Japanese Broadcaster YTV Upgrades Infrastructure With Lawo

The Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV) serves the Kansai region of Japan with news, sports and drama programming, as well as producing its own television programs and movies. The technical infrastructure supporting all of its broadcast production work is constantly being updated – with Lawo technology playing a major role.

Based in Osaka, YTV has a close relationship directly with Lawo in Germany as well as with its local partner OTARITEC. Recently, the ongoing development of YTV’s facilities have included a studio renewal and the commissioning of a new OB unit, which will be based around the first Lawo mc²36 mixing console to be sold in Japan.

The mc²36 is the result of Lawo’s development of an ‘all-in-one’ mixing console, designed for flexibility, ease-of-use and value-for-money. Its compact size, in-built DSP and I/O make the console equally suited to OB and permanent installations with limited space, and rental companies’ transportation considerations.

The new 16-fader mc²36 installed for mobile use reflects Lawo’s reputation for reliability and its forward-focused design philosophy. “We like its stability, operability and its sound quality,” confirms a representative from YTV. Now completed and being used for sports and events coverage, the project got underway in autumn 2014.

The renewal of a Studio Sub Room at YTV’s Osaka headquarters began further back, in February 2014 under the guidance of main contractor, Crescent Co. Central to the upgrade are a pair of 16-fader mc²56 MkII and 48-fader mc²66 MkII consoles. Each console is fitted with four DSP processors, and uses Netlink integration with a new Lawo Nova-73 Compact router to manage I/O and assignments.

The studio is used for television program production, and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days year, making reliability and Lawo’s design policy critical considerations. “We like its stability, operability and its sound quality,” the YTV representative explains.

Compact, flexible and versatile, the mc² 56 combines power and ease of operation while the flagship mc²66 console supports an extensive 888 DSP channels and 144 summing busses. The Nova-73 HD supports 5120 x 5120 inputs/outputs, available via RAVENNA, AES3, MADI, and ATM-1 interfaces in a compact 7U housing. In combination with an mc² series mixing console, a Nova73 Compact equipped with five DSP cards provides more than 600 DSP channels.

“On my visit to the Osaka facilities, I was impressed by how well the mc²56 and mc²36 are integrated in YTVs broadcast infrastructure and workflows,’ says Gregor Erlitz, Lawo´s Director of Sales for Northeast Asia. “We are glad that YTV staff have chosen to work with our products, and I believe this project is an important step in establishing the new mc²36 with our Japanese broadcast customers.”