

Bannister Lake software and expertise in live data management were used extensively throughout the event to read Google Sheets, ingest, and moderate real-time social media feeds, and consolidate data for the competition's various races. The solution's data was used to drive graphics both in-venue and on the various broadcast streams.

Bannister Lake's Chameleon software has quickly become a popular data management solution for international esports events. Producers and event organizers use the product to add engaging content such as player and team profiles, event schedules, standings, and sponsorship information without taking away from the excitement of the game.

"It's great to bring Chameleon on location at the Nürburgring,” said Al Savoie, Bannister Lake's technical and creative director. “The track has an illustrious history in racing, and we're thrilled to be part of the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships. Throughout the series we will be finding new and exciting ways to integrate data into the production and leverage live data content to allow producers to tell more compelling Gran Turismo stories."

The Nürburgring event featured 55 of the world's best Gran Turismo drivers from 20 countries competing in the Manufacturer Series, the Nations Cup, and GR Supra GT Cup. Winners moved on to participate in racing events that will be held in New York, Salzburg, and the finals scheduled for October in Tokyo. Chameleon will be used throughout the FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships 2019 racing series to enhance editorial content and fuel new revenue opportunities for event organizers.

Building on the global popularity of the NBA, the new NBA 2K League brings together two teams of professional e-sports athletes that use specialized gaming controllers to move NBA-Star Avatars—passing the ball and making the shots—on a virtual court. For live and on-demand audiences watching on the Twitch.tv online network, Renewed Vision’s PVP3 media server and screen control system has amplified the visual excitement and fan engagement by powering NBA 2K’s dynamic, multiscreen experience.

In a typical NBA 2K match, the two teams sit center stage at a large round console, with five players on either side. Each player controls game play while watching the virtual game on their individual monitors. Live camera head shots of each player are shown on large LCD displays above each player to inform studio and online audiences.

Throughout the game, PVP3 powers multichannel delivery of high-resolution video presented across the LCD cluster and several large LED video walls. The unique experience, created by MEPTIK, an Atlanta-based experiential design studio, is produced on a 7,433-square-foot soundstage at Brooklyn Studios. The NBA 2K League’s inaugural season began in May, with games scheduled every weekend through September.

Renewed Vision’s PVP3 is invaluable to the high-quality, multichannel content delivery and presentation for each game. Its video engine allows multiple channels of video and graphics to reliably display as separate, jitter-free images on individual or groups of monitors, as well as a single, continuous image that fills the video walls and display clusters.

“We chose PVP3 because it has the power to output a high volume of high-resolution content, with the flexibility to creatively compose the layout of the displays, all virtually on the fly,” said Nick Rivero, MEPTIK’s co-founder. “Considering its power, PVP3 is unusually user-friendly, to the point where we could set up a full turnkey system to playout an elaborate multiscreen experience, and then turn over the daily operations to users. In this workflow, users can simply ‘take the ball and run with it,’ without any further technical support from us. Compared to the other high-end broadcast servers we considered, PVP3 was a fraction the cost, and its price point fit really well within our production budget.”

According to Rivero, PVP3 offered a significant operational advantage through native integration with the studio’s HD-SDI infrastructure and workflow. This ensured interoperability with a Ross production switcher, high-end Sony cameras, live graphics systems, and a house router.

With 20 HD-SDI connections available, PVP3 ingests four live video feeds originating from both the gaming system and camera shots. The system is then used to mix and map live content with pre-rendered content, and output 12 channels of video to the various on-set displays including a 20-foot LED video wall on each side of the stage.

To power the operation, PVP3 is installed on an Apple iMac Pro, connected to two Sonnet SE Thunderbolt 3 chasses, and outfitted with five Blackmagic Duo 2 cards. An Elgato Streamdeck triggers cues within PVP3 of various scenic changes, each with a clearly labeled button. Some of MEPTIK’s experience-driven designs include pre-rendered overlays and graphical elements, such as sponsor logos, ads, and player statistics, composited with the live video feeds dynamically in the PVP3 system.

“Since we needed to train a three-person crew to take charge of the entire PVP3 operation, it was essential for this system to be extremely intuitive to learn and user-friendly to use,” Rivero said. “Over the years, our firm has used PVP for a variety of installations, each time implementing it in new and innovative ways. This really speaks to its power, flexibility, and versatility—something that Renewed Vision is able to deliver at a much lower price point than its competition, without any adverse effect to quality and performance.”