Cobham Capture Burj Khalifa New Year's Spectacular for Airfilms Productions

posted:

19/01/2015

Cobham’s Solo H264 HD transmitters were used by Airfilms Productions BV, a leading Dutch production house that specialises in aerial imaging services, to capture the astonishing New Year’s fireworks display centred on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure in the world.

Contracted by Elite Films FZ LLC in conjunction with Dubai Media Inc. (DMI) and end-client Emaar Properties, Airfilms used Cobham’s Solo HD H264 to send data from two highly customised broadcast drones to a pair of Cobham ProRX receive stations installed in DMI’s OB van and ground base station for mixing and recording.

The resulting close-range aerial shots, from two different angles of the Downtown Dubai New Year’s Eve Gala, captured a dazzling combination of fireworks, LED light and laser beam displays on Burj Khalifa, which clinched a Guinness World Records title for ‘World’s Largest LED-Illuminated Façade’.

With proven Cobham COFDM and H.264 encoding technology at its core, the Solo H264 HD transmitter provides excellent image quality retention over wireless links, which is vital for live event coverage.

Airfilms Productions Managing Director Bart Hartge said, “You only get one shot at a fireworks display. Couple that pressure with a world-record attempt and you have to be pretty confident in your equipment.

“We successfully used the drones for fireworks displays in the past, notably for Qatar’s National Day last year. We rehearsed in a similar, but more extensive fashion for the Dubai gala, without the fireworks of course. The quality and stability of the images are breath taking and can be readily seen online. It was a remarkable display that Cobham’s technology helped us to capture flawlessly.”

Cobham Regional Sales Director, Middle East & Africa , Neil Tomlinson, said, “The Solo HD H264 transmitter enables production teams to, literally, reach new heights, in this case a drone-side view of a world-class firework and illumination display. The reliability of the Solo HD H264 continues to open new possibilities to broadcasters and production teams for viewer engagement.”

About Airfilms Productions
Airfilms Productions B.V. is one of the three business units of AceCore Holding and is focused solely on aerial productions. From 5K cinema to live broadcasting, from the desert to the biggest mountain in Europe, Airfilms has done it all. The Airfilms Productions team has produced in more than 16 locations in the world in only two years. In 2012 the company opened its doors in Qatar, in 2013 in Belgium and at the beginning of 2014, South Africa.

About Cobham
Cobham specialises in meeting the demand for data, connectivity and bandwidth in defence, security and commercial environments. Offering a technically diverse and innovative range of technologies and services, the Group protects lives and livelihoods, responding to customer needs with agility that differentiates it. The most important thing we build is trust. Employing more than 10,000 people on five continents, the Group has customers and partners in over 100 countries.