NLP Charts YLE Finland's Route To Success

A leading producers of digital audio routers and signal processors, NTP Technology, has completed the first phase of a new routing system expansion at the Helsinki TV production studios of Finland's state broadcaster, Yleisradio (YLE).
"YLE has been using NTP digital audio equipment for eight years both in its television and radio operations," commented NTP Sales Director Mikael Vest.
"This latest installation centres on our new 625-804 router which was commissioned in time for coverage of the Vancouver Olympics. It is configured as a 2048 x 2048 matrix including MADI interconnections to third-party audio mixing consoles.
"The flexibility of NTP's control software allows YLE to control external video routers and SDI audio embedding/extraction from the same GUI as the audio and MADI matrices.
"The new 625-804 is connected to an existing 625-803 router which is being used as a discrete routing node. Both are located in the main MCR equipment room. We are also working with YLE on new control applications for Dolby 5.1 surround sound monitoring," he explained.
He also noted that NTP's 625-804 digital audio router is a four-TDM-bus modular system based on the 625-800 19 inch 5 U chassis.
This houses up to 18 plug-in modules configured as 5 U high hot-swappable cards. Each chassis is scalable up to 2048 x 2048 crosspoints and can accommodate a redundant power supply and redundant frame controller.
The supporting range of modules includes a sampling-rate converter, analogue I/O, AES/EBU I/O, microphone input, MADI interfaces, CPU/clock, QNX-based frame controller, optical interfaces and TDM interfaces.
All I/O cards incorporate gain, filtering, summing, phase, delay, compressor/limiter, level detection and phase detection. NTP's VMC660 software controls the router system in terms of crosspoints, scheduling and signal surveillance.
Finland's national public service broadcasting company, YLE operates four national television channels and six radio channels and services complemented by 25 regional radio programmes.
Unusually, YLE's services to the public also cover special and minority groups. YLE's operations are financed mainly by television fee (€224.30 per year), and programming carries no advertising.
The company is 99.9% state-owned and supervised by an Administrative Council appointed by the Finnish parliament.
(BMcC/GK)