Newsletter from 11/02/2014
Athletes and Organisers Hail “Ground-Breaking” Opening Ceremony
MOBILE PRODUCTION
France Televisions - Le Benjamin de Rennes
France Télévisions is the French public national television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the bringing together of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (formerly France Régions 3), later joined by the legally independent channels France 5 (formerly La Cinquième), France Ô (formerly RFO Sat), and France 4 (formerly Festival). France Télévisions is currently funded by the revenue from television licence fees and commercial advertising. France Televisions operate regional facilities in Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille Nancy, Paris, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Now Benjamin de Rennes is included in our catalogues.
Get the Specs of Le Benjamin de Rennes here
TV Asahi Upgrades OB Truck with Lawo mc²56 Console
TV Asahi was the first mc² customer in Japan, and is convinced of the features and the usability of the mc² consoles. Having worked on many international outside broadcast productions, for example on Alfacam trucks, TV Asahi’s project engineer has become very familiar with Lawo consoles: “By choosing the mc²56 for our OB truck, I can be sure of the highest levels of sound quality, reliability and usability. And I can be sure to find many engineers who can operate the consoles,” he says.
Read more ...
SIS LIVE Delivers the First of 18 Ka Band SNG Trucks to ITN & ITV
The new fleet, entirely designed and integrated by SIS LIVE’s in house project team, is based on Mercedes Sprinter and Vito vans with 1.2m and 1.0m SIS LIVE uplinks. The antennas are the lightest, most flexible vehicle mounted satellite systems in the world. The reduced weight, compared to competing antennas, allows for a higher spec system to be installed in a smaller 3.5T vehicle, thus avoiding the 56mph speed restriction of the 5T vehicles and allowing the swiftest response to breaking news stories.
Read more ...
STUDIO PRODUCTION
“Strictly Come Dancing” Has a Ball with Studer Consoles
“Strictly Come Dancing”, one of the BBC's flagship family entertainment programs, has become the latest to benefit from the comprehensive broadcast production services at the new home of BBC Studios And Post Production - Elstree Film Studios. Facilities include a new audio installation featuring a MADI / fibre-optic infrastructure and flexible routing and mixing framework, with HARMAN’s Studer Vista and OnAir technology at its core.
Read more ...
Robe Gets A Taste For Chef Games
The set featured a full kitchen on one side where the competitors created their culinary art, and this was connected via a conveyor belt to the restaurant / tasting area the other side. The food was dispatched to the tasting teams via the belt, so the judges were unaware of which chef had prepared which of the dishes! Chef Games LD Dakar Azulay copyrighted by Louise Stickland Chef Games LD Dakar Azulay Azulay is one of Israel's leading TV Lighting Designers and has 25 years of experience in all areas of the industry. His recent credits include lighting The Voice, X-Factor, Big Brother and many other high profile shows, and he also does a lot of fashion work including catwalk shows for leading Israeli clothing brand Castro.
Read more ...
Nothing Impossible for HSL with James Arthur
2012 UK X-Factor winner James Arthur has had a roller-coaster rise to stardom in the last 12 months, with his first full production tour kicking off two days into the new year complete with a stylish production and lighting design by Andy Hurst and lighting equipment supplied by Blackburn based HSL. Hurst took the 'less is more' approach to lighting the Impossible singer's show, which he programmed during production rehearsals at Millennium Studios in Bedford, working a discreet jazz clubby vibe blended with urban edge in to the soul orientated show. HSL’s Project Manager Mike Oates comments, “Andy’s design is classy and intelligent - and really shows off his skills at creating a theatrical style environment”.
Read more ...
SPORTS
Stage is Set in Sochi with Events About to Get Underway
Russia's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics was part of a broader goal to step back onto the world stage as host of major sporting events (the country's last event was the Moscow Summer Olympics back in 1980). The challenge was threefold: to convince the International Olympic Committee that Russia had both the vision and the infrastructure to host such a major event; to develop the popular summertime coastal resort of Sochi into a world class destination for winter sports, and to design a stadium flexible enough to facilitate the Olympic ceremonies, then act as a venue for FIFA World Cup matches and, finally, become the home venue for a local football team.
Read more ...
NBC Olympics: Two Locations – One Production System
The Olympic Games in Sochi provide an example of the growth of “at home” efforts: A centralized production team like Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) does much of the camera and event production work, allowing the Rights Holding Broadcasters (RHBs) to concentrate on editing and building story packages. And more and more broadcasters even reduce their on-location staff by increasing the staff back at their home base, making best use of the data-pipelines which now are available from any international sports event location. One example is NBC Olympics. Already at the 2008 Beijing Games, NBC Olympics has used the large fiber and data pipes to do much more than just backhaul content.
Read more ...
EVS Technology Drives WRC Highlights for the Second Year Running
This January the World Rally Championship (WRC) kicked off in Monte Carlo with all content handled by EVS solutions. FilmWorks, the Finnish technical solutions and production services provider responsible for the entire coverage and distribution of WRC content, has selected EVS solutions to power its workflow for the second consecutive year. During the Championship, FilmWorks will deliver a range of coverage, including two highlights shows. The Championship sees 13 rallies take place all over the world, with the next taking place in Sweden this week.
Read more ...
SHOWS
SGM XC-5 Adds Pizzazz to Britney's Spectacular Las Vegas Show
When Britney Spears’ new Las Vegas revue Britney: Piece of Me opened at the end of last year, leading production designers Baz Halpin and Chris Nyfield of Silent House Productions invested it with a typically dynamic and versatile set. Halpin, who boasts a veritable portfolio of global superstars among his credits, first started using SGM’s groundbreaking XC-5 colour strobes last year on world arena tours with P!nk and Taylor Swift, as rental stagers PRG invested in inventory to meet the demand. This time he confirms that he has deployed 40 of the LED strobes on the stage at Planet Hollywood Resort as the only strobe platform in the set.
Read more ...
XL Video Supplies 2014 National Television Awards
XL Video supplied a large high definition LED screen, media server control, projection relays and screen management for the hugely popular 2014 National Television Awards, hosted by Dermot O’Leary at London’s O2 Arena. While winners Ant and Dec, who are celebrating 25 years in show-business, won two awards, and Doctor Who collected 2014 NTAs for Drama and Drama Performance (Matt Smith) is in its 50th anniversary year, XL Video celebrated its own NTA landmark … as video production supplier for the 10th consecutive year for Indigo Television. XL Project Manager Paul Wood has worked on the NTA’s since the company was first commissioned to provide video back in 2005.
Read more ...
Clay Paky with Maroon 5
There’s little doubt that Maroon 5 are riding high at the moment. This is a band who radiate confidence and self-assured accomplishment in their live performances. Here in the UK and Europe in January to complete a date sheet interrupted by front man Adam Levine’s TV commitments to the US version of The Voice, another outfit might have opted for a pared down version of their stage production for just a few shows. Not so for Maroon 5. With a stage set, laser show, video and lighting design by Eric Wade, a veteran of the likes of Usher, Mariah Carey and Eric Clapton, this was a show to blow away all of those January blues. Described by the London Evening Standard as “A lightshow which could have illuminated the dark side of the moon,” Wade’s design was lacking only in compromise. To compete successfully with the video content, the lighting rig needed to be able to hold its own with three of the ‘most high-definition screens this reporter has seen at the O2’.
Read more ...
PRODUCTS
Belden Acquires Grass Valley
Transmission solutions specialist Belden has submitted a binding offer to purchase privately-held broadcast technologist Grass Valley for $220 million. The binding offer is subject to consultation with Grass Valley’s foreign labour works council, after which Belden will enter into a definitive agreement. Grass Valley provides innovative technologies including production switchers, cameras, servers, and editing solutions within the mission critical applications of broadcast customers. Belden says that when combined with its production, playout and delivery systems integrated solutions unit Miranda, the resulting end-to-end solution will be the most complete and compelling in the industry. Belden announced the planned acquisition alongside its Q4 2013 results.
Read more ...
NTV+ Picks Orad Graphics for Their Sochi Winter Olympics Coverage
Olympic broadcasts traditionally require complex productions because of the many simultaneous events. With Orad’s TD Control and graphic solutions, NTV+’s high paced production will run smoothly and efficiently. NTV+ will be able to easily control their Olympic productions by handling multiple live video boxes and graphics from the different events from a single user interface, ensuring synchronization between operators and devices. NTV+ will also be able to control real time graphic tables displaying the athletes’ standings, metals, etc, as well as informative lower thirds and crawls.
Read more ...
Panasonic to Launch First ‘Cloud Ready’ Camera
The AJ-PX270 removes the need for traditional video uplink, perfectly positioning it for the growing live stream and freelance news gathering market. The camera enables a wireless production workflow via LAN, with additional 3G/4G/LTE application from Autumn 2014. The P2 HD handheld camera recorder has integrated AVC-ULTRA recording, offering a wide range of recording bit rates. In addition to AVC-Intra100, the camera has AVC-LongG, which enables extended recording of 1920x1080 10bit 4:2:2 broadcast quality footage. With two built-in microP2 card slots, the AJ-PX270 offers cost effective operation and simultaneous recording.
Read more ...
3D/4K ARISING
DVS: The Phantom Flex 4K Available for Rent in Europe
Digital Vidéo Sud, the slow- motion specialist has a range of 18 Phantom cameras and is the first European company to receive the famous Phantom Flex 4K camera from Vision Research. The camera was used successfully by Redkenn Productions on 7 and 8 January at the Abel 14 Studio for a shoot on behalf of Sony. The DVS technical crews worked with the producer Raoul Rodriguez who is also a specialist in producing specific shots at 1000 frames per second in 4K resolution. The FLEX 4K camera is also available for rent from Transpacam in Paris, like DVS a subsidiary of the Euro Media Group.
Read more ...
NIMB TV Relies on Softron for UltraHD Playout from Micro-sized Mobile Unit
Taking the trend for getting more from less to an entirely new level, Danish broadcast production start up NIMB TV has launched the country’s first UltraHD mobile unit – in the form of a three-wheel scooter van. Fully equipped for multi camera 4K production, the incredibly compact van is booked for a season of live broadcast productions and big screen events. Powering the 4K playout from the pioneering mobile unit, Softron’s OnTheAir Video Express delivers convenient and reliable high-quality UltraHD performance from standard MacOS hardware. Designed for news production and live shows, OnTheAir Video Express supports the major codecs, and provides an essential feature set that includes with mix-and-match resize, GPI triggers, cue mode, seamless playback, multiple outputs on one Mac, clip trimming, clip end behaviours, and scrubbing.
Read more ...