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Better than the Best
Technical Innovations for Munich’s New Modernist Landmark

With the largest video and media technology project implemented by SALZBRENNER STAGETEC MEDIAGROUP in its 45-year history, a real spectacular comes to life: The new BMW Welt (BMW World) in Munich dazzles with the latest MEDIAGROUP products

Futuristic steel and glass galore, sweeping facades and extravagant architectural grammar – BMW Welt at the Olympic Park is a major landmark. Perfectly complementing the BMW marque‘s brand-image the building radiates elegance and technical finesse. The interior reinforces this image with fine materials and expert craftsmanship in evidence throughout. The consistent use of large flat screens – many of them custom-made – not only for displaying information but also for creating specific atmospheres inside the space, underscores this ambience.
The extraordinary concept extends further into every single detail of the technological systems required to support this multi-purpose complex unobtrusively behind the scenes. The MEDIAGROUP successfully tendered for two extensive contracts: first, taking responsibility for the installation of all the audio, media, and soundreinforcement systems in the Auditorium, a multi-purpose events hall; and secondly the audio, video and Communication installations in all other parts of the complex.
The spaces cover a wide spectrum of activity, ranging from a delivery centre for new vehicles to a small convention centre, several restaurants and the most remarkable focal point of the avant-garde architecture, the Double Cone. This is prominently positioned at the front of the building and its two floors can be used as an exhibition space, an event stage, or even a party area. In 2002, planning for the large-scale BMW Welt project was already under way. Beginning in 2006, the on-site installation of the countless systems and devices was undertaken. All the systems were put into operation in time for the grand opening of BMW Welt in late October 2007. This project included so many tasks that a team of up to 35 MEDIAGROUP employees was fully occupied with planning, constructing, installing, and implementing the systems. One not insignificant detail of this project: Many of the components are manufactured in house. For example, an AURUS console including a NEXUS audio network in the Auditorium which, due to its role as multi-purpose venue, is also equipped with an intercom and a stage management system based on ORATIS components by DELEC. In all of the public areas background audio, announcements, and videos soundtracks are reproduced using 280 100-V speakers, which are in part newly developed by the MEDIAGROUP, plus 106 active and 32 passive speakers. Needless to say, all of the loudspeaker signals are routed using an extensive NEXUS audio network, which is also responsible for speaker equalisation.

The Central Solution

Up to this point, the design follows the conventional high standards that would be expected with a prestige project such as BMW Welt. However, with the video playout system MEDIAGROUP has really broken new ground. The MEDIAGROUP products used for this purpose are so new that they don’t even have their final product names yet and are referred to only by their working designations: the MediaControl system used to control all media devices plus – closely interlocked with this – the PlayOut source system.
The demands placed on PlayOut at BMW World are enormous: A central system feeds a plethora of screens, including a 6×6 video wall and, in the Double Cone, an ascending spiral made up of 60 displays. Each individual screen can be fed with independent content or the same content synchronised to the frame. A similar principle applies to the speakers, which are fed in 40 separate loops where each loop can be addressed completely independently. Not without good reason did the client opt for a technically trailblazing solution as the basis for disseminating information and creating atmosphere – this is completely in line with the brand image BMW wishes to project.

Complex Processes

The MEDIAGROUP solution relies on a large centralised memory storing a huge amount of video and audio data: the Archive Server. To this server, 140 video playout systems, so-called SDI Players, VGA Players and DVI Players, plus 23 audio playout systems, the AES players, are connected over a network. Each player includes a dedicated hard disk to hold the currently required data. Just to demonstrate a simple application, if for example a video sequence is scheduled to be played back in one of the SDI players, the player will first download the corresponding video file from the Archive Server and store it locally on hard disk. From this moment on, the video can be started with frame accuracy and will play back without interruption.
The design of the PlayOut system as a consistent network-based solution allows for the downloading of any video and or audio files that can be located via a URL, no matter where they are physically stored. In the BMW Welt there is, for example, a second server in operation, the Processing Server. However, even URLs outside BMW World can supply content for download. Flexibility like this ensures that the system will continue to be adaptable to changing requirements even in the long term.
Of course, the system allows for each player unit to be programmed to play not just loops but entire cue-lists. Highly complex sequences involving many players can be pre-programmed and then fired either manually or at a pre-determined time. Consequently, each player can reproduce unique content – there are virtually no technical limits to the complexity of media reproduction that can be achieved!

Broadcast Quality

Apart from the videowall and spiral the majority of the screens are fed by PlayOut units centrally located in the machine room. These send video and audio signals in broadcast quality formats such as SD-SDI and AES, respectively.
The allocation of the PlayOut units to the displays or speakers is dynamic and, like almost everything in BMW Welt, designed to offer maximum flexibility. Therefore, the PlayOut outputs are routed through different matrices to the targets. The purely audio routing is made using the extensive NEXUS system where equalisation and speaker delays are also accomplished. The video signals are mainly distributed using an SDI matrix which, like the NEXUS, is suitable for broadcasting.
The key benefit of this architecture is that the matrix allows for forwarding a single player‘s signal in parallel to multiple targets. This economical feature makes it possible to feed all the displays connected to the SDI matrix with content from just 37 players on the PlayOut system, while maintaining a comfortable level of flexibility. The fixed displays of BMW Welt can be supplemented with portable monitors if required. For this purpose an in-house CAT7 network is used which can forward the SDI video signal to the displays using special transformers. Those signals are also routed using the SDI matrices, creating a highly flexible network.

Split Walls

A different strategy is used to feed the 6×6 videowall inside the Double Cone. First, each video frame must be divided into sub-blocks for each individual display. This is carried out by a dedicated PlayOut system Processing Server. This Processing Server splits the original video frame as appropriate for the number of isplays, their border width, and or their distance from each other. These sub-block video elements are then stored on the Processing Server and are available for individual download by the corresponding player units. When all the split image elements are played back in parallel and in sync, the original image is reconstructed.
This application does not require the flexibility of remote players. On the contrary, each display needs a dedicated player unit. This was deliberately achieved without the use of a video matrix. Instead, the individual videowall displays have each been equipped with a dedicated player piggybacked onto the rear of the screen. Thanks to the resulting short cable runs, DVI can be used here as the interconnect instead of SDI. The wide variety of available PlayOut components enables the best and most effective solution to be chosen.
The arrangement of screens that spiral in a display ribbon up into the Double Cone is a real eye-catcher. 60 individual displays have been specified for this; once again each equipped with its own DVI Player. The technological challenge here lies less in the installation and more in producing new films for this giant video flip book. The split technology would be able to divide the frames as needed, but for aesthetic reasons, BMW Welt has chosen a different route. Here an individual video is produced for each single display - 60 videos in total - in order to create, for example, the impression of a car driving up the spiral.

One Control For All

The PlayOut system at BMW Welt supplies video and audio practically everywhere in the entire building. The system architecture is predominantly centralised but control is local, i.e. close to therespective displays and speakers. The new MediaControl, a new cross-device control unit for any kind of media technology, is the solution to this dilemma. At BMW World, MediaControl is not only used for uniform control of projectors, screens, amplifiers, and similar devices but also acts as a user interface for all functions of the PlayOut system. These range from ingesting new video and audio to content management, play-list creation and initiating video and sound cues. All PlayOut settings are made through the MediaControl user interface.
On the hardware side, MediaControl consists of rack frames which can be populated with standard components such as various control interfaces suitable for the connected devices. For the user interface, there are so-called MediaControl Expanders available. These are tablet PCs with a robust housing and touch screens running the appropriate control software.
The units are linked to the system via cable or wireless ethernet and can thus be used in highly flexible ways. This enables virtually every room to be used for different purposes – another benefit in an environment where maximum flexibility was a key requirement. At BMW Welt, a total of 23 control units plus the MediaControl central controller are available.

Open to Everyone

These details reveal that maintaining the consistency of the overall installation concept was in sharp focus when planning the audio, video, and intercom systems at BMW Welt. With the MEDIAGROUP as a partner, BMW World not only gained a general contractor capable of integrating the diverse components in the best possible way, but also a manufacturer who dovetailed and co-ordinated its products in the optimum manner. Some of the product details developed specifi cally to suit the needs of BMW Welt will now also benefit other customers. This large-scale installation has proven the maturity and flexibility of PlayOut and MediaControl. As a result, from now on, they are available as standard products for use in any other installation.