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HAN SHOW

A celebration of the essence of the Han culture in Wuhan, China, relies on a Draco tera enterprise matrix switch for each performance

The Customer

Wanda Group and Dragone present a stage performance that exceeds the level of any other in the world – The Han Show; a celebration of the essence of the Han culture in Wuhan, China. Directed by the world’s greatest show mastermind Mr. Franco Dragone, the Han Show blends worldleading technologies and live performances that challenge physical boundaries.

Designed by London-based Stufish Entertainment Architects, the purpose-built Han Show Theater is inspired by the “Red Lantern”, a magnificent building 60 meters high and 100 meters in diameter. The façade suggests a paper surface through a series of minimal surface cable nets, hung and tensioned within the lattice of trapezoidal voids generated by the intersecting rings. Each of the 18,000 cable net structural nodes supports a red concave aluminium disk, modelled on the appearance of an ancient symbolic artifact; the Bi disk, from the Han Dynasty. The lantern light is enabled by a circular array of red LEDs at the center of each disk that illuminate the dimpled, concave surface. The light across each disk is split into four quarter zones, each individually addressable using DMX control.

Inside the theatre is a huge auditorium that houses 2000 moving, variable geometry seats and a huge stage pool containing 10 million liters of water, equivalent to that of four standard Olympic swimming pools. It brings the audience a splendid sensory experience with three levels of performance: aerial, aquatic and immersive stage.

The Challenge

To fully realize the potential of the video infrastructure, and extend its flexibility and ability to meet all eventualities, the integrator, Engineering Services, envisaged a system that would enable operators to easily access the equipment located in a Central Equipment Room (CER) from their personal workstations. The requirement was to allow operators full and transparent control with no visual, audible or data flow restrictions.

With several banks of high speed video servers, video recorders, digital signage servers and various other supporting devices, the interconnection between them had to have a wide bandwidth, provide artifact-free connectivity and support instant switching. Anything less would be visible to system operators and would not be acceptable.

The Solution

Wanda Group chose the IHSE Draco tera enterprise KVM matrix switch to provide the desired level of switching capability between the numerous source devices in the CER and user terminals located throughout the building. The requirement for uncorrupted, artifact-free video connectivity, together with the wide range of source formats in use: single- and dual-head video, audio and the need for USB interaction ruled out the use of IP-based solutions.

A 48-port Draco tera switch currently supports multiple audiovisual inputs from the range of servers and computers employed within the control center of the venue. These signals are distributed to 22 workstations across a multi-mode fiber network. Each port can be configured as an input or output using the inherent Flex-Port dynamic configuration technology, thus allowing for future expansion of the system as the tasks of the company expand and grow.

From their workstations in the broadcast control room, operators can instantly switch to any server, view its output and control the video and audio content that is streamed around the building. They also manage the uploading of video onto the web or distributed through the play-out system for live broadcast. Video editors in the edit room can instantly access postproduction and edit computers located hundreds of meters away as though they were physically situated in the same room.

The Benefit

An installation of this type and size could not have been completed to deliver the utmost in flexibility and adaptability without the use of a high speed KVM switch of the type offered by the Draco tera. Its functionality, efficiency and flexibility delivers the highest level of image quality, usability and flexibility that is essential to the demanding operational requirements of the Han Show.

The Han Show Theatre is destined to become one of the premier performance and event venues in the China region. The ability of the Draco tera KVM switch to be upgraded and extended to meet new broadcast formats will not only simplify and save investment in the future, but will ensure that the center continues to remain at the forefront of technology and offer prestige service to performers, operators and audiences alike.

Compared to Las Vegas or other leading international performances, Han Show is the most amazing show I’ve ever seen. Whether in terms of stage art, performance expertise or overall experience, the Han Show is the world’s best.” – Cesar Mario O. Mamon, Chairman of the Board of the International Associations of Amusement parks and Attractions

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Download case study “Han Show”