Newsletter from 19/10/2012
Presidential Debates, Stratos Mission, Formula 1 and Absolute Zero-Failure Tolerance
MOBILE PRODUCTION
Red Bull Stratos: Felix Baumgartner in a Flying HD OBVan
From the comfort of their homes, viewers worldwide could watch every moment of the Red Bull Stratos mission, from pre-launch preparations to Felix Baumgartner’s landing, captured by cameras in the air and on the ground. The event was narrated by two-time Emmy-award-winning correspondent Robert Hager. Live TV coverage was also available in many markets worldwide. “We have basically created a flying video production studio,” says Jay Nemeth, Red Bull Stratos Director of High-Altitude Photography. Camera and communications systems were essential to establish visual contact with Felix Baumgartner in order to document the mission’s progress in real time and for future review, and to broadcast the images to a global audience. The challenges of providing extensive still and moving image coverage from multiple perspectives, data transmission, and wired and wireless communication in the extremes of the stratosphere have proven as complex as every other mission component.
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NEP Broadcasting at the 64th Emmy Awards
As it has done for the past 15+ years, veteran mobile production company NEP Broadcasting, based in Pittsburgh, Pa., successfully brought to viewers the live broadcast of this year’s 64th Primetime Emmy® Awards (Sunday, September 23) on ABC. NEP Broadcasting’s expanding fleet of state-of-the-art trucks feature a variety of Grass Valley® Video Production Center switchers, some of which were onsite and used extensively by ABC and E! Networks to facilitate the pristine HD coverage of the red carpet ceremonies. With multiformat capabilities that allow users to get the most for their investment, NEP's Grass Valley switchers were used in the 720p HD mode, but can easily be reconfigured for all types of 1080 interlaced and progressive HD productions as well. Onsite in Hollywood, NEP Broadcasting’s Sweetwater Cobalt truck featured a Kayenne® switcher, while its Denali Silver and Summit production trucks both featured a Kalypso® switchers and Trinix™ NXT routing switchers. Collectively, the trucks handled all of the red carpet festivities for ABC and E! Networks prior to the main broadcast.
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Clear-Com Gets the Communications Vote at Presidential Debates
Clear-Com® is providing a total communications solution for the presidential debates. The company’s Eclipse Median digital matrix and HelixNet Partyline intercom systems and Tempest®2400 digital wireless intercom with the new Seamless Roaming feature are following the campaign trail, providing production team members at each of the four debate locations with an integrated communications solution for coordinating all the production elements within the venues as well as the pool broadcast truck. With more than 100 million viewers watching the debates around the world, every production cue, from lighting to camera angles, is critical. Equally important is coordination between the director and producer of the debates, as well as between these positions and the producer in the pool broadcast truck, who is managing the camera and audio feeds for the broadcast on all the major networks. The ability of the Clear-Com intercoms to interface easily with one another, along with delivering superior audio quality for clear audibility, will ensure that no critical communications are missed.
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More than 80 Years of Experience
BTS has a long heritage: from Fernseh AG, over Bosch, BTS, Philips, Thomson, Grass Valley and finnaly BTS again. Being the system integration division for all of these companies, BTS is now an independent provider on a broader scale. Clients can immediately benefit from the enormous amount of exrience the company has to offer and take advantage of their access to the best possible device configuration. With over 80 years of television expertise, BTS will continue the tradition of its predecessors and offer high quality turnkey solutions for the broadcast industry as a vendor independent systems integrator. The competence for stationary and mobile TV transmission solutions go back to the founding of the company in 1929, the former Fernseh AG in Berlin. Milestones followed such as the construction of the first transmission van in 1934, the introduction of the color television around the world in the 70's and 80's and the first fully digital HDTV transmission van in 2003.
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STUDIO PRODUCTION
TV3 and Sony Look to the Future of Irish Television
Ireland’s largest commercial broadcaster TV3 has announced a technology partnership with Sony which will see the broadcast technology and solutions company provide the latest in High Definition Camera and support equipment for its new HD Studio in Ballymount, Dublin. The deal follows a series of discussions which culminated in an agreement at IBC 2012 and will see the new studio – which will be Ireland’s biggest fully HD studio – named The Sony HD Studio Dublin. Sony’s technology solution will see six Sony HDC-2400 studio cameras and a Sony MVS-7000X vision mixer installed as part of the broadcaster’s ongoing HD upgrade across its facilities. The facility is due for completion in 2013 and the cameras and switcher will be provided by Sony specialist dealers Eurotek. The development of Sony HD Studio Dublin follows the expansion and upgrade of TV3’s Ballymount facility earlier this year and the Sony HD Studio Dublin will provide a new and unique facility for the Irish TV production industry. All Sony businesses in Ireland have secured exclusive first usage of this facility as part of the deal.
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Calrec Makes First Sale Into Moscow
Calrec announced its first foray into Russia with the sale of two Artemis Beam consoles to Television Technical Centre Ostankino for NTV-PLUS, a Russian subscriber satellite service broadcasting sports, news, movies, documentaries, and children's TV, as well as an HD service. The 48-fader desks were installed in the Moscow Television Technical Centre and were used by NTV-PLUS for the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London this year. The Artemis Beam consoles have been networked together using Calrec's Hydra2 system in order to maximize flexibility, allowing either console to access any I/O on the network. The nature of the Hydra2 network provides plenty of room for future expansion, making it simple to add additional consoles and I/O. The new system enables NTV-PLUS to broadcast in 5.1 and move content around with ease. In doing so, NTV-PLUS can maximize productivity and realize larger, more complex productions, which in turn could lead to more revenue.
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Vinten Radamec Equipment Boosts Sky Deutschland Operation
Sky Deutschland has added the popular Sky Sports News 24 channel to its extensive line-up. More than three million subscribers across the Sky Deutschland region in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can now tune in to the dedicated sports channel for 19 hours a day. The Sky Sports News 24 channel originated from a purpose-built studio and newsroom in Munich. The current set-up, which combines the newsroom and studio into one single area, is equipped with an extensive range of the latest technology. The equipment includes a comprehensive automation system incorporating robotic cameras from Vinten Radamec. The needs of the studio vary from segment to segment, whether the requirement is for two presenters or for a slot where there is the need for a large discussion group. The look of the studio can also be transformed if an item demands dedicated branding. For example, Sky recently got the rights to broadcast Formula 1 motor racing, and when Sky Sports News covers the subject the studio has the capability to adapt its look, as well as the graphics, maintaining the channel’s style, to match that specific sporting event.
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TSL Systems Integrator Provides HD for the Nations
TSL, leading systems integrator for the broadcast industry, today announced that it has won the contract to supply systems integration work for the BBC One Nations HD Playout project; which will enable BBC One HD for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means that each nation’s channel can be broadcast to national schedules, showing both true HD and up-scaled programmes. ‘The overall challenge with this project is the amount of planning involved’, explains David Gunn, Director of Systems at TSL. ‘Duringlive playout, we’ll be replacing sections of SD circuitry and interfacing new HD systems around each of the nations’ existing infrastructures.’ TSL built the original BBC Nations SD playout facilities in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast in 2007. The first HD upgrade is due to take place for Northern Ireland later this year.
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HD Studio Directory 2012
In our HD Studio Special 2012 gives detailed presentations of 41 HD Studios from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Similar to our successful HD OBVan Directories we present each HD Studio on three pages including a technical synopsis with an overview on the installed hardware in the sections lighting, public address, cameras, lenses and pedestals, video gallery, audio gallery, intercom and the listing of the relevant system integrators. In addition to these straight forward presentations we have a dedicated focus on studio lighting, videowalls in studios and fast turnaround productions. Finally we focus on the production of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.
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SPORTS
Georges Bertellotti 2012 Golden Podium Awards
Over the last 22 years, the Golden Podium Awards, created by Georges Bertellotti, have awarded the directors of the world’s best sports TV images of the year. The ceremony of the Golden Podium Awards was held on Tuesday 16 October 2012 at 19:00 in presence of London 2012 Olympic medalists and personalities from the sports and media world. This year, it was presented by Mary Patrux and Darren Tulett (beIN Sport). Prices were awarded in the categories of Best Slow Motion Sequence / Cut - Edited Shots, Best Slow Motion Sequence / Isolated Camera Shot, International Olympic Committee Grand Prize, Best Sports Program Trailer/Teaser or Opening Montage, Prize Christian Blachas for the Best Advertising Film, in collaboration with CBTV and CB News, Best Sound Design, in collaboration with RMC L'Equipe.fr and the Public Prize for the Best Sport Slow Motion of the year.
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Riedel @ Formula 1
In particular Motorsport events make demands on a rental business like no other. The high stress on personnel and equipment, combined with absolute zero-failure tolerance in communications places Motorsport in a class of its own. Riedel's involvement in Formula 1 began in 1993. Now, 19 years later, Riedel is responsible for the communications infrastructure at all 20 races worldwide, and equips all twelve Formula 1 racing teams, as well as the FOM and the FIA. Beyond intercom, Riedel has also established secure WAN MPLS data services, providing point-to-point connections for the team from the circuit to the team’s base office. These services are used for audio/video/data transmission as well as VoIP-based voice communications. In addition to this quite demanding infrastructure , Riedel provides other services and products for Motorsport, such as wireless HD on-board camera solutions for the race cars, CCTV recordings of park ferme as well as RiDAR (Race Incident Detection and Review System) to enable race control to view controversial situations from different camera angles.
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BSI Mobile RF camera and PTRZ at Quiksilver Pro Surfing in France
Broadcast Sports Inc., (BSI) a leading developer and service provider of wireless camera, audio and communication systems, provided a handheld radio camera and a wireless Pan Tilt Roll Zoom camera to film the Quiksilver Pro France surfing competition. This elite tour event featured surfers from around the world competing on 15-20 foot waves. The competition, which is part of the Association of Surfing Professionals’ Great World Tour, took place on the sandy beaches of the Basco-Landaise coast and was shown on Eurosport TV and Fox Australia, and live through the Quiksilverlive.com website. Because of changing weather and surf conditions, the competition moved along the beach each day to the location with the best waves. BSI, therefore, created a package with two RF cameras that could be operated anywhere along the 10km stretch of sandy beach, next to the surf.
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SHOWS
Clay Paky with Jennifer Lopez in Minsk
Lopez’s visit to Minsk marked her first ever appearance in Belarus. The Minsk-Arena Complex is unique in its complexity and functionality not only in Belarus but also in Europe, offering a multi-sports and entertainment arena for 15,000 spectators, a skating stadium for up to 3,000 spectators and a velodrome at 2,000 spectators. Jennifer Lopez’s dynamic Dance Again World Tour came alive in Minsk with the help of a super-bright rig of Clay Paky luminaires. Lighting designer Sean Burke’s vision was for a fast-paced lighting show to match Lopez’s dance-inspired music and passionate choreography – and it was met by Belarus’-based Ilya Piatrouski of FE Belimlight whose inventory of Clay Paky fixtures stepped up to the challenge.
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David Byrne & St. Vincent “Love This Giant” North American Tour
The “Love This Giant” tour features an eight piece horn section and elaborate choreography. On the road in support of the recent album release of the same name, a collaboration between the Talking Heads frontman and Annie Clark (St. Vincent), the tour kicked off on September 15th in Minneapolis and hits theaters across North America through October 20th. Christie Lites of Vancouver is lighting vendor for the tour with Jaime Carlson of Christie serving as Crew Chief. Production Manager is Chris Fussell and Stage Manager is Ryan Kell. “It's the first time I've used the Auras and they are spectacular!” Thus exclaimed lighting designer Susanne Sasic of Martin Professional’s versatile MAC Aura LED wash light. Using a nearly all Martin rig on the David Byrne & St. Vincent “Love This Giant” North American tour, the LD, who also handles production design and lighting direction on the tour, has teamed the MAC Aura™ with Martin MAC 101™ LED washes and MAC 700™ series fixtures.
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Madonna Gives Sennheiser All Her Luvin’
Stadiums, arenas and open air venues across Asia, Europe, North and South America are hosting Madonna’s 2012 MDNA World Tour with all featuring a large Sennheiser microphone and RF system which helps deliver a flawless performance, night after night. Madonna has six Sennheiser SKM 5200 mics for each show, which, as monitor engineer Matt Napier explains, get tested to the limit. Everything is using the built-in networking, all programmed on Wireless System Manager, which saves a huge amount of time. Eighth Day Sound, the audio rental company provided the Sennheiser equipment after purchasing from Sennheiser SEC. Every show so far has been trouble free!
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PRODUCTS
SpaceX Broadcasts Dragon Mission to ISS with ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher
The October 7 launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which was the first official commercial cargo resupply mission for NASA, was one of the most exciting developments in space travel in decades. In May of this year, SpaceX was the first private company to send a spacecraft to the space station, a feat that only five governments have ever accomplished. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) used Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher and ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Panel with the recent global broadcast of SpaceX’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX also used Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub and Universal Videohub routers, SmartView Duo, SmartView HD, ATEM Camera Converters and numerous Mini Converter HDMI to SDIs in their broadcast control room.
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Golf Channel Completes Facility Upgrade with SSL C100 HDS and C10 HD Consoles
Golf Channel produces coverage of the European Tour, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour, as well as a variety of other tours from around the world. Production includes the nightly golf news program Golf Central, Morning Drive and the reality series Big Break, as well as early round coverage of the FedExCup. With audio feeds coming in from around the world in different formats, combined with the production of pre/post event and regular programming, the C100 and C10 consoles give Golf Channel the ability to handle both analogue and digital audio from multiple sources, process embedded audio and share resources between all three control rooms. The cable network selected two of SSL’s popular Production Assistant options, Dialogue Automix and 5.1 Upmix, for the consoles. Dialogue Automix provides software-driven automation of levels for panel-type programs, while 5.1 Upmix offers convincing and adjustable 5.1 Upmix and Downmix capabilities, allowing stereo programming to be broadcast in believable surround sound for production consistency.
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Broadcast Rental Purchases First NAC Hi-Motion II for Mainland Europe
“There is a definite gap in the market,” says company founder, Geert Paul Slee. “The only Hi-Motion IIs in Europe are based in the UK and, following their successes at this summer’s London Games in particular, broadcasters often find that they are booked out months in advance. Our existing slo-mo cameras are already extremely popular in a number of countries, so we anticipate strong demand for the stunning pictures the Hi-Motion II can produce.” The Hi-Motion II cameras use a unique three chip (CMOS) sensor capable of capturing more than 10x high speed images in Full HD and provide simultaneous output of live realtime video AND ultra slow motion replay video. The three chip NAC Hi-Motion II cameras provide unparalleled clarity and detail enhancement along with superb light sensitivity while fitting seamlessly into the workflow of sports broadcast environments.
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