Blackmagic Design's Optical Fiber Takes Gold In Berlin!

Higher, further, faster challenges have been set to broadcast engineers and athletes alike during the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Berlin 2009.
When Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt smashed the 100m World Record, live feeds of the race were being distributed for miles in an instant, thanks to Blackmagic Design.
Several miles of broadcast cabling, 120 camera, 40 Blackmagic Design Optical Fiber Mini Converters and Blackmagic Design's Studio Videohub were among equipment put through their paces last month, during the live HD broadcast of the Championships to 203 countries!
German media service provider Incast were tasked with supplying live video feeds to 3,500 journalists in the Press Gallery, Main Media Centre, International Broadcast Centre, to the host broadcaster BERTA and the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Incast also provided connection for the giant LCD screens inside the Olympic Stadium, and also at the Brandenburg Gate for the Berlin Marathon staged on September 20.
Managing Director of Incast Andreas Wolf explained: "All live feeds went into the Main Control Room of the host broadcasters' International Broadcast Centre, which was 400 metres away from the stadium.
"With 12 SD-SDI and 2 HD-SDI signals running at such long distances, we decided to use optical fiber cabling, as it enables much longer distances and is more affordable than conventional SDI cabling."
Incast opted to use Blackmagic Design Optical Fiber Mini Converters to convert between SDI and optical fiber signals. From the optical fiber converters, the SDI signals went directly into the Blackmagic Design Studio Videohub. Wolf said: "This slim router provided an elegant solution."
Digital signals were converted to analog feeds for Cable TV, to the digital encoding and to the giant LCD screens to provide an unforgettable live viewing experience for the 6,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium and to thousands more around the Brandenburg Gate for the Berlin Marathon.
Wolf said: "The Blackmagic Design Optical Fiber Mini Converters offered three major advantages. Firstly, SD and HD signals can be converted with the same unit and without manual switching. Secondly, the possibility to convert in both directions, optical fiber to SDI and SDI to optical fiber, provided the additional flexibility that we needed. Finally, we consider the 40 converters we used as an investment in our future as they are fully 3Gb/s compatible."
Commenting on Incast's success, Blackmagic Design's Simon Westland, Sales Manager EMEA, said: "This was a hugely important and high profile project, and a demanding test of these products.
"For our Optical Fiber Mini Converters to be used at an event of this magnitude is really exciting as it demonstrates how optical fiber is a practical and affordable solution today."
(KMcA/BMcc)