Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
07/04/2022

Merging Teams Up With NEP Australia

News Image
NEP Australia is the largest outside broadcast facilitator in the country with ten centralised control rooms, 14 Outside Broadcast trucks and operations coming from 70 venues across the country.

As one of the first adopters of IP technology, NEP knows first-hand the importance of having equipment that can operate in a very large network that needs to be flexible and routable.

A positive experience with an OEM product using Merging's ZMAN as the RAVENNA/AES67 connectivity led to NEP’s Michael Saliba researching the MERGING+ANUBIS for a possible native IP commentary unit solution. What he saw was a neat-looking touch screen device with a small desktop footprint that seemed to have some features already that might be helpful for a commentator or announcer to use. The loan of a unit confirmed that it did have enough functionality in the Monitor Mission product for rudimentary operation but with some adaptation, it would provide the sort of ST2110 and NMOS compatibility that other commentary units lacked.

Another big advantage was the full functionality and control within Anubis, such as on-board dynamics, equalization, and the ability to trigger the dim function, thus removing the need to route the commentary through other hardware such as audio consoles or intercom systems. Not only was Anubis suited to this environment, but it was also a product that had been in use for some years at the NEP Group's facility. This meant that the stability of the unit could be verified, and some software had been developed to integrate Anubis into the NEP network.

An approach to Merging with a detailed product proposal led to the development of a beta version that ticked almost all the boxes. The incentive to complete the project and deliver sufficient units in time for the Australian Open Tennis was too good an opportunity to miss.

The tight schedule leading up to the Australian Open Tennis meant that the proposed introduction of the Anubis commentary units could not be discussed with the client until late in the day. There were alternatives on offer, but the demonstration was convincing enough to gain approval to use them in locations close to the engineering support team to aid training. In practice, the units were easy enough to operate for the commentators to feel comfortable rather quickly.

Michael Saliba is a leading Audio and Communications Engineer with over twenty years’ experience of working at NEP and has been very much at the forefront of the pioneering needed to get a native 2110 IP facility to deliver on its promise. "We work closely with many of our suppliers to modify products to meet our project specifications and often find ourselves innovating and creating new products. Merging were willing to listen and very responsive. What they produced as a beta version was very near to being broadcast-ready and required only minor adjustments. One of the huge advantages for me has been the web UI that allows remote access to the Anubis. This is so important these days as we are often in a different state from the commentary positions. The potential for additional features and its inherent flexibility can take it far beyond what it offers today, and we are continuing to develop those ideas with Merging."

Since the Australian Open Tennis finished, the commentary units are now being deployed on the pre-season football games with a complete roll out planned to upgrade all NEP Australia's native IP facilities by the end of 2022
Dominique Brulhart, Merging's Head of Software who worked with Michael Saliba on the project added: "It has been a real pleasure to work with Michael and his team who gave us a truly excellent product definition and explained the requirements of a commentary unit that was fit for purpose in a networked environment. The fact that Anubis has already been used on these prestigious sporting events is a huge vote of confidence for us. We are looking forward to realising other unique features driven by their experience and vision for the future."

The plan for the commercial launch of the MERGING+ANUBIS Commentary Mission is planned to coincide with the NAB Show in April 2022.

www.merging.com
VMI.TV Ltd

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

18/07/2024
Cinegy To Launch Two New Air Product Bundles
Cinegy is launching two new Air product bundles and an AI-powered automatic subtitling product at IBC2024. Visitors to the Cinegy stand this year will
30/05/2024
Marshall To Highlight Newest Product Offerings
Marshall Electronics is to highlight several of its newest product offerings at InfoComm 2024 (Booth C8982), including the CV612 auto-tracking PTZ cam
03/09/2024
Magewell Expands Renowned USB Capture Product Family
Magewell's USB Capture family has long been the gold standard for professional video capture devices, earning a reputation for being the easiest and m
30/08/2024
Canon Showcases Enhanced Product Lineup At IBC 2024
Canon Europe is returning to the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) taking place at the RAI Amsterdam, 13 – 16 September 2024. At this year's
13/08/2024
Ross Video To Demonstrate Latest Product Innovations At IBC 2024
Ross Video is participating in IBC2024, taking place September 13-16 in the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center. Ross will demonstrate its latest product
20/09/2022
Four Distributors In The Powerhouse Alliance Now Carry Bluestream Product Line
Blustream and its US strategic partner RTI have announced that four distributors in the PowerHouse Alliance are now carrying the Blustream product lin
10/10/2024
Pixel Power Is The New Centre Of Excellence For R&S Software-Defined Media Product Portfolio
Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company, is the new centre of excellence for the Rohde & Schwarz software-defined media product portfolio. Whilst conti
15/05/2012
Glensound Talk SPORT
Last month, the UK’s only dedicated sports radio station, talkSPORT, announced that they have agreed a deal with the Premier League for an exclusive p
29/06/2007
Visual Effects Artist Charlie Cassidy Joins UNIT From Triangle Post
UNIT has announced the launch of UNIT Effects, a new in-house visual effects division, which provides a full range of 2D and 3D effects across all gen
25/06/2018
NEP Belgium Runs Broadcast Solutions OB Unit 18
NEP Belgium has ran its first unit of Broadcast Solutions' Streamline OB Van family. Unit 18, the newly added production vehicle, is an S8L and repres
11/07/2016
HHB Supplies Audio Equipment For NEP UK's New UHD OB Unit
Extensive audio equipment for outside broadcast provider NEP UK has been supplied by HHB Communications. The equipment is for its new UHD OB unit. Pac
02/05/2018
NEP Expands Presence In Italy
NEP has expanded its reach in Italy with the opening of a new office and the employment of a new General Manager. NEP also announced it has entered in
18/09/2018
NEP The Netherlands Scoops SVG Sport Production Award
NEP The Netherlands has scooped an SVG Europe Sport Production Award 2018 for its work at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with its Remote Co
24/10/2018
NEP To Exhibit At SPORTEL Monaco
NEP Group is to exhibit at SPORTEL Monaco from October 22-24, at booth B03/B04, Level 0 of the Ravel Exhibition Hall in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
16/10/2024
FOR-A Provides Key Technology For New OB Unit
FOR-A has provided the key technology for a new outside broadcast unit commissioned by Production Crew. The new truck was designed and built by Dubai-