Media Links, manufacturer and pioneer in Media over IP transport technology, announces that its equipment was selected as the premier transport technology of choice for this year’s world-renowned soccer event in Russia.
Research company GlobalWebIndex forecast total viewership of 3.4 billion, or nearly half the total world population of 7.6 billion, for the entire tournament. Some are even calling it the best-ever World Cup.
The Media Links Media over IP technology solutions, which includes the MD8000 and MDP3000 solutions for this project, were used to transport UHD and 3G content from all the soccer stadiums to the International Broadcast Center (IBC) as well as from the IBC to distribution points across the world. Camera signals from each stadium were encapsulated in compressed video formats over IP and transported over redundant fiber paths back to the IBC. For enhanced resiliency, the majority of video and data circuits were delivered over hitless transport services. For some matches, a major international broadcaster based in Japan, used ASI streams for 8K transmission back to the IBC.
Additionally, Media Links equipment connected Red Square in Moscow to the IBC for various TV interviews and imagery.
The International Broadcast Center (IBC) served as the technical nerve center for all the international media broadcasters covering this sporting event. It is the place where all the direct stadium broadcast feeds from the Media Links MD8000 and MDP3000 equipment for all 64 matches were sent before final TV, Internet, mobile device and radio distribution all around the world.
Media links technology also played a role in a key innovation at this year’s Soccer event; the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, a sophisticated video reviewing system. This innovative new approach was designed to improve the accuracy of referee’s calls and remove the subjectivity from key play fouls and penalties. Using Media Links equipment, all relevant camera feeds from 12 stadiums were sent to a centralized video operations room where the referees officiating in the stadium communicate with the VAR team to make sure their calls were as accurate as possible. All by way of slow-motion video replay.
The Media Links ProMD EMS management system software was used to setup, monitor/view the status of all media feeds from each stadium to the IBC, manage as well as troubleshoot all IP transport hardware, services and trunks in the IP network.
Media Links worked closely with its strategic partner, European systems integrator VIDI GmbH, to implement this large-scale technology infrastructure.
