DirectOut Prodigy at the heart of NEP's remote audio production design for Dyn Media

The broadcaster specialized in sports Dyn Media has consolidated a remote production workflow developed by NEP Germany, composed of Broadcast Solutions and based on DirectOut.

With the project for NEP Germany y Dyn, DirectOut ventured into an entirely new territory and scale, gaining many new perspectives and technical knowledge regarding workflows, software and the further development of its solutions, a particularly difficult challenge given the short completion time of eight months. Specifically, the audio workflow of the entire infrastructure was based on a comprehensive system solution of DirectOut Technologies composed a Prodigy.MX, 20 Prodigy.MP y 12 Prodigy.MC, as well as units Let's go y Exbox.MD adapted to enable new functions and interfaces.

DirectOut Prodigy tools put the ASM philosophy with modular hardware components, powerful DSP and customizable control. The DirectOut ASM comprises five layers: modular hardware, device functions tailored to specific applications (Skins), control protocols, software, GUI and AI, and ADD-Ons consisting of hardware and software enhancements from other manufacturers. As a result, Dyn Media is able to rely on a high degree of compatibility and interconnectivity in the development of audio workflows throughout the production chain.

Michael Lindermeir, head of audio at NEP Germany GmbH, elaborates on this workflow: "In our conceptual approach, the decision to use the Prodigy series was due to its fit with our requirements: integrating several decentralized mixing consoles with freely configurable DSP functions within an ST 2110 audio network; configuring and controlling all existing audio devices from several workstations using a common software. The fact that several of the control protocols currently available are integrated into the devices “PRODIGY also helped achieve all of our workflow goals. Simultaneously, we were able to independently develop and program autonomous cross-manufacturer control advancement of all devices in the facility.”

The interconnection between NEP and Dyn Media

The headquarters of NEP in Munich, which contains the central equipment room, two control rooms and the Network Operations Center (NOC), dialogues with the Cologne Dyn facilities, with four control rooms and commentary positions. The integration of the headquarters is achieved through an MPLS connection from Riedel to Munich and Cologne. This way, Dyn has access to all of Munich's resources and can control them remotely.

Two Prodigy.MP and two Prodigy.MC are in operation at each of the six locations; Additionally, in Munich there are seven Prodigy.MP and one Prodigy.MX, while in Cologne one PRODIGY.MP is used. These devices act as audio crossover points for streams and as gateways between networks, performing the entire audio workflow, including I/O, audio processing and mixing. In this way, they are able to manage the audio signals to and from venues, intercom signals and commentator audio.

A development based on SMPTE ST 2110

NEP Germany's entire Dyn infrastructure is based on SMPTE ST 2110 and depends largely on the automation of production workflows. The Prodigy's AutoMix function allows engineers to call up multiple Automixes depending on the sport, simplifying their daily lives. On the other hand, the globcon control software allows Prodigy units to be easily configured, while production teams work with the HControl.16 hardware controllers developed explicitly for this project.

Additionally, switching of the Prodigy is also possible through units Stream Deck at workstations. The audio supervisor can Monitor multiple matches from a single workstation, with an integration that allows the finished PGM audio signals to follow the PGM video signals.

Since the entire installation is based on ST 2110, audio signals from the venues are converted to ST 2110-30 / AES 67 streams via Ravenna cards on the Prodigy.MPs on site. The modules Ravenna Of all Prodigys have enough buffer to compensate for WAN fluctuations and carry 30 audio signals in total between the headquarters and Munich. The mode mirror with a second Prodigy also guarantees the necessary redundancy for this type of environment, a tool that complements the Input Manager of the Prodigy.MX, which automatically changes to a reservation sign when receiving a stream without audio content.