Background
Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See, and its broadcasting brand known as Vatican Media, are in Vatican City.
Established by Pope Francis in 2015, it aims to rethink and reorganize the communication infrastructure of the Holy See. This initiative brought together several areas that Vatican Media is responsible for including audiovisual production for papal ceremonies and religious events.

Challenge
To communicate the Church’s messages effectively, Vatican Media faced several challenges.
From a technology perspective, as the pace of innovation accelerated, the organization recognized the need to invest in cutting-edge infrastructure and training to enhance processes and standards.
Integrating multiple technological systems and managing global content distribution in real-time posed additional challenges on flexibility and scalability, demanding an immediate solution.
Vatican Media aimed to refurbish two Outside Broadcast (OB) Vans, essential for covering significant events within the Vatican City and during papal visits. Designing a solution within the limited rack space available in the OB vans added complexity to the project.

Solution
To address these challenges, Vatican Media collaborated with Ross and ARET Video and Audio Engineering, building on their partnership established in 2008.
ARET video and audio engineering took charge of designing and supplying main infrastructure equipment.
After a comprehensive consultation period, a clear solution emerged. This entailed upgrading the two OB Vans to a UHD 12G-SDI workflow, incorporating leading technology from Ross, including Ultrix, Carbonite Ultra, and openGear solutions.

Benefits
By partnering with Ross and ARET to create an improved broadcasting infrastructure, Vatican Media unlocked substantial benefits.
The integration of Ross technology equipped Vatican Media with future-ready solutions. The establishment of an integrated UHD workflow not only improved broadcast quality but also optimized space utilization, reduced weight, and minimized power consumption.
The collaboration with ARET streamlined the project’s deployment, and the subsequent training ensured that operators were well-versed in the new systems.
Vatican Media particularly appreciated the partnership-centric approach consistently demonstrated by Ross and ARET, enhancing both the technological impact of the project and the organization’s capability to disseminate the Church’s message globally in various formats.

 

“We are thrilled to introduce Dicastero per la Comunicazione to solutions which fit their needs. Collaborating with the Vatican engineering team has been an exciting journey, fostering mutual learning and cooperation, which are crucial for the success of projects of this scale”. (Alessandro Asti – Vice President of Sales, ARET video and audio engineering)