MultiDyne to Provide Fiber Transport Systems for Broadcast of Vancouver Winter Games

As the Olympic torch is carried into BC Place Stadium for the official opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Games, MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic System’s HD-1500 Fiber Optic Link will be in action transmitting signals from the announcer booths and red carpet. MultiDyne, a premier provider of fiber optic-based video and audio transport and routing solutions for broadcast and pro A/V applications, was chosen to supply its HD-1500 and LiGHTBoX® field fiber transport systems for the Canadian broadcast by CP Communications, the largest provider of wireless equipment to the sports broadcasting industry.

For this year’s opening ceremonies, CP Communications required the option of monitoring both HD and SDI signals and wanted to transport video back and forth from its client’s announcer booths to the network’s broadcast trucks. As a longtime user of MultiDyne equipment and with over 60 HD-1500 links in-house, CP Communications knew that the HD-1500 was one of the few products on the market designed for monitoring multiple formats in one single unit. With this in mind, the HD-1500 was incorporated into booth kits assembled for the client’s French, English, combined French/English mix and red carpet announce booth kits of equipment to be used during the Games’ opening ceremonies.

“Reliable products are important for any project, but the Olympics and the live broadcast of the opening ceremonies absolutely steps up that need a notch,” says Kurt Heitmann, senior vice president of sales for CP Communications. “Security is also tighter for a major event of this stature, so you have to be able to rely on the equipment you ship in because you don’t have the opportunity to replace a product if it stops working. We have never had a failure with a MultiDyne product, and that gives us the confidence to recommend the HD-1500 to our customers, who are very comfortable using a high-quality solution like MultiDyne’s HD-1500 at this year’s opening ceremonies.”

Beyond its reputation with CP Communications for reliability, Heitmann also touts the HD-1500 as user-friendly, noting that the solution is easily rack-mountable unlike other smaller devices on the market that do not come with rack mounts. Further, as other products have much smaller displays, Heitmann appreciates the HD-1500’s large LED indicators for data rate, HD, lock and power that aid users who need to quickly identify certain functions.

In addition to the HD-1500 links, CP Communications will also provide clients at the Olympics with custom LiGHTBoX field fiber transport systems that will be used to transport audio and data bi-directionally as well as provide two-wire to four-wire communications for the camera operator.

“With MultiDyne, you can customize just about any product,” says Heitmann. “Their customer service is above and beyond and they are very flexible; they will work with you to develop unique, cost-effective products for you and your customers. We worked closely with them on the custom LiGHTBoX units and we just wouldn’t have been able to do that with some other manufacturers. As a company, we think MultiDyne is tops.”