Overview

 

“1 contro 100,” Italian Canale 5’s version of top TV game “1 vs. 100,” is produced by Endemol Italia and hosted by Amadeus. The show debuted in Holland with the title “Eén tegen Honderd ” in 2000, and is now screened successfully on all five continents. No less than 22 countries worldwide play “1 vs. 100”: from Australia to the United States, Germany, Bulgaria, and through to Vietnam and Hong Kong.

The game involves a combat arena with a lone hero and a wall of contestants to be demolished with correct answers in a fight against a hundred other participants to win a 200,000 euro cash prize. The game consists of a series of questions, each with a cash prize that gradually increases. The first to answer are the players in the “Wall” (Mob). Then it's the contestant's turn, and he or she faces the challenge from a rostrum in the center of the studio, right in front of the Wall. If the contestant replies correctly, the members in the Wall who get it wrong are eliminated.

Web site:

www.canale5.com 

Installed Products

Processors:

DME64N

Interfaces:

NHB32-C

Power Amplifiers:

XM4180

Details

A Wall of Sound

For the game’s audio system, which has to ensure rapid and faultless opening of over a hundred microphones as well as excellent sound for the participants, Mediaset called in Backstage PA from Mariano Comense.

The company’s Alberto Mariani explains: “The set-up was designed to meet the studio’s strict scenographic requirements, and the need to use a hundred microphones which are opened and closed according to how the game proceeds. Nothing is preset. We only know that there will be groups of microphones which can vary every time, and we must be able to pick out individual contestants in each group. We therefore decided to design the system with a single control center.”

A/D Conversion and CobraNet Transmission to DME64N Units

The microphone signals from the wall of contestants are converted by a Yamaha AD824 located under the stage. After A/D conversion, the signals are transported to the broadcaster’s control room via a Yamaha NHB32-C Network Hub and Bridge with 32 I/O AES/EBU channels featuring CobraNet™ technology for high quality real time 24-bit 48kHz digital audio transfer via simple Cat-5 cable link. As well as being able to handle up to 64 channels of digital audio, the NHB32-C can also be used to transfer control data.

The system designed by Backstage takes the AES/EBU signals from the output of the NHB32-C and sends them to two programmable Yamaha DME64N DSP engines, which group, equalize, and compress the microphones, then send them on to the Mediaset playout console.

Yamaha Amps Support On-set Sound Playback

In addition to the microphone signal conversion, transmission, and processing chain, a vital role for the success of the game (particularly as far as the players are concerned) is played by the sound reinforcement on the studio set. This function was entrusted to a series of four Yamaha XM4180 power amplifiers, which power all sixty-eight mini loudspeakers installed behind the players in the wall as well as the enclosures used by Amadeus and the contestant. The XM series combines light weight and compact dimensions with high performance and power, and the XM4180 amplifiers provide four channels of 180 watts into 8 ohms while providing compatibility with various types of installations and sound control systems.

Advanced Software Control

Federico Farina of Backstage concludes: “Our software development department also designed a control interface which handles to the job of opening and closing the microphones during the game and sending them to the broadcast control room on a single channel, as well as switching the luminous mic rings on the wall on and off. This interface enables us to assign groups of microphones that are to be opened together, as well as store and recall the scenes. Each individual microphone can be recalled in various ways – via mouse, touch screen or numerical keyboard, the last of which is the fastest and most practical method.”

System Designer/Integrator/Supplier

Backstage PA

Web site

http://www.backstagepa.it

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