As the operator of Singapore’s largest exhibition and meeting venues, SingEx needed to quickly create a video production platform capable of transforming a scheduled live meeting into a hybrid live–virtual event due to Covid–19.
They chose Ideal Systems Singapore, Asia’s leading broadcast systems integrator, who built a video system based on NDI® technology and TriCaster® 2 Elite. With its Live Call Connect feature, TriCaster 2 Elite seamlessly integrated video callers on Zoom, Skype TX, and Microsoft® Teams with live panelists into a seamless hybrid production.
Like all major tourist and convention destinations, Singapore’s economy was negatively impacted by the pandemic. On April 7, 2020, SingEx, the operator of the country’s venue for meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions–the Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria–closed the venue for normal business as it was converted to a community care facility to support Singapore’s healthcare system.
Flash–forward to October 19, 2020 when SingEx hosted Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, as guest–of–honor as it reopened the Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria for its first hybrid, live–virtual event: the Industrial Transformation Asia–Pacific (ITAP) Conference–a Hannover Messe event. This modified version of ITAP–where 100 invited guests attended the opening ceremonies in person, and 5,000 registered attendees could tune in online–was made possible by a video command and control center built around NDI and TriCaster 2 Elite.
“SingEx was delighted to have partnered with Ideal Systems to build our digital production and broadcasting capabilities to support our first hybrid event,” said Mr. Ang Chee Chiang, General Manager, Centre Management, SingEx Venues. “Ideal Systems worked closely with our technical team to design and build a fully functional system in a tight timeframe. They also trained and upskilled our production team and operators on the new system, shared valuable insights and advice, leading to the flawless execution of a very successful hybrid event.”
Fintan McKiernan, CEO of Ideal Systems Singapore agreed, stating, “This was a great experience for us to use the latest NDI and Vizrt IP video technologies to drive a live international event of this scale and we are honored to work with companies like SingEx who have great technical foresight to leverage these new IP video technologies to overcome the challenges presented by Covid–19.”
Supplied by Ideal Systems Singapore, Asia’s leading systems integrator for broadcast, cloud and professional audio visual, this NDI–based system allowed live attendees to see, hear, and interact with virtual panelists shown on a 10 by 3–meter LED monitor wall onstage. It also let virtual attendees see and interact with the live panelists via the online stream far exceeding the low–quality video call connections frequently seen on television during this time of social isolation.
The high level of video quality was made possible by two key features of TriCaster 2 Elite, where all the incoming video and NDI inputs were mixed and output to multiple sources. The first feature was Live Call Connect, which simultaneously and seamlessly integrates multiple remote video callers from popular applications like Zoom, Skype TX, Microsoft® Teams, Discord, Slack, and Tencent. Live Call Connect allowed each panelist on any of these platforms to be treated as a unique video input. These inputs were then combined with the NDI streams of the live panelists from the Panasonic NDI PTZ cameras into TriCaster’s video mix engine, the second critical feature.
TriCaster’s video mix engine is the heart of Vizrt’s advanced video ecosystem. It’s where all the systems, devices, software, and sources in your workflow converge for mixing, compositing, and delivery. TriCaster 2 Elite’s video mix engine supports scalable, live video switching of 51 source channels, including 32 simultaneous external inputs and flexible, multi–destination delivery with 32 multi–format video outputs. Because of this, it offers virtually limitless possibilities for IP or hybrid SDI/IP production.
In the SingEx Vizrt configuration, TriCaster Elite 2 was driven by the ergonomic Vizrt 2–stripe control panel, which provided comprehensive control of the systems, devices, and software coming into and out of TriCaster.
