KTOO 360TV and Alaska Capitol deepen interconnection with Riedel MediorNet

Riedel Communications‘ MediorNet distributed AV network infrastructure marks a new era for KTOO 360TV, a public television station that covers all things government from the Alaska Capitol building.

Le Riedel MediorNet signal processing and distribution system connects six buildings in Juneau, a city physically isolated by mountains and water. The solution ties into the KTOO main routing system to handle all video and audio inputs, connecting the community and all of Alaska to events at the Alaska Capitol. The MediorNet deployment is part of a larger project that brought new robotic cameras et high-definition video production equipment to the four television control rooms.

Le MédiorNet installation at KTOO 360TV includes 15 MicroN devices interconnected with high-speed fibre links. These nodes are distributed throughout the KTOO control rooms and the legislature, as well as the Capitol building. Within the Capitol, MediorNet connects all SDI feeds to each meeting room while providing return feeds, a full two-way link between the two control facilities and a connection to a nearby state museum.

Together, the Riedel MediorNet and legacy routing systems provide 300 SDI inputs and outputs, with more than 4,500 channels of audio routing. The Capitol’s inputs are grouped by room using a series of presets. With just a few taps on a Riedel SmartPanel RSP-2318 at each control position, production teams can instantly route inputs as needed for any production. The system for KTOO 360TV, while launched in HD 1080i, is fully 3G-SDI ready.

Supporting remote production

Mikko Wilson, production manager for KTOO 360TV, explains that this remote camera setup brings the ability to work remotely and distributed around the campus: “The quality of the coverage has gone way up. We used to miss events due to setup time. Now what used to take 15 minutes or more to move from room to room only requires two button pushes. The system is super user friendly and flexible. We now have access to more content, such as multiple views of camera feeds and direct access to computers for sharing PowerPoints,” he explains.

According to Wilson, KTOO 360TV felt “shooting blind”, however with “MediorNet’s zero delay, flexibility, and multiviewer feature, we can see what we are shooting on the return feed in real time. A TV operator in Portland can get the return feed at home even.”

Meanwhile, Patti Gunnell, vice president of major accounts at Riedel, praises the MediorNet installation: “If you’re watching proceedings from the Alaska Capitol building, you’re probably seeing MediorNet at work. This new project in Juneau is a great example of the innovative solutions including forward-looking, software-defined, distributed audio and video network infrastructure that Riedel offers.”