[SatNews] With the Tony awards on the line, the Company's system was about to be tested...

The new ViaLiteHD fiber-optic link system has made its debut at the 65th annual Tony awards show on Broadway in New York. Firehouse Productions Inc., the company responsible for the complete sound system for the show, deployed the space efficient system to transmit all audio signals for the broadcast.

The ViaLiteHD fiber-link system was rack-mounted in Firehouse’s mobile control truck with a single-mode fiber running into the theater where the corresponding ViaLiteHD rack was placed in the wings on stage left. All the antenna signals for the array of wireless microphones used by the actors were fed to the ViaLiteHD transmit modules where the RF signals were converted to modulated laser light and sent down a single thin fiber out to the control truck. In addition to the RF signal transmissions, the system can also provide complete monitoring and web-based control on both ends of the fiber link. As many as 13 modules can be installed into a single 3RU frame along with two load-sharing power supplies and an Ethernet/SNMP control module. All modules are hot swappable and are available in blind-mate configurations. This is particularly useful for installations that are space constrained like the Firehouse control truck. All modules are built to the highest design and production standards using the latest components available. PPM, the manufacturer, is confident that ViaLite represents the highest quality fiber optic modules available, as well as offering industry leading noise figures and dynamic range.

Bryan Olson, President of Firehouse Productions Inc., stresses the performance and reliability requirements that are paramount for the success of his company. “With the ViaLiteHD fiber-optic link system, we could move all of our wireless microphone receivers into our truck outside the venue while maintaining the highest signal quality level. This reduces our stage real estate and setup time, two things that are at a premium in live TV shows. With this implementation we continue to lead our industry in deploying the best technology.” Mark Dittmar, Lead Design and Integration Engineer at Firehouse, said, “The setup of the ViaLiteHD system allowed us to move the receivers more than 800 feet away from the stage. The system integrates effortlessly into our overall control architecture.” Vinny Siniscal, Firehouse’s RF Coordinator, added that “The RF setup was straightforward and ViaLiteHD makes the installation so much easier for me.” Vinny was also assisted by Sisse Jonassen at the awards show.