MediorNet enables decentralized and redundant routing of signals in 'Big Brother VIP'

Riedel's real-time network transports and routes video from more than 70 cameras and audio from four Telecinco reality mixing consoles.

MediorNet, the real-time network of Riedel Communications, is playing a fundamental role behind the scenes in the fifth Spanish edition of the popular reality show VIP Big Brother. MediorNet enables decentralized and redundant transport and routing of signals within the infrastructure of the house of Big Brother located in the mountains of Madrid. The network transports and routes video from more than 70 cameras and audio from 4 mixing consoles. VIP Big Brother, the Spanish version with famous contestants of the already known world format Big Brother The broadcast of its current season began in January.

Crosspoint, distributor of audiovisual equipment and solutions, worked together with the Big Brother VIP production company, Zeppelin TV, which is part of Endemol Shine Iberia, to design and install the MediorNet network in the house of Big Brother. The infrastructure consists of five MediorNet Compact Pro nodes, two MediorNet MetroN nodes and eighteen MediorNet MicroN nodes. These devices, which have a high network signal distribution capacity, are connected by 10 Gbps fiber links and form a decentralized matrix.

José Luis Gacal, technical director of Zeppelin TV assures that "for the program VIP Big Brother We had very complex network needs. The system topology had to be able to handle all the inputs and outputs needed for a program format like this where participants are moving from room to room. It was also necessary to have a single system to synchronize all the cameras.”

"After our experience with MediorNet on another production last year, we knew that the system offers the flexibility, reliability and ease of operation that we needed for this program. An also important factor for us was the modularity of MediorNet, which allows us to reuse components and reconfigure the network to adapt to different types of future productions," adds Gacal.

Signals from 70 cameras

MediorNet's Compact Pro and MicroN nodes are installed in five strategic locations within the house where the contestants live to collect signals originating from seventy cameras. MicroN devices are capable of multiplexing PAN/TILT camera signals and control data and sending them to the engine room over 10G fiber links, a task that would require a large amount of copper cabling if MediorNet were not used. The network is also the audio matrix, routing the audio channels coming from the 4 mixing consoles via MADI. To the MediorNet equipment we must also add some modules from RockNet, Riedel's real-time audio network, which provide additional analog audio inputs and outputs to the production.

In the equipment room, a MetroN chest ensures non-blocking routing of all fiber links in the network. In this room all camera signals are extracted to be delivered to the video switcher. The second MetroN acts as a backup, offering complete redundancy to the system. Redundancy is present throughout the network through dual fiber paths, with one fiber path suspended from the ceiling and another path running under the floor. This complete fiber installation allows MediorNet to re-route signals in the event of a fiber problem.

“In a 24/7 production as complex as this one with 8 simultaneous productions, there was no room for any failure. VIP Big Brother MediorNet has solved many complex technological challenges and has shaped a reliable, fully redundant and easy-to-manage network. This system could serve as a model for other reality programs,” commented Maribel Román, Riedel manager for Southern Europe.

“The MediorNet fiber network has had a direct impact on the production of VIP Big Brother, since it has allowed us to drastically reduce the quantity, weight and costs of wiring in the house. Also, the high signal transport capacity and processing options integrated in MediorNet allow production to manage frame synchronizers for the cameras, embed and de-embed audio, and transport camera control over Ethernet, and all this in a single system,” concludes Román.