The German companies ARD and ZDF use Lawo V Link4 for their live broadcasts from Rio de Janeiro

For the first time, the broadcast is being handled without a mobile unit on site as the signal delivery to the International Broadcast Center (IBC) 35 kilometers away is carried out with Lawo technology.

The German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF broadcast live on the occasion of the World Cup in Brazil from a set located on a rooftop overlooking Copacabana beach.

For the first time, the broadcast is being handled without a mobile unit on site as the signal delivery to the International Broadcast Center (IBC) 35 kilometers away is carried out with Theirs.

Signal transfer is managed from a Lawo V Link4 unit. The 19" single rack unit device is an all-in-one-box solution for contributing audio and video over IP. For coverage of the World Cup from the studio in Rio de Janeiro, all audio signals are collected by the V Link4 via MADI and transferred over the IP network via Ravenna from Copacabana to the IBC.

In remote production, feedback from presenters is a particularly difficult task, as network delays do not allow direct feedback from the mixer. As a solution, Lawo developed a remote DSP processing unit in collaboration with engineers from ZDF and Südwestrundfunk (host broadcaster of the World Cup in Germany), which allows presenters in the remote studio to control their own voice without an audio delay as if they were in the central studio.

At the main control of ARD and ZDF, the sound is mixed with a Lawo mc² 90 console. Every time a presenter is on air, the desk controls remote processing over the IP network, so the moderator hears his own voice directly. Intelligent interconnections allow so-called IFB (Interrupted Feedback) with interruptions in the program audio when the interior line is activated, working as if you were using a direct local connection on the mobile unit.

Using a simple tablet, microphone preamp settings and attenuation values ​​for the IFB can be quickly changed in very different situations, so it is even possible to produce two programs in parallel from the set in Copacabana. The connection via the V Link4 by Ravenna not only manages the main audio signals, but is also responsible for all intercom channels for cameras and radio devices, as well as for so many.