London’s prestigious Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO), formerly the Royal Opera House, has had a major technical upgrade project including the integration of Lightware video signal management solutions. The upgrade encompasses all video, audio and broadcast infrastructure throughout the 2000-person capacity venue, with Lightware’s system including point-to-point signal extension for the on-stage projectors.
The project was led by internal stakeholders including video assistant manager, Jane Michelmore, and sound, video and broadcast (SVB) project coordinator, Daniel Arif. The integration of Lightware signal management solutions is part of a much wider five-year upgrade project across sound, video and broadcast at the venue.
The RBO has one of the most intense repertoires in the country and the video team is constantly changing projector specs to reflect the requirements for each show across the busy programming. Integral to the upgrade was Lightware’s MX2-16×16-HDMI20 matrix, which also supports various video formats, multiple resolutions and is easily controlled via Ethernet.
Daniel Arif, project coordinator, said: “Much of the technology we’re replacing dates back to the 90s. When we were looking for a point-to-point signal distribution solution for our projectors, we needed something that would make use of the existing network infrastructure and work across different production types.”
He added: “We liked Lightware’s solutions as they support transport of non-standard resolutions, so we are able to do exactly what we want to do with the video. It’s the only box on the market that we could find to fit these needs.”
There is a main semi-permanent FOH projector positioned on the dress circle front where a Panasonic RQ25k is rigged in a noise-cancelling baffle box. The team uses Disguise media servers to output a 4k signal to this unit and RBO looked to Lightware for a signal solution to distribute to this position down their single-mode fibre.
Jane Michelmore, video assistant manager, said: “We have many different shows, sometimes two different performances in a day, that can use projection. Currently, we’re running 10 different outputs, from LED walls to projectors, between three different shows and the 16×16 matrix gives me the versatility to seamlessly swap between performances.”
She continued: “I particularly like the single-mode fibre HDMI-OPTX-TX100 as they carry a 4K signal and network to the projector in the one fibre solution. It certainly saves time without needing to run a separate network patch. Similarly, the HDMI OPTJ powered from USB for our multimode fibre positions, is also handy as it saves on extra power breakouts at the projector end. We are constantly flying our projectors, so it’s a clean, neat and small solution that means we can project in 4K.”
Lightware’s OPTJ kits are designed to transport the uncompressed HDMI signals to their destination with minimal delay. The overall upgrade at the Royal Ballet and Opera is still in progress and once the new fibre infrastructure is complete, an expansion of the use of Lightware’s SDVoE-compatible OPTX kits is likely.
The SVB team are pleased with the scalable framework the new MX2 has given them for video transmission. “As we move away from the old analogue infrastructure and implement a more modern approach, Lightware’s products will prove vital to this,” concluded Arif. “We’re looking forward to this solution growing with us here at the Royal Opera & Ballet.”
