Mediatec equips, and interconnects, its entire fleet of mobile units with Riedel MediorNet

Riedel's MediorNet helps the Swedish company work on its mobiles with greater flexibility, while cutting unnecessary costs in installation, production and maintenance.

The Swedish Mediatec has equipped its entire fleet of mobile production units with MediorNet infrastructure from Riedel. Mediatec has installed a total of twenty MediorNet Compact PRO and MediorNet Modular systems on ten mobile phones.

Paul Henriksen, CEO of Mediatec, believes that "the future of mobile production lies within flexible configuration scenarios that can be adapted to specific applications as necessary. In relation to MediorNet from Riedel, this new approach not only offers us more flexibility, but also helps us cut unnecessary expenses in installation, production and maintenance."

The cost of operating mobile units is a crucial factor in their profitability. Although large vehicles are sometimes necessary, they often represent a significant cost overhead, especially when only a fraction of the system is used for a specific application or event. Instead of operating a fleet of several large vans, Mediatec uses a wide range of medium-sized mobile units that can be joined together and expanded to form larger systems.

At the heart of this work scheme we find the solution for transporting video, audio, communications and data signals over Riedel MediorNet fiber. When the individual MediorNet systems installed in Mediatec units are connected, they form an integrated infrastructure that functions as a single system, thus significantly expanding configuration options.

Depending on the application environment, the mobile units are equipped with different MediorNet configurations. While three vehicles offer a capacity of up to 12 HD-SDI inputs/outputs via MediorNet MN-HD-6-IO video cards, five units offer eight HD-SDI-I/O. The two smaller vehicles feature MediorNet OB PRO Compact systems instead of MediorNet modular systems and offer four inputs and outputs each in HD-SDI. Mediatec also uses the MediorNet backbone to distribute signals from its Artist Riedel digital matrix intercom system. The Media Library fleet is equipped with Artist 128 mainframes and Artist Series 1000 control panels, which seamlessly interface with MediorNet in a single integrated infrastructure.

To enable the video connection between two remote locations, Mediatec has equipped each mobile unit with a stage rack system consisting of one or two MediorNet Compact PRO devices. Connected via single fiber links, Mediatec stageboxes can carry up to 16 high-definition video signals to mobile units.

Eurovision

Uno de los primeros eventos en los que Mediatec utilizó ampliamente esta tecnología fue con motivo del Festival de Eurovisión 2013 en Malmö, Suecia. En este caso, MediorNet logró interconectar fácilmente con otros sistemas de Riedel, así como con las 31 cabinas de comentarista que Riedel había equipado por encargo del host broadcaster ​​SVT. La configuración de cabina de comentarista constaba de 31 paneles de control Artist PCCh, más 31 interfaces Trio Connect, siete marcos MediorNet y ocho mainframes Artist.

"A live production on the scale of the Eurovision Song Contest is always a big challenge, especially in terms of setting up and maintaining the infrastructure. Riedel's MediorNet system helped us enormously by minimizing cabling and configuration," said Henriksen.