All Mobile Video Taps PESA Router for U.S. Open Video Distribution

All Mobile Video will use a PESA Cheetah 288XE coax and fiber routing switcher and DRS digital audio routing system as part of the international distribution system for the 2016 U.S. Open tennis tournament, which begins Aug. 29.

Lee Blanco, AMV director of engineering, said the PESA system will be used to receive signals from the host broadcaster and distribute them to on-site and off-site United States Tennis Association clients. During the two-week tournament, the PESA router will be housed in remote cases with other AMV equipment in a trailer across from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, NY.

The PESA router is populated with 288 inputs and 480 outputs. During the tournament, the router will receive 90 video and audio sources from the host broadcaster as well as several more from on-site broadcasters and monitoring inputs, which will be repackaged as necessary for clients, for a total of 272 inputs. As a result, there will be extensive embedding and de-embedding of the audio, much of which will originate in MADI format. AMV chose the PESA routing platform because it is “extremely flexible,” according to Blanco. “The PESA system has it all,” he added. “Separate audio and video make it more manageable.”

Blanco also praised PESA’s PERC3000 enterprise-class router control hardware server, which is managed through the Cattrax system control software. “It doesn’t require specialty boxes, so it’s easier to deploy and versatile,” he said. “It’s far easier to move IP through fiber or off-the-shelf switches.”

The 288XE combines the latest in HD technology with exceptional package density. It supports both fiber and coax I/O for cable management flexibility, and fiber sources can be connected directly to each frame, which eliminates the need for fiber-to-copper conversion gear. The 288XE’s matrix and I/O cards allow a variety of square and rectangle frame sizes, making it a cost effective solution when future expansion is planned. The Cheetah product line is available in configurations from 64×64 to 1152×1152.