Newsletter from 28/05/2019
Lewis Hamilton on Monaco 2019: 'I think it's the hardest race I've had'
Monaco hasn’t traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton, the Briton entering the weeking having triumphed just twice in 12 attempts at the Principality - a poor record by his standards. But this year was different. After the sad passing of his friend and Mercedes colleague Niki Lauda in the preceding week, Hamilton was determined to make this year different.
He dominated Friday practice and delivered when it mattered in qualifying, on the second and final of his runs, pipping team mate Valtteri Bottas with a maximum attack lap. Then come race day, he commanded the race from the front. And when Mercedes made the wrong call on tyres (they admitted so after the race), Hamilton did what he does best – he made it work.
“His driving saved us,” said Mercedes chief Toto Wolff. Hamilton was simply able to make the mediums he was on, compared to the more durable hards his rivals had, last until the end of the race. As a result, he clinched his third Monaco Grand Prix win – a first from pole position – and his fourth in six races this year.
The Briton, who said he was ‘fighting with the spirit of Niki’ also led a race from start to finish for the 17th time in his career, two short of Ayrton Senna’s all-time record. Perhaps more importantly, he extended his championship lead to 17 points, having now finished first or second in every race this season.
It’s been a stunning start and ominously, you feel he hasn’t even really got going yet.
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MOBILE PRODUCTION
TV Skyline Ü11
TV SKYLINE is THE innovative service provider for mobile TV productions. Our HD OB fleet is equipped with the latest and highest quality broadcasting equipment. For almost 30 years, we have been producing top-quality productions for our customers in the fields of sports, shows, music, events and industry. In addition, we are one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of specialist cameras.
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NEP M15
NEP US, a division of NEP Group, has released M15, the latest in NEP’s lineup of next-generation regional sports mobile units, featuring a full IP infrastructure. This powerful, versatile single-truck-unit was designed to streamline regional sports workflows – but is flexible enough to scale up for mid-sized and large events as well. NEPis also pleased to extend their relationship with ROOT SPORTS NW, as M15supports their coverage of all Seattle Mariners home games. As part of its infrastructure for this regional coverage, M15 pairs seamlessly with NEP’s M5 mobile unit to easily offer visiting broadcasters the away-team side-by-side or dual-feed support they need.
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Colour Sound Experience
West London lighting and video rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment has expanded its fleet of vehicles with a brand new artic and trailer – a fabulous Volvo FH460 Globetrotter Euro 6 tractor unit, complete with a 45' Schmitz Cargobull low-ride Tri-axle FERROPLAST – EXPRESS semi-trailer. This vehicle - chosen for its efficiency and dynamics - is an investment made for the convenience of trucking equipment to tours and festivals across the UK and Europe. It will also offer clients an additional element of cost-effectivity as Colour Sound can offer independent trucking services for large one-offs. The truck will be especially busy during the upcoming festival season and will help streamline overall production logistics by reducing the off-site pick-ups required.
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Riedel’s MediorNet and Artist Form Unified Signal Transport Core of New Van for Denmark-Based Fjord Film
Fjord Film designed and constructed the van with additional expertise provided by Riedel partner and broadcast specialist JAKX. The new van made its production debut March 1 for the first live show of the current season of the Danish X Factor. While the unit is currently on a temporary chassis, it will eventually take the form of a double-expanding trailer once the buildout is complete. With support for 16 cameras, the new van offers more than double the capacity of Fjord Film’s second-biggest OB vehicle.
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STUDIO PRODUCTION
Verizon upgrades to IP with Lawo technology
Renamed Verizon Media Studios (formerly Oath Inc) early in 2019, the renovation and new buildout to the facilities will serve all Verizon Media brands, including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Huffpost, Yahoo News, RYOT, Engadget, Tech Crunch and Makers. It encompasses live broadcast and pre-tape studio content with shared resources across different locations. With DSI/Blade Media acting as the main contractor, the upgrade covers three studios; Control Room 1 and Control Room 3 are used for a daily eight-hour live Yahoo Finance broadcast and ancillary shoots, while Control Room 2 is a general-purpose studio for all other of Verizon brands. These have been equipped with three Lawo mc²36 consoles and a Nova37, accompanied by four Lawo A__mic8 microphone interfaces. The intention is to add two further A__mic8s in the near future.
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Vinten Creative Robotics Drive Stunning AR/VR Effects In RTÉ´s Newly Refurbished Studio
RTÉ News, Ireland's leading public-service television network, has unveiled a brand-new look for its main news studio, Studio 3, with Vinten's state-of-the-art robotic camera support systems. The Vinten robotics equipment is a key component in the newly completed, 1.4 million euros refurbishment and technical upgrade project, designed to enhance the storytelling capabilities of Ireland's busiest television studio. Provided by Irish reseller Broadcast Video Services Ltd., the Vinten solution includes ceiling track and floor roaming pedestal systems.
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Live X Studio - Producing your best work
Located in Hudson Yards, the Live X 4K Studio comes fully stacked with the following features and integrations: • 360-degree studio; • 10'x7' ultra small pitch LED wall;
• 4K studio cameras on tripod dollies and live SDI output; • Video and color correction; • Robust signal distribution and monitoring; • Broadcast graphics, slate or lower thirds created with our proprietary GFX system; • High-fidelity audio ecosystem
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Grass Valley Helps MediaHub Address New Market Dynamics With Scalable Agile Services
Building on an existing SLA agreement, Grass Valley created a bespoke package, delivering support for all MediaHub Australia’s equipment on a per-channel basis. The new deal moves from support based on capital purchases, to one based on channel count. Thanks to this new framework, MediaHub Australia can deliver a more flexible service offering to its customers – from adding a new streaming service or a linear channel to on-demand or mobile app-based access to content.
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SPORT EVENTS
Riedel Deploys and Manages Massive Comms Infrastructure for Special Olympics World Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi
"It was an honor to be such a key player in this year's Special Olympics World Games, which included more than 7,000 athletes from over 195 nations," said Marc Schneider, Director Global Events, Riedel Communications. "This was the largest, most inclusive, and most unified World Games in the history of the organization, with activities held at nine competition venues and over 20 other locations for initiatives and programs across all seven Emirates. Our numbers speak to the sheer size and scale of this event: we deployed more than 30 Artist-64 nodes, which supported over 180 Bolero beltpacks on 56 Bolero antennas, plus another 170 C3 Digital Performer beltpacks, and 1,500 Tetra radios."
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IAAF World Relays in Japan Produced Out of NEP Andrews Hub in Sydney
On-location hardware and crews from NEP UK covered the event and 30 high definition (HD) signals – comprising the 17 main cameras, including two Sony HDC4800 cameras in ultra-high frame rate, plus graphics in Yokohama – were linked via diverse and hitless 10 gigabit-per-second circuits on the Telstra Distributed Production Network (DPN) and sent on to Sydney, 7,800km away, using VC 2 ultra-low-latency compression technology. Production crew and hardware were based at the Sydney Andrews Hub while shading crew were based in Japan. The finished programming was then transmitted from the Hub to broadcast rights holders around the world. ITN, Telstra, and NEP’s UK, Japan and Australia teams worked in concert, showcasing the use of IP technology and extreme low latency compression.
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FIFA Technical Study Group: high expectations ahead of France 2019
FIFA has gathered a select group of experts for its Technical Study Group (TSG), whose analysis of the 52 matches will comprise a detailed breakdown of the action on the pitch and the identification of potential trends for inclusion in the technical report that will be distributed to all FIFA member associations after the competition. The TSG experts will be supported by FIFA TSG Deputy Project Leader Patricia González, FIFA Goalkeeping Specialist Pascal Zuberbühler, FIFA TSG Coordinator and former Swiss women’s national team captain Prisca Steinegger, and FIFA Performance & Game Analyst Chris Loxston.
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WJHW and Parsons Bring HARMAN Professional Solutions Lighting and Audio Systems to Milwaukee Bucks’ New Arena
Opened in August 2018, the Fiserv Forum is a 714,000 square-foot arena built to replace the aging BMO Harris Bradley Center as the home of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team. The venue, a $524 million project, seats up to 18,000 fans and contains 34 suites and three clubs. In addition to NBA games, the venue also hosts concerts by renowned musical acts ranging from KISS to Mumford and Sons, as well as international touring productions like Cirque de Soleil and Monster Jam. Consulting group Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) worked with Parsons Technologies and Theatrical Lighting Designer Ian Hoffer to equip the Forum with state-of-the-art HARMAN AV equipment including JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS signal processors and Martin lighting fixtures.
SHOW EVENTS
Eurovision Song Contest 2019 “Dare to Dream”
Israel has been a superb host to the 64th Eurovision Song Contest, with almost 10,000 ESC enthusiasts attending at Tel Aviv Expo, and about 180 million watching the televised live broadcast in the Eurovision countries – reaching as far as Australia. The amount of technical expertise that went into the three shows was outstanding, especially as this year the contest played in two halls. As partners to the rental company Agorà, RF experts from Sennheiser and its local partner Kilim were on site to assist with the system planning for wireless microphones and monitors, as well as frequency management and RF monitoring. The system deployed by Agorà and Sennheiser/Kilim included 140 wireless microphones from Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 and 9000 Series, plus 42 channels of 2000 series IEMs with a total of 196 IEM bodypacks.
Not Too Much TV for Robe
“There’s No Such Thing as Too Much TV” proclaimed Belgium TV channel SBS at the launch party for their upcoming season’s programming, an event attended by sponsors together with a host of TV celebrities and glitterati, staged at the architecturally hyperreal Docks Arena event space in Brussels. Thomas Boets of LDP was the lighting, set and production designer, and he specified over 120 assorted Robe moving lights for the occasion – which included Tarrantula LED wash beams, LEDBeam 150s and BMFL Blades. Lighting, staging, trussing & rigging plus audio was supplied by rental specialist L&L Stage Services. Working directly for SBS Belgium who created the original concept for the event, Thomas was asked to deliver the show based on his proposal and some of his other recent work. They wanted a fresh and innovative perspective for the annual event announcing their new content, for which key TV anchors introduce their own show clips – played out on video – interspersed with several live acts.
Finding a Natural Rebel in Richard Ashcroft
Undoubtedly one of the most influential British singers of the last two decades, Richard Ashcroft has pursued a hugely successful solo career following the initial split of acclaimed alt rockers The Verve in 1999. His lighting has been designed by Jonny Gaskell since 1996 and the heydays of The Verve – an impressively long and fertile client relationship also making Jonny the longest serving crew member – and he is still driving some of the onstage aesthetics 23 years later! Ashcroft’s fourth solo album and top 10 hit Natural Rebel dropped at the end of last year and he was back on the road recently in the UK with lighting and video once again supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.
Post Malone Spans the Globe on ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ World Tour with Support from disguise
The arena tour, with lighting design by Ben Dalgleish, began in February 2019 with multiple dates in Europe, South America and Australia, followed by US festival dates in June, before returning to Europe and the UK in August. The ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ album earned a number-one slot on the US Billboard 200 last year and broke several streaming records upon its release. The set for the Post Malone tour resembles a stylised face with two giant angled ROE LED video screens in portrait mode forming the eyes and a runway with a graded floor forming the nose. “It’s really a very intimate setting in which the screens focus on Post,” says Asad Yousof of New York-based Flying Saucer & Co., who serves as disguise Programmer and Touring Tech. “For most of the songs there are IMAG and lights on the screens that pulsate and flash to the music so 14,000 fans really get to focus on the artist.”
PRODUCTS
EVS Delivers First Live Production Servers to Pass JT-NM SMPTE ST 2110 Testing
Its new Multicam 16.2 software engine, which the XT servers run on, will be publicly released in June 2019 and supports more of the JT-NM full stack of technologies, as well as NMOS IS-04 and NMOS IS-05 updates. All EVS servers with the upgraded engine, including the XT and XS-VIA as well as previous generation XT4K and XS4K servers, nom natively support IP and meet the compliance standards to allow for a smooth transition to IP workflows and lay the foundation for future productions.
Grass Valley Cameras Help Presteigne Broadcast Hire Meet Growing Demands for 4K UHD, HDR and IP
“We identified a trend where many of the major rental customers are migrating to Grass Valley cameras as clients now demand the advanced feature set, multi-format capability and native IP support they deliver. We’ve seen the robustness and image performance of Grass Valley cameras in the field at a number of major recent events that clearly illustrates their flexibility and reliability. As our clients face shifting market demands, the ability to transition seamlessly to IP, 4K UHD and HDR becomes more important to us – and Grass Valley makes it very simple,” said Adrian Young, COO, Presteigne Broadcast Hire. “We have a strong reputation for delivering the latest technology to our clients and Grass Valley is the market leader in driving open-IP migration, which is of growing importance to our business. Having them as our primary camera supplier will greatly benefit us and our clients.”
Vislink Technologies HCAM-ULRX Camera System Offers Industry's Lowest Latency Wireless Video Solution
“As the first company to launch single-frame, end-to-end latency in 4K, our customers have been able to create more immersive and high-impact live programming for viewers,” says John Payne, President and COO of Vislink Technologies. “For event producers, the growth in UHD and HDR programming, paired with Vislink’s single-frame latency wireless camera solution, provides greater creative freedom. They can now seamlessly cut between wired and wireless UHD resolution cameras at will for continuity throughout the broadcast.” The ULRX fills the need for reliable HEVC reception as part of a highly bandwidth-efficient video transfer system, without sacrificing picture quality. The versatile receiver features four UHF inputs with maximum-ratio combining, DVB-T and proprietary LMS-T demodulation, as well as ASI and IP capabilities. Perfect for broadcast sports and major events coverage with wireless cameras, the ULRX is a 1RU half-width, rackmount chassis receiver.