AVCOM, a prominent systems integrator and Clear-Com® Partner in Hod-HaSharon, Israel, has always had the approach of uncompromised quality and dedication to the project at hand. And for this year’s premier football championship event, it was no different. Making good use of the robust IP connectivity between Dohar, Qatar, and Jerusalem, Israel’s free-to-air public television station KAN Channel 11 partnered with AVCOM to outfit its new OB Van for remote production coverage for its Israeli audience. KAN 11’s coverage included multiple tournament matches, exclusive interviews, studio reporting, and post-game commentary. The primary goal of the communication system was to connect the production crew in the OB van in Israel, the camera team at the venues, and the presenters located in the KAN studio in Qatar. With a month of play and eight venues within a 21-mile radius, production team communications needed to be seamless and reliable.
“As part of our overall planning, communications are always a core part of our technology strategy,” comments Tsachi Korner, Senior Presales Engineer at AVCOM. “The production value is always enhanced when the crew can communicate clearly and quickly. Collaborating with Clear-Com on this championship has simply reinforced that their extensive experience in these types of large-scale and often high-pressure events ensures we have a flawless result for our communications.”
The precise coordination between groups of people in a variety of locations working on a production together can certainly be challenging. KAN’s decision to remotely produce its tournament coverage at home required them to increase their communication reach even more.
AVCOM worked closely with Clear-Com to configure an integrated wired and wireless communications intercom infrastructure for KAN, with an Eclipse® HX Digital Matrix Intercom System at the heart of the system. Eclipse seamlessly interfaces with endpoints including the V-Series Iris™ IP User keypanels and FreeSpeak® beltpacks, supporting direct point-to-point, one-to-many group, partyline, and group connections.
The Eclipse E-IPA high-density IP interface cards provided low-latency streams and high bandwidth support, ensuring that KAN Channel 11 had full compatibility with all the network audio standards, the ability to run its digital audio matrix on a standard IP network, and link all its Clear-Com products. According to Tsachi, moving audio over IP was a “huge technological advantage” for this application.
“We looked closely at the Eclipse digital matrix as we really needed the non-blocking, bi-directional collaborative workflow that it offers,” he said. “Plus, with the V-Series panels, the KAN crew can communicate over uncompressed audio IP streams for exceptionally high-quality audio from intercom user to user with minimal latency.”
AVCOM also added Dante interfaces and MADI cards to KAN’s communication system for an easy way to integrate intercom signals and provide interoperability with a Dante-based audio-over-IP infrastructure. Although not specific to this event, the addition of a FreeSpeak II® digital wireless intercom system including the wireless beltpacks and IP-connected transceivers provides KAN with an untethered connection for future productions.
When asked why Clear-Com was the “clear” choice, both AVCOM and KAN explained that the long-term experience of the company, product versatility and reliability, and their own familiarity with the equipment were the defining decision-making factors. “By using Clear-Com equipment, we’re able to make our production process much smoother,” said Tsachi. “We’re always confident when we propose the Clear-Com solutions to our clients, as they are so reliable and scalable, and offer such powerful capabilities. This enables our clients to produce a superior event.”