Over the past year, broadcast equipment sales have been subdued as a result of the European Football Championships, Olympics and other large scale live events being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as global lockdowns begin to ease and these events are rescheduled, ViaLite is reporting an upturn in business and steady return to normal in the sector.
Richard Jacklin, ViaLite Sales Director, also observes that even with many events postponed, the broadcast industry continued its technology trajectory moving towards the higher definition broadcast and streaming television standards. With 4K definition requiring throughput rates of 15 to 25 Mb/s, and 8K requiring 80 to 100 Mb/s – depending on frame rate – higher performance camera and backhaul equipment is needed throughout.
Richard explained: “Radio and fiber backhaul links need to accommodate the technology trends and these higher performance requirements in areas including frequency, bandwidth and dynamic range.”
ViaLite’s RF over fiber links are seeing a surge in demand thanks to their best dynamic and frequency ranges within the industry, for broadcast fiber backhauls and satcom uplinks. To help support this demand, the company has also launched a Blue OEM 1U Chassis; designed specifically to meet the need for a cost effective solution, handling high throughput broadcast operations.
Big seller products already include the C-Band Link which has a full 500 MHz – 7.5 GHz bandwidth, the Green OEM broadcast link due to its low power usage – making it ideal for wireless kit which often operate using batteries – and the Blue OEM broadcast link which is suitable for satellite news gathering (SNG) and outdoor broadcast (OB) truck operations. ViaLite’s miniature outdoor enclosures are also proving popular at this time; supporting pop-up filming at events.
Amair Khan, Global Business Development Manager, at ViaLite commented: “The industry is facing a very intensive summer of sports which is pushing broadcaster operators to deliver dependable and reliable services for all sporting events back-to-back this year.
“ViaLite’s reliability in these challenging times is dependable; providing operational capabilities in all weather conditions around the world.”