Apantac Multiviewers Provide VIDI with Visual Monitoring During Major Sporting Events

Apantac, an internationally recognized manufacturer and pioneer of cost-effective yet feature-rich multiviewers, video walls, extension and signal processing solutions announces that VIDI has chosen its Mi-16 Multiviewers for transmission monitoring during the world’s most watched football event this year.

Last year, VIDI, a global service provider of high-quality broadcast transmission solutions and services, installed multiple Apantac’s Mi-16 Multiviewers to support football coverage in Germany. Apantac Multiviewers provide all the visual monitoring of the video transmission between on-site venues and the production center. All the transmissions are also remotely monitored from the VIDI control center in Darmstadt (near Frankfurt), Germany.

After a highly successful project, VIDI has once again chosen Apantac Mi-16 Multiviewers for the upcoming international football event this year that will draw millions of viewers. VIDI purchased seventy-two Mi-16 Multiviewer units, which are housed on pre-wired racks at each of the twelve remote on-location stadiums and the International Broadcast Center (IBC).

Each set of three equipment racks is equipped with Video over IP transport equipment using JPEG2000 compression, seven Apantac Mi-16 Multiviewers, as well as various other measurement and ancillary devices. Four Mi-16s combine their SDI outputs driving 4K/UHD displays, which will monitor 64 (4 multiviewers x 16 inputs) transmission links at the same time. The remaining three Mi-16 Multiviewers drive a single 1080p display for monitoring 16 links each.

The UHD signals at the remote sites are each encoded into four video streams via 2SI 3G links, with each link monitored by one Mi-16 input and connected to the IBC control center via a telco fiber network where the rest of the transmission equipment resides and from where all signals will be received, distributed and controlled.

“We chose Apantac Mi-16 Multiviewers for its many advantages,” comments Karsten Winterberg, VIDI Technical Director. “In addition to having the full feature set that we required, the Mi-16 offers high quality monitoring at a cost-effective price, compact form taking up much less space and low power consumption creating much less heat that traditional solutions. In fact, thanks to the Mi-16 depth of only 25cm, some of the Multiviewers are mounted at the back of racks behind patch panels, thus saving precious rack space.”

“The display flexibility and quality of image also plays a key role for sports production,“ said Thomas Tang, President of Apantac. “Even though the Mi-16 is a cost-effective Multiviewer, it provides the pristine high-quality display monitoring and associated features required for remote and sports production.”

The Mi-16 Multiviewers are an award-winning line launched in 2016. The series accepts SD, HD and 3G-SDI (Level A & B) input signals, auto-detects the formats and provides passive input loops. The same hardware is also available via licenses as a Mi-16+, which is two 8 x 1 multiviewers in the same box, or a Mi-16#, which is a 16 x 2 multiviewer for sending any input to any output or both. All SDI embedded audio can be decoded and displayed, UMDs and other labels can be static or dynamic (TSL protocol) and complete Tally management (via GPI or TSL) is available. Two analog and two digital clocks/counters as well as logos can be displayed. Markers, alarms and audio monitoring outputs are also available. Up to 30 different presets can be created, saved and recalled. Control is accomplished via GPI, a hardware and software panel or via the AXP protocol over IP and serial. All Mi-16 configuration is managed over IP using the Java based JDirector application.

Apantac is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with its solutions installed in thousands of facilities in over 50 countries around the world, from Greenland to New Zealand. Apantac equipment supports broadcasters, networks, government facilities, military, high profile sporting events, universities, medical facilities, houses of worship, deep sea and space, as well as many others for numerous AV applications.

About VIDI

VIDI (www.vidi.eu) is a global independent service provider with more than twenty-five years of experience in professional broadcast services. The company offers an expert team that has established an excellent reputation in the industry. VIDI is well based to support its clients worldwide in the field of converging broadcast and telecommunication technologies.