LVPR_SuperBowl

Lightviper™ Digital Fiber Optic Audio Snake System Handles Fox Broadcasting’s SuperBowl XXXIX “Best Damned Sports Show”

— Audio Specialties, a Burbank, California live sound provider for Fox Television, deployed the new FiberPlex digital fiber optic “audio snake” for live sound and broadcast feeds at the

39th SuperBowl festivities — NSCA EXPO, ORLANDO, FL, March 10, 2005 — FiberPlex, Inc., the leading fiber optic supplier to the professional audio industry, announced that its LightViper™ VIS-1832 fiber optic audio snake was used for the recent SuperBowl related live broadcast of the Best Damned Sports Show at nearby Jacksonville Landing during the six-day, pre-game SuperBowl festivities. The BDSS show was fed to Fox SportsNet during the weeklong run-up and then to Fox Television on “SuperBowl Sunday” on February 6. Audio Specialties, a sound production company based in Burbank, CA, deployed the portable fiber optic LightViper system.

Steve Cormier, spokesman and Audio Specialties’ audio chief for interfacing with the Fox broadcast team was enthusiastic about his use of the LightViper fiber optic snake:

“I was extremely pleased with how well the LightViper performed in this high-profile network TV live broadcast situation. The main fiber run to the F & F Productions High-Def broadcast remote truck was approximately 1,000 feet away from the venue’s live stage and we also needed to provide a separate monitor split from the LightViper system for the audience. The audio quality was excellent; we used all 32 mic inputs on the head end of the snake system.

Cormier continued:

“The LightViper digital snake elegantly solved one of our larger planning headaches for this show which was the long run to the broadcast truck’s distant location. The terminations into both Yamaha digital consoles for live PA and audio master control in the remote truck went without a hitch; the new optical audio path was ‘invisible’ and performed flawlessly. I can’t imagine doing a critical job like this now with a conventional copper snake. The LightViper also saved us a lot of time and we all know what that translates into.”

The LightViper VIS-1832 consists of a “traditional” and highly compact 32 X 8 audio input Stage Box and a complementary 1U rack unit (Model VIM-1832) located at the main house audio mixing position. Connecting these two components is accomplished with a rugged and extremely lightweight “tactical grade” military specification fiber optic cable weighing less than two (2) pounds per one hundred feet (100') of cable run.

LightViper’s fiber optic cable offers total signal path isolation between stage and mixer as well as between the stage and all splits; the cable is totally immune to ground loops, RFI, EMI and electromechanical noise, and runs of up to 1 1/4 miles (6,600 feet) can be easily accomplished without signal loss or degradation.

The inputs on the audio input stage box will accept balanced or unbalanced XLR or TRS mic or line level audio and eliminate the need for expensive DI boxes. Industry standard 48-Volt phantom power is supplied to all audio mic inputs. Two optional optical outputs on the Stage unit allow for a separate stage monitor feed as well as sending the audio data signal to a remote broadcast or recording vehicle (one main feed and two “splits” in total).

Pristine-quality Burr-Brown A/D converters are built-in to the LightViper and operate at

24-bit/96 kHz sampling. The resulting multiplexed digital signal is transmitted via the optical cable on a single fiber pair.

The system also features a rugged Neutrik PowerCon connector (stage box) and synchronization to Word Clock as well as “Superclock.”

FiberPlex includes a limited lifetime warranty with all VIS-1832 system hardware components.

The suggested Professional Audio user price for a typical LightViper VIS-1832 configuration is $7,631.00; this includes all components (one Stage unit [VIS-1832] and one Mix position 1U rack unit [VIM-1832]), 300 feet of fiber optic cable, and four send and one return breakout cables. A wall mount enclosure for fixed installations is available (VBZ-1832) at $194.00.

NOTE: LightViper™ is a registered trademark of FiberPlex, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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