Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 saw the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, hosted by the Asian Olympic Council. Initially scheduled for 2022, the games were postponed until 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scale of the Asian Games is ever-growing. This year’s event featured 35 venues, 40 sports and 61 different disciplines, including esports. About 12,000 athletes from the 45 National Olympic Committees of the Asian Council participated in the games.
The Council selected AEQ as the commentary system solutions provider for this edition of the Asian Games. This was the second time AEQ technology has been relied upon for the Asian Games; the first was for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
AEQ supplied 150 Olympia 3 AoIP network commentary units and 300 headsets throughout the 35 competition venues and the off-tube booths at the International Broadcast Center in Hangzhou. The AEQ Olympia 3 commentary unit can work as a standalone or part of an AoIP multichannel network. The AoIP connectivity is Dante/AES67 and allows for integration with AEQ’s Intercom Systems or connected to an AoIP Commentary System matrix for large, multi-venue, multi-sport events.
AEQ also supplied 58 Netbox 32AD/MX network interfaces for channeling all common signals for the commentators at each venue, such as international sound, PA and the guide. The mixed zone signals were also routed through the Netboxes. In the other direction, these units were also the connection point for the commentary contribution network between the venues and the IBC. The contribution network was a high-speed redundant fiber network that allowed very low latency and almost negligible jitter.
The core of the commentary system was in the IBC. The commentary switching consisted of an AEQ X_Core matrix system with AoIP contribution and audio distribution on MADI links for all rights-holder broadcasters. AEQ installed seven X_Core Frames to handle and control all signals. The installed software allowed remote configuration of any Olympia 3 commentary unit at any venue, including the correct audio routing of AoIP signals from the venue to the RHB zones at the IBC.
AEQ also provided four engineers from Madrid for support operations.
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