HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K.—NEP U.K. deployed 15 Calrec consoles, networking, routing tech and I/O boxes for Wimbledon 2019 coverage, the company said today.

Three more Calrec consoles—one each for coverage of Centre Court, Court One and Court Two—were used in NEP outside broadcast trucks covering the tournament.

“We have worked extensively with Calrec over the years,” said NEP Broadcast Services sound engineer Jimmy Parkin. “The networking flexibility and easy scalability of their technology were central to the success of this Wimbledon 2019 project.”

Wimbledon Broadcast Services (WBS) served as host broadcaster for the second year. An IP video network was deployed using SMPTE ST 2110. The Calrec consoles were connected to the host broadcast network.

Ten Calrec Summa and one Brio console, including consoles for the Wimbledon Channel and the media center, were deployed. NEP also worked with a major U.S. broadcaster for coverage, including streaming, using an additional three Calrec consoles—two Artemis and one Brio—in the network’s three control rooms.

“We needed audio operators to be able to easily access any source from any court without having to move anything or plug anything in; any console can ‘talk’ with any other console on the network,” said Parkin.

“We also needed to integrate IP networks with Calrec’s Hydra 2 networking technology and using their interfaces made this very easy. Pre-event offsite planning, using Calrec’s H2O GUI for the Hydra 2network, meant that we could accurately name and label ports before any hardware was connected.”

The entire Calrec deployment “worked seamlessly,” with resources appearing on the network and then being able to be moved across the network effortlessly, he added.

SARASOTA, FLA.—NEP U.K. is doing its own kind of preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics, recently placing an order for $535,000 worth of equipment from xG Technology subsidiary Vislink.

The order was for Vislink’s HEVC 4K-capable HCAM wireless camera systems with focal point camera control. The HCAM systems permit 4K UHD wireless video with a 70ms latency via Vislink’s RF modulation.

NEP U.K. is expected to utilize the recently acquired gear for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea and The Commonwealth Games in Australia in August 2018.

MARLOW, ENGLAND—NEP UK is one of the early adopters of TSL Products’ MPA1 Solo SDI monitoring product, announcing it will install 14 units into its new OB truck that will be tasked with covering sporting events.

The MPA1 units will provide operators with an audio monitoring tool that will enable them to view all of the 16 embedded channels simultaneously while allowing any channel to be selected for monitoring. The platform also features a built-in web server to manage the channel names and system parameters remotely over and Ethernet network. The operators will be able to view audio levels, signal status and format via a user-friendly web GUI.

The NEP HD truck is currently under production and in addition to the MPA1 Solo SDI units will include 24 cameras, eight EVS playback servers and 14 positions for VT operators, radio camera control operators and a technical manager.