2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and on LIVE-Production.TV

Riedel Provides A/V, Data, and Communications Solution for 2014 RBAR World Championships

Riedel Communications equipment is enabling flexible and reliable signal transport and communications for the Red Bull Air Race World Championship season that started Feb. 28 in Abu Dhabi. The series continued on to Rovinj, Croatia on April 12 and then to Putrajaya, Malaysia on May 18, and makes several more stops before finishing in China in November. For the first three races, the state-of-the-art solution supplied by Riedel not only supported wired and wireless communications among the more than 300 people — from pilots to security to referees — involved in the race, but also facilitated distribution of video and audio for production of both the live show and the international broadcast and Web stream.

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DELEC Intercom for CETV

Chinese TV broadcaster China Education Television (CETV) has equipped an HD OB van for sports and entertainment programs with a DELEC intercom from the SALZBRENNER STAGETEC MEDIAGROUP. The system, delivered at the end of 2013 and now put into operation, includes ten subscriber units connected to an MF4 matrix frame with 15 slots. The fully summing MF4 with a capacity of up to 256 ports accommodates not only the digital subscriber unit cards but also four analogue audio cards, a party line card for managing analogue belt packs and a MADI card.

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Hitachi Kokusai Electric Turkey Delivers Sophisticated DSNG Uplink Vehicle to FOX TV

Hitachi Kokusai Turkey has completed the design, construction and fitting out of a DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) vehicle for Turkish broadcaster, FOX TV.  Designed and built at Hitachi’s new purpose designed facility in Istanbul, Turkey, the project sees extensive reconfiguration of the Ford Transit vehicle including structural coachwork and the installation of PAL’S DriveNews™ PDA-150 1.5m satellite antenna system and Xicom’s XTD-400K high power amplifier (HPA). This DSNG vehicle provides FOX TV with a sophisticated uplink facility capable of transmitting audio and video signals direct from remote news locations, sporting and cultural events from an Outside Broadcast (OB) production vehicle or even from a field-based ENG camera crew direct to FOX’s broadcast centre via satellite.

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Red TX Joins The Remote Recording Network

Broadcast audio specialist Red TX has joined Europe's leading live recording initiative Remote Recording Network. Whilst contributing to managing and engineering music and broadcast assignments on a global and cost-effective basis, RRN offers bespoke solutions that cater for all kinds of transmission, recording, mixing, mastering, duplication and publishing. Remote Recording Network GmbH had last year joined forces with Dutch mobile recording company Eurosound bv and had integrated the German ‘RemoteTaxi’ enterprise to establish the initial ‘Network’. Peter Brandt, head of Remote Recording Network and a man with over 30 years' experience of recording and mixing international rock, pop, jazz, and classical artists, says: "Bringing Red TX into RRN will benefit our European customers by giving them access to a fully digital truck based in Europe that can handle high-end surround sound projects, particularly for broadcast.”

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RTS+OMNEO at Microsoft Production Studios

Billed as the largest media production facility in the Northwest, MPS describes itself as creating “more than 3000 media productions” every year for both outside clients and Microsoft’s own internal production needs. The 65,000 square foot site offers a full range of services from preproduction to post, including not only full broadcast production (grip, lighting, camera, electric, audio) but also in such areas as concept and storyline development, editing, sound design and mixing, lighting design, motion design, and distribution and management for both program and assets. Also key to MPS’s success is driving media innovation for Microsoft as a whole.  MPS is equipped and staffed to handle projects including commercials, promos, corporate and press events and presentations, interviews, integrated marketing campaigns, episodic television programs, animation, gaming, screen capture, kiosks, trainings, tutorials, and demonstrations.

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“Perfect for TV Studios”: Channel 9 Votes for grandMA2

Israel’s Channel 9 broadcasts news around the clock from their studios in Modiʿin as well as talk shows, current affairs programs, series, original productions, telenovelas and many more. The channel has two studios, a large 900sqm space and smaller one of 350sqm. A new lighting system was installed with grandMA2 control with the move into the new facility. Chief lighting designer Michael Schwartz explains the selection of the grandMA2: “I chose MA due to my experiences with the MA system in the past and because of the great reliability and many possibilities which are perfect for television studios.”

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Professional Performance Meets Affordability

Building on almost 70 years of experience in developing world-class microphone technology, HARMAN’s AKG is adding five new models to its Project Studio line of microphones. The new models are designed for enthusiasts and professionals alike, meeting the needs of makeshift project studios as well as professional environments. The Project Studio line was built on AKG’s heritage of technical excellence and was developed in collaboration with some of the audio industry’s top professionals. The new Project Studio microphones deliver historical premium AKG sound quality in a classically designed series.

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FIFA TV and NHK: 8K Match Production

FIFA TV has a proud legacy of pioneering new television technology at FIFA tournaments to ensure that football fans around the world can enjoy the best quality sports coverage on offer. The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is no different with the very latest in visual technology either being used in the broadcast production of key matches and events or being tested for use in future competitions. While many of the world’s broadcasters are still looking for the next stage of TV standard, NHK is making a huge show in Brazil of its ultimate plan, which is to see 8K Super Hi-Vision start broadcasting in 2020. As a collaborative project NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and FIFA  is co-hosting a series of live and recorded public viewings of nine matches in 8K Super Hi-Vision at the Sofitel Rio de Janeiro Copacabana (FIFA Official Hotel), CBPF (Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fsicas) and the IBC SHV screen.

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4K Live Productions at Maracana Stadium

GloboSat’s new TV OB truck is producing three 4K live broadcasts from World Cup matches played in the Maracana stadium, in Rio de Janeiro: The round of 16 match on 28 June, the  Quarter-Final on 4 July and the Final on 13 July. The vehicle, which was completed just in time for this year’s FIFA World Cup, is Brazil’s first 4K OB truck, and is fitted with audio equipment from Lawo and state-of-the-art RAVENNA IP networking technology. At the heart of the audio control room is a latest-generation 48-fader Lawo mc²56 – which is both compact and powerful. The interfacing to the outside world is taken care of by a DALLIS I/O system in the truck and two DALLIS stageboxes (with port redundancy) that are linked via RAVENNA. The console’s integrated Lawo Plugin Server allows seamless integration of plugin effects that can be recalled with stored snapshots.

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Eye in the Sky

With a country as diverse and as picturesque as Brazil hosting the FIFA World Cup™, it is impossible to capture all of its majesty from the ground. Enter the aerial camera. Following its success at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, the aerial camera has returned four years later to provide coverage from above for each of the 64 matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ – weather permitting, of course. An 18-month project has culminated with seven helicopters, each with two sets of pilots who work on a 14-day shift pattern, taking to the skies of Brazil.

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World Cup Broadcasts with Multiple Allen & Heath Mixers

Fox Sports Brazil, a key broadcaster of the games, is using a GLD-80 digital mixer connected via Dante to 3 LAWO consoles and 3 RTS matrixes for broadcasts from Rio de Janeiro. Broadcaster, Sigma, is using a Qu-16 and a Qu-24 compact digital mixer, plus two iDR-16 and an iDR-48 iLive MixRacks. Fox Sports’ Sao Paulo studio installed a GLD-80 earlier this year. As part of the system, an AR2412 remote I/O rack was selected as a master unit, with two AR84 expander racks installed in the Fox studio with the mixer. This system is being used to provide audio feeds to reporters throughout the 12 stadiums hosting the games located in 12 cities across Brazil.

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LiveU’s Customers Bring the First Week of the FIFA World Cup 2014™ Alive

LiveU, a leader in portable live video acquisition, contribution and management solutions, has announced that more than 80 broadcasters from around the world have already used its technology during the first week of the 20th FIFA World Cup in Brazil, bringing the event to life and providing 360 degree coverage that would otherwise be impossible. Broadcasters are choosing to transmit the vast majority of their LiveU footage live: a remarkable 98 per cent of the 3945 transmission sessions that have occurred at the time of writing were made using live transmission mode. This represents a major increase from the last game-changing event for cellular bonding: the London 2012 Olympics. With over 200 LiveU units deployed, 816 hours of live transmission, and over 22TB of data delivered in the first week alone, the tournament is proving highly successful for those using LiveU.

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FIFA World Cup Breaks TV Viewing Records Around the World

The group matches have set new TV records in a number of markets, from Belgium to the US. Sales of television advertising and subscriptions have also benefitted. For the first time, there is also evidence of “second screen” applications growing in popularity. 12.2 million tweets were sent during Brazil’s win over Croatia and several thousand viewers are watching the games on broadcasters’ streaming services. But the real story around ‘social media’ has been the growth in public viewing, reinforcing the role of mass audience television as the original “social” media. The audited global figures will not be known for some time but broadcasters are already optimistic that the viewing numbers for the final on 13 July may approach or even surpass the 909 million who watched the Spain v Netherlands final in 2010.

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Live Drives 11x Longer Viewing Times Across All Devices

As premium content owners and distributors move forward with meeting consumer demand for all content on all devices, they’re also exploring a variety of monetization models, from free to subscription, pay per view and of course advertising. Live video has the power to pull together fractionalized audiences for longer viewing periods creating ideal advertising opportunities. This is why content owners, aggregators and distributors are increasing looking at launching more live events and live linear channels to drive the next generation of online video viewing experience along with the strategies and business models that will capitalize on that consumer demand. In response to this new and rapidly developing sector FIFA has developed a wide range of multimedia services that complement and enhance Media Rights License's (MRL) multimedia coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

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Clay Paky Is Up ‘All Night Long’ with Lionel Richie

Seasoned lighting designer Debbi Fowler made excellent use of an arsenal of of Clay Paky lighting fixtures to illuminate world famous Motown man Lionel Richie during his open-air gig at The Media City Amphitheatre, Dubai. Fowler worked closely with Dubai based hire outfit Eclipse, which recently supplied equipment for superstars such as Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars. For the Richie show Eclipse furnished Fowler with an impressive stock of Clay Paky fixtures. “When creating a lighting design I like to focus on layering different fixtures to create texture, this means that the fixtures I choose and how I position them is crucial,” explains Fowler.

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Robe Touches the Stars at 2014 CMT Awards

This year’s star-studded CMT’s was lit by Tom Kenny for the fifth consecutive year, and he utilised a variety of Robe fixtures including Pointes, MMX Spots and LEDWash fixtures on his massive lighting rig in the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee. Hosted by Kristen Bell and produced by Michael Dempsey Productions along with John Hamlin, Amy Johnson and Margaret Comeaux from CMT, the live broadcast received an incredible response from both the public and media. Thirty thousand country music fans also packed the arena to catch the amazing line-up and witness many live show-stopping performances and unique collaborations.

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Brilliant Stages Delivers Skatepark for One Direction "Where We Are" Stadium Tour

One Direction recently kicked off their latest stadium tour, Where We Are, to celebrate their third album, Midnight Memories. Working with designers Ray Winkler and Ric Lipson of Stufish, Brilliant Stages delivered a series of staging elements designed around a central theme of a skatepark. Stufish designed the 3-dimensional diamond-shaped ‘skate park’ with multiple performer levels that spread across the 54m wide x 21m deep main stage. The set incorporates pairs of ego- and band-risers, perimeter ramps and screamers arranged either side of a steep central slope, which rakes upstage at a 19° angle to a height of 4.5m, and is fronted by a 34m long skate thrust to the B-stage.

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VER Purchases Grass Valley Switchers to Expand its HD Offerings

Building upon its longstanding relationship with Grass Valley, global rental house Video Equipment Rentals (VER) has purchased two Kayenne Video Production Center switchers with K-Frame modular video processing engines to build upon its HD offerings for pertinent rental markets in the US, Canada and Europe. VER has served the broadcast and audio/visual markets for almost 30 years. The new Kayenne switchers complement the company’s extensive inventory of HD live production equipment, which includes several other Grass Valley switchers as well as Grass Valley cameras. Recently, the new Kayenne switchers were used to capture the action at Roland Garros stadium in Paris for the French Open 2014.

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Datavideo Expands Switcher Line with the 2200 Series!

As with the profound 2800 series, the 2200 will come in two versions. The first is the standalone SE-2200 which consists of a 2U rack mounted mainframe and an external keypad. The second is the HS-2200, the very flexible and versatile hand carry version of the SE-2200. With a 17,3” built-in monitor and talkback/tally system, the HS-2200 is ready for use in the most rough environments. Even when running on an external battery! SE-2200 is a solution that comes with great features such as 6x6 SDI genlocked Matrix, Dual PIP and built-in title overlay system that works with entry level Datavideo CG systems, or other graphics programmes. The ability to accept up to 6 HD or SD SDI and two HDMI signals, 6 HD or SD SDI assignable outputs and two HDMI multi-view outputs (one on HS-2200 because the internal screen uses the other one) makes it a very effective switcher.

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Lydvaesenet Snaps Up Denmark’s First Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console

LydRommet A/S has confirmed its first sale of HARMAN’s Soundcraft’s Vi3000 next-generation digital mixing console to concert touring and festival specialists, Lydvæsenet—run by Henrik Kjærgaard. The delivery was the first of three Vi3000 sales confirmed by Lars Christensen, Sales Manager at LydRommet, HARMAN Professional’s territory distributor. He confirmed, “We began promoting the Vi3000 as soon as the first pictures were up in cyberspace and immediately received a number of inquiries. Henrik was one of the first people we approached.” The momentum grew further during the presentation at this year’s Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt, and having taken delivery of its own demo console, LydRommet’s participation at local promo events, supported by HARMAN Professional’s Dom Harter and Dave Karlsen, further spread the word.

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FUJIFILM 4K Lenses Capture Historic Moment in Time at the Coronation of Filipe IV

The recent 4K production of this  historic moment  at the coronation Filipe IV was a collaboration between  Sony, TVE, Xeltec and Fujinon. On site there were two Sony F-55 equiped with Fujinon Cabrio ZK4.7x19 and ZK3.5x85 4K UHD lenses at the Hall of Columns at the Royal Palace of Madrid. The 4K PL-mount 19-90mm Cabrio (ZK4.7x19) and 85-300mm (ZK3.5x85) feature an exclusive detachable servo drive unit, making them suitable for use as  standard PL cine lens or as an ENG-Style lens. The ZK Series also feature flange focal distance adjustment, macro function, and are   LDS (Lens Data System) and i/metadata compatible. With focal ranges from 14.5 to 300mm the ZK-Series are extremly light-weight starting at only 2.7kg including servo motors and drive unit, the lenses have the longest focal range available in  their class.

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PESA Delivers New Cheetah 4K Routing Solutions, Retrofit Kits

PESA announced its new Cheetah 4K routing solutions. Built to manage the expanded bandwidth requirements of 4K signals, new routers are available in multiple configurations, while retrofit kits provide a simple plug-and-play upgrade solution for current 3G-SDI Cheetah routers. “4K is quickly becoming the display norm for today’s tech-savvy audiences, and PESA is now delivering a key component to any operation’s 4K infrastructure,” said Chuck Tillett, president and COO of PESA. “With our easyPORT technology, existing Cheetah installations can be partially or completely upgraded to 4K in the field to support data intensive workflows. New Cheetahs can be dedicated 4K routers or partitioned and converted later as your 4K needs grow.”

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