Advanced Television

RT gears up for HD broadcasting with Lawo

January 21, 2014

Serving an overseas audience of 630 million people in more than 100 countries, Russia’s RT television network carries a wide range of documentaries, talk shows, debates, sports and cultural programmes, supported by round-the-clock news bulletins. Having recently moved home, the state-run broadcaster now operates from a new studio complex in Moscow, where it has recently been equipping for HD transmission of its programming.

Requiring what Lawo’s International Sales & Project Manager Phil Hey describes as an ‘extraordinary redundancy level’, RT turned to Lawo for a particularly extensive network to support its new operation.

Previously known as Russia Today, RT has included studios for its English, Arabic and Spanish channels, along with a Green Studio, Production Studio and a Backup Studio in its new facility. The complex is a combination of modern architecture and classic industrial buildings, fully renovated and equipped with a state-of-the art technical installation.

The project got underway in November 2011 under contractor OKNO-TV, with Lawo subsequently being recruited to provide the heart of the audio infrastructure. Now fully operational, it represents a massive step forward over RT’s old studios. The broadcaster had been using Lawo zirkon consoles for production duties at its old facility and is now using no fewer than six Lawo mc²66 MkII main on-air/production consoles and three crystal desks for voiceover work, along with a Lawo Nova73 HD as its central I/O routing matrix and seven mxGUI servers providing additional remote GUIs.

The Nova73HD provides RAVENNA, AES3, MADI and SDH/STM-1interfaces, and features a hot-plug capability and online configuration that allows reconfiguration and expansion of a system even during a live broadcast. Additionally, Lawo’s STAR technology provides an exceptionally high level of redundancy and failsafe operation.

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