WorldStage has invested in two Lightware MX-FR33 frames for its equipment inventory to accommodate staging larger shows, including those at New York City's Metropolitan Opera where WorldStage is the provider of a number of sophisticated video systems. The Lightware MX-FR33 is a 33x33 digital crosspoint router frame with redundant power supplies, built-in control panel and CPU2 processor board. Lightware U.S.A. is the US distributor for Budapest-based Lightware Visual Engineering products.
"We've added a pair of MX-FR33 matrix frames to increase our Lightware inventory, which includes two FR65 frames, 32x, 17x and 16x routers, as well as an 80x, which we purchased a couple of years ago" says Barry Grossman, Chief Engineer, at WorldStage. "The driving force in purchasing the FR80 was our long-term commitment to the Met Opera and its expanded use of video as part of their productions." Adding the FR33 will enable WorldStage to service larger shows with a single router, he points out. "This coming season we will use an FR33 instead of two 16x or 17x frames."
With multiple productions, each requiring it's own video origination system happening within the same season, WorldStage wanted to provide the production team with a easy and reliable way to switch from one system to another. Building a transmission/routing rack designed around the 80x was the perfect solution. "This year, with ten shows featuring video, we will provide the house crew with up to ten presets to recall the complex routing configuration," says Grossman.
At the Metropolitan Opera each video show has its own Lightware router in either 16x or 32x configurations. The outputs of those routers feed the 80x transmission rack to allow the operators to easily switch from one video system to another. The output of the 80x matrix feeds the show projectors, back of house monitors, as well as the multi-viewers that allow operators to see all server feeds in a few monitors. The 80x effectively serves as the master router for the whole house.
Grossman notes that, "the Metropolitan Opera team has grown so comfortable with the easy to use Lightware routers and EDID management they provide that they have purchased an 8x frame for their own media server system. The opera house has come a very long way from the days of large format slide projection (which was the former method of provide imagery to the state) and the Lightware products have smoothed the path considerably."
About Lightware U.S.A.
Lightware U.S.A. is the US distributor of professional AV products manufactured by Lightware Visual Engineering in Budapest, Hungary. For more information on these products, visit www.lightwareUSA.com.