NZME
NZME
Approach
A new, world-class Technology Hub for New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), located at 151 Victoria Street would see the amalgamation of employees located at over 4 separate sites under one roof. NZME comprises the New Zealand Herald, GrabOne, APN and several national Radio Stations.
The new facilities include new studios for the radio stations; a TV studio; an entertainment lounge with capacity to accommodate 350 people; several floors of meeting rooms varying in size; a new Boardroom and a News Bridge.
Audio Visual requirements were split across 3 facets:
News Bridge
A series of LED TV’s mounted on a truss/gantry, logically grouped together and tuned into content, emanating from an existing Triax Headend server and relevant to each of the various news divisions. The system would allow for presets to control how the LED displays were logically grouped and allow for a manual override, meaning that any LED display could be set to specific content at the end user’s discretion. Preset switching was to be automated and based upon time of day meaning that user intervention would be kept to a minimum. Control of the News Bridge should be achievable with the use of an iPad and should be intuitive, requiring minimal end-user operational training.
Entertainment/iHeart Lounge and Boardroom
The iHeart Lounge is a large space dedicated to hosting events which feature both local and international celebrity personalities. The lounge can be partitioned off with an operable wall at the room’s north end in order to create a totally, independent meeting room featuring its own projector on the western end of the room, as well as an audio system. Wireless presentation of content would be the primary method of connectivity for shared content within the independent meeting room. Presentation of content to the lounge proper, should include the ability for wireless connectivity to be projected onto a large screen at the northern end of the lounge.
The lounge’s installed audio system would cater for three different modes of operation including: “Background Music”; “Presentation” and “Concert”. In “Background Music” mode, the audio system would be fed an input from the existing cloud system.
A 3 x 3 video wall installed on the Eastern end of the room would augment the main projection display when presenting content to the Lounge, whilst a 5 x 3 video wall located in the Foyer outside the Lounge can be used to show promotional material. Additional inputs into the system called for wired connectivity; 2 x OneLan Media Players and Freeview TV. The system will allow for replication of video input content to the display devices or allow for each one of the three display devices to display any one of the video sources independently. Switching between “Combined” or “Standalone/Meeting Room” modes of operation as well as control of the audio system’s operation would be achieved through an iPad and again would be logical and intuitive requiring minimal end-user training. Two iPads, one located in the “Meeting Room” section of the Lounge and one located at the Reception desk, at the Southern end of the Lounge, are available for control.
The Boardroom
The Boardroom shares a partition with one of the Radio stations and is accessible from the iHeart Lounge, is where key content from stakeholders will be presented and discussed. The room required projection of shared content through the choice of either wireless of wired connectivity with ample sound enhancement being provided. Other input sources include 2 x OneLan Media Players; Freeview TV as well as an existing Tandberg Videoconferencing (VC) comprising two LED displays.
When videoconferencing, only the LED displays will be utilised, when presenting content to the room for discussion, the projector will be used. In essence, the Boardroom would have access to all input sources available to the iHeart Lounge with the addition of videoconferencing being specific to the Boardroom. An iPad was designated for control of the system which includes switching between VC and presentation, adjusting volume levels and selecting input sources.
Meeting Rooms
– 5 x controlled rooms in total consisting of a projector and audio enhancement system. Input sources included wired and wireless presentation as well as Freeview. A wall-mounted keypad was deemed suitable for AV Control.
Solution
News Bridge
24 x 55” Samsung Hospitality LED Displays were affixed to a truss mount with a further 4 x 48” Samsung Hospitality LED displays. An AMX NX-3200 was installed as the central processor. Initially the Samsung LED had been selected for the ability to run RS-232 commands as well as having an-built tuner which would allow for connectivity to the Triax headend. However, as the RS-232 turned out to be problematic, IR-control of the LED’s was implemented. A Coaxial cabling infrastructure linked each LED to the Triax, whilst a network cable at each LED allowed for IR control over CAT5 by way of the Kramer IR to CAT5 interface unit. The IR devices were linked to the NX-3200 via a POE network switch, from where the control strings are generated. 8 Presets automated by the time of day were programmed into the DX-2200.
Additionally an iPad Air 2 allows for users to manually switch between presets with the added functionality of being able to drill down to a specific LED and select specific content for that display. An iPort Launchport base station featuring induction charging, was installed as the iPads dock. This is a 24 x 7 area and so equipment reliability and ease of control were both paramount to the proposed solution.
iHeart Lounge/ Boardroom
The main display for the Lounge comprises a Panasonic 10,000 Lumen, FHD, DLP projector with a Screen Technics 180” 10:9 motorised projection screen. The display for the independent meeting room function comprises a Panasonic 7,000 Lumen FHD, DLP Projector with a Screen Technics 140” motorised projection screen. The two video walls within the area consist of 55” Panasonic video wall LED displays. For the Boardroom, another Panasonic 7,000 Lumen FHD, DLP Projector with a Screen Technics 140” motorised projection screen was installed. As the Boardroom would have access to several of the same inputs to which the iHeart Lounge would have access, it was deemed appropriate to “share” these inputs and to have each of these selectable on any of the displays across both of these rooms/areas. This was achieved with the installation of the AMX DGX 16 x 16 frame.
In terms of inputs local to each room/area, this comprised of one multi-format, auto-switching CAT 5 transmitter located within a floor box. Inputs local to the rack were made up of 2 x OneLan Media Players; 2 x Freeview STB’s; 2 x TEQ AVIT WIPS710 Wireless gateways. All outputs to the various displays in both areas were over CAT5. Scaling of all inputs was handled either by a scaling receiver at each input for inputs remote to the rack or by way of an Atlona HDMI scaler. As all source inputs were scaled at the input stage, this then negated the use of scaling receivers at each display. Signal to all displays from the DGX was handled by CAT5 transmission.
The iPad Air 2 was installed for control utilising AMX’s App and iRoom wall docks consisting of electronic iPad release from the dock were installed to house each iPad. The iRoom wall dock also has an LED keypad which can be utilised as a backup control panel should the iPad be non-functional. Utilising the iPad for control, end-users are able to control all display functionality within the areas. Source inputs can be selected on an individual bases or can me mirrored to all displays at the touch of a button.
For the audio system, a Harman solution that would cater for the three different modes of audio operation required – with particular emphasis on the ability to cater for a mini-concert, was presented. The brief was to provide the ability for the likes of Ed Sheeran to perform an impromptu gig for staff and guests within the iHeart Lounge. Additionally the system would also need to cater for the independent meeting room function as well as the Boardroom. In order to achieve this a BSS London Blu-100 was installed at the rack which accepted localised input from various sources such as the DGX and sound cloud BGM system. The audio from the DSP is transmitted to an audio rack mounted to the ceiling of the iHeart lounge over Blu-link while BSS BOB units breakout the audio and send it to three amplifiers responsible for driving the various installed JBL speakers. The speaker design was achieved through EASE modelling.
iHeart Lounge/ Boardroom
The main display for the Lounge comprises a Panasonic 10,000 Lumen, FHD, DLP projector with a Screen Technics 180” 10:9 motorised projection screen. The display for the independent meeting room function comprises a Panasonic 7,000 Lumen FHD, DLP Projector with a Screen Technics 140” motorised projection screen. The two video walls within the area consist of 55” Panasonic video wall LED displays. For the Boardroom, another Panasonic 7,000 Lumen FHD, DLP Projector with a Screen Technics 140” motorised projection screen was installed. As the Boardroom would have access to several of the same inputs to which the iHeart Lounge would have access, it was deemed appropriate to “share” these inputs and to have each of these selectable on any of the displays across both of these rooms/areas. This was achieved with the installation of the AMX DGX 16 x 16 frame.
In terms of inputs local to each room/area, this comprised of one multi-format, auto-switching CAT 5 transmitter located within a floor box. Inputs local to the rack were made up of 2 x OneLan Media Players; 2 x Freeview STB’s; 2 x TEQ AVIT WIPS710 Wireless gateways. All outputs to the various displays in both areas were over CAT5. Scaling of all inputs was handled either by a scaling receiver at each input for inputs remote to the rack or by way of an Atlona HDMI scaler. As all source inputs were scaled at the input stage, this then negated the use of scaling receivers at each display. Signal to all displays from the DGX was handled by CAT5 transmission.
The iPad Air 2 was installed for control utilising AMX’s App and iRoom wall docks consisting of electronic iPad release from the dock were installed to house each iPad. The iRoom wall dock also has an LED keypad which can be utilised as a backup control panel should the iPad be non-functional. Utilising the iPad for control, end-users are able to control all display functionality within the areas. Source inputs can be selected on an individual bases or can me mirrored to all displays at the touch of a button.
For the audio system, a Harman solution that would cater for the three different modes of audio operation required – with particular emphasis on the ability to cater for a mini-concert, was presented. The brief was to provide the ability for the likes of Ed Sheeran to perform an impromptu gig for staff and guests within the iHeart Lounge. Additionally the system would also need to cater for the independent meeting room function as well as the Boardroom. In order to achieve this a BSS London Blu-100 was installed at the rack which accepted localised input from various sources such as the DGX and sound cloud BGM system. The audio from the DSP is transmitted to an audio rack mounted to the ceiling of the iHeart lounge over Blu-link while BSS BOB units breakout the audio and send it to three amplifiers responsible for driving the various installed JBL speakers. The speaker design was achieved through EASE modelling.
Meeting Rooms
The meeting rooms are in essence “cookie cutter” AV designs comprising an AMX CP-1008 for control. The CP-1008 switches inputs and adjust volume levels on the projector – a Panasonic 5,500 Lumen, FHD LCD Projector. The TEQ WIPS710 presentation gateway provides wireless connectivity while a floor box provides access to an Atlona ATHDVS-TX auto-switching transmitter. Each projection room has a 106” 16:9 motorised projection screen installed, also controlled by the CP-1008. JBL in-ceiling speakers provide the audio which are connected to an Avation miniamplifier which receives a line out audio feed from the Panasonic projector.
The meeting rooms are in essence “cookie cutter” AV designs comprising an AMX CP-1008 for control. The CP-1008 switches inputs and adjust volume levels on the projector – a Panasonic 5,500 Lumen, FHD LCD Projector. The TEQ WIPS710 presentation gateway provides wireless connectivity while a floor box provides access to an Atlona ATHDVS-TX auto-switching transmitter. Each projection room has a 106” 16:9 motorised projection screen installed, also controlled by the CP-1008. JBL in-ceiling speakers provide the audio which are connected to an Avation miniamplifier which receives a line out audio feed from the Panasonic projector.