EMFBC

So tell me more

Well, A few of us at London Hackspace have been thinking about how we could make the video side of things better. Much better. We theorize, with past examples in Student TV and Real world TV, that we can reasonably expect to provide:

HD Live streams for two stages with live graphics on the streams (i.e. Jonty - Beeeeeeees). Overflow capacity (i.e. "Ahh, stage A is full, can we get the pictures & sound to stage B?"). All talks, Q&A sessions available on demand within 2 hours of their finish. Overnight continuity service from our edited talks, and external content from licensed partners (more to follow on this later!). A Cheesy closedown clock, a la BBC style 1am goodnight, hacking forecast, and national anthem (then followed by EMF continuity service).

Are we too soon with this? NO.

When can I get involved? Not quite yet. We'll rough out the plan first, then open up to people taking on parts of this project later. We'll say more when things are ready to have people start working on them.

I have some stuff you might want to use! Cool. Please go ahead and list it under your username on the discussions page. If you have a 'complete setup', that's nice, but we probably won't use it in the configuration you've imagined - we'll think of it as 'I have this pile of parts you can use'.

Topology

Connectivity

• EMF will likely have 2 or 3 stages, each probably 100 meters or more apart. MCC wil need to be close to either one of (or the middle one of) the stages: we'll use less cable.
• This means we need quite a bit of VIDEO cable:
  • Datarate is 1.486Gbps
  • Any encoder introduces very bad latencies. And Will clog the network very quickly. Generally not broadcast-reliable either :(
  • Fiber may be cheaper
    • Russ has a pile of fiber, will there be any spare we could borrow (lc-lc, multimode).
• And networking:
  • EMF-NOC will be nearby, short enough for conventional Cat5e/6.

Master control caravan (MCC) From where we'll run the operation. We need a caravan, to be purchased/acquired at roughly T minus 8 months. Approx 4 berth size please. Budget £300 (Hipster knows an outlet of cheap caravans).

The broom Cupboard A Camera, a set of lights, and 3 mics outside the caravan - good for interviews really. Possible collaboration with radio people?

MCC

At the center of it all. We'll mix, edit, broadcast,stream, archive, route... All from here. Our kit will probably fit in two main racks, distributed evenly over the wheel arches of the caravan os we can tow it.

On the IT side, we'll need the following machines:

• Switch. Managed Switch.
• Control PC
  • Reads the schedule, controls the videoservers, possibly controls the remote mixers.
• Edit PC
  • Reasonable fast machine to run a video editing program on.
  • We'll cut down the chaff from the goings on in the stages, add Titles, Credits & end boards on this.
  • We'll upload our content from here too (in the background whilst we edit).
• Storage / record machine
  • 2TB that can do 200Mb/s. No other purpose.
  • Must be something like R10,R51,R60. Basically, quick, reliable.
  • Videoservers, recorder, edits, will all run from here.
  • posibly dual NIC (decide later).
  • Record the incoming feeds.
  • Control to get new clip for each talk.
• Videoserver (2Ch PLAYOUT/GFX)
  • Runs Graphics (fill & key) during the day.
  • Runs videos in the overnight continuity service. Can internally key the graphics for overnight.
• Streamer1
  • Streams the 1st Stream
• Streamer2
  • Streams the 2nd Stream

On the hardware side:

• Screens (all HDMI unless otherwise stated)
  • VideoServer Output 1
  • VideoServer Output 2
  • Multiview A
  • Multiview B
  • Program A
  • Program B
  • Edit Left
  • Edit Right
  • PC1 (optional, any)
  • PC2 (optional, any)
  • RPi(optional, any)

• HDSDI-HDMI convertors (LKV-368 are £30 on amazon/ebay)
  • RecServer Output 1
  • RecServer Output 2
  • Multiview A
  • Multiview B

• Clocks
  • Leitch 1 (big hands clock)
  • LED1 (caravan left/front)
  • LED2 (caravan right/back)

• Controllers (serial / USB to the control PC)
  • Controller1
  • Controller2

General items

• Rack1
• Rack2
• Power strip 1
• Power strip 2
• USB Keyboards
• USB Mice
• Phone charger :P
• Network cables
• Lights
• 2 Floodlights

Outstation items (for each outstation)

• Mini rack/flightcase
• HDMI to HD-SDI convertor
• VGA to HDMI
• HDMI Distribution amp
• HDMI Switch (Hacked for network control)
• VGA Cables
• HDMI Cables
• Power strip
• 4 20M XLR cables