|
By Kent Larsen
LDS Conference Center Sound and Video System Featured in Broadcast Engineering
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Just in time for the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints' annual General Conference, this month's
Broadcast Engineering details the challenges and equipment used in
the centers audio and video systems, giving a view of the
capabilities of the system. The article, written in part by the
project managers at AZCAR who furnished the system to the LDS Church,
shows not only the effort that went into designing the large, complex
system, but also how that system meets the Church's requirements --
principally the broadcast of General Conference in 60 languages to
locations worldwide.
The requirements for the system were daunting. The Church sought to
provide state-of-the-art audio and video both inside the building and
in feeds available by satellite, the Internet and video tape to
outside TV, Radio and other services and products. In addition to 60
different languages, the system needed to support everything from
microphone jacks throughout both auditoriums in the building to
integration with the existing audio and video systems on Temple
Square and the Church Office Building, controlled from dual control
rooms in the new Conference Center.
For the lay reader, the results are impressive, even if much of the
article mentions unfamiliar equipment and uses technical jargon. The
two production rooms in the Conference Center can both act as live
control rooms and, after an event is finished, act as post production
facilities in which as many as 60 languages can be added to the video
feeds. Because of the large number of microphone jacks required, the
audio system uses multiplexing, which greatly reduced the amount of
cable required, while still providing the flexibility of hundreds of
possible input locations. This is also true of the system's video,
which can draw from 150 different locations in the Center, on Temple
Square and in the Church Office Building. The audio system can also
be upgraded to fully digital audio, all the way from the podium
microphone to the satellite transmitter.
Even the resulting video and audio signals are complex and
impressive. The system can provide video in both the NTSC standard
used in North America, and in the PAL standard used elsewhere in the
world. Typically, following General Conference, the system will send
out a live feed in English, and later send out a feed with as many as
60 different languages on the accompanying audio channels. All so
that LDS Church members can get the messages from the Church's
General Conference.
Source:
System Design Showcase: LDS Conference Center
Broadcast Engineering Mar01 B1
By David George and Phil Livingston
|
