Barix AG, a pioneer in IP-based audio, intercom, control, and monitoring, announces that more than 1000 Barix Audio over IP devices were used for contribution, distribution and monitoring of live broadcast audio for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, held from 3-14 October, were considered the largest multisport event staged in India. More than 6000 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 disciplines. Host broadcaster Prasat Bharathi, India's largest public broadcaster, produced the official ‘International Signal’ live from 12 competition venues.
Prasat Bharathi contracted Mahanahar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), a telecom service provider and the largest provider of broadband services in Delhi, to install and operate a redundant fibre network from all 12 venues to the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), transporting IP audio over MPLS. The IBC managed and delivered more than 40 contribution and 250 coordination feeds to and from the venues, and served as the origination point for broadcast signals delivered globally to rights holders.
Barix Exstreamer 1000 professional IP encoding/decoding devices were the core audio transport solutions, with special firmware from Barix to deliver very low-latency audio (between 20-30 milliseconds of delay). Redundant pairs of Exstreamer 1000 devices contributed live sports commentary and broadcast-quality event audio from each venue to the IBC. Many broadcast facilities receiving live feeds from the IBC used Barix Exstreamer devices to receive and decode the program audio.
MTNL, using Barix IP audio and Cisco network components, established an IP network that exceeded the performance levels of traditional telephone links, and met the signal quality requirements of all broadcast partners. Barix IP devices additionally provided SNMP traps that allowed personnel to monitor the links from the MTNL network centre at the company's operational headquarters.
Jidendra Garg, deputy general manager of MNTL, recognised the success of the IP network, noting feedback from home broadcasters and rights holders that indicated high channel availability, reliable bilateral audio feeds, and superior quality of the coordination circuits. He opined that the IP coordination circuits provided bandwidth capacity equal to the IP contribution circuits -- not possible with traditional links.
Garg also observed that the production partner, SIS Live; and GTV, the official broadcasting partner to Prasar Bharathi, were very satisfied with the Audio over IP delivery achieved through Barix. He expressed appreciation over the high level of professional support that Barix and systems integration partners HCL Infosystems and BNA Technology Consulting offered through the duration of the event.
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