Newsletter from 30/12/2015
Preview: PURE LIVE 2015
On 200 pages we will show new HD/UHD OBVans (including a technical synopsis of each truck) and Studios. Supported by market analyses, latest developments in live production and comprehensive case studies as well as portraits of international system integrators, rental facilities and production houses worldwide. We’ll show how to distribute and display entertainment, sports and event productions on any platform around the world. Aerial filming, slow/ultra motion production, technical management and engineering support, set design and construction – in short: all you need for a perfect live production will be featured in the PURE LIVE 2015. All this will be topped off with reports on exceptional live-productions in sports and entertainment highlighting our areas of focus: video, audio and lighting.
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MOBILE PRODUCTION
EUROMEDIA takes Lawo’s V__pro8 and mc²56 on Le Tour
The new EUROMEDIA OB hybrid production vehicle “C42” supports 10 to 12 cameras, and is designed specifically to meet the demands of sports, variety, games and entertainment production. On the Tour de France, it will co-ordinate all the RF audio feeds before forwarding them to the truck responsible for the international broadcast feed. It is also able to provide an emergency backup in the case of any failure. The OB will accompany the riders at every stage of the race, with its Lawo V__pro8 video processor unit that will be used for color correction of the video signals received from the motorcycle camera teams. The sound mix will be performed on a 48-fader Lawo mc²56 audio mixing console with a space-saving 7U compact core providing 144 DSP channels and a capacity of 5120 x 5120 crosspoints in redundant operation.
EVS provides super slow motion for NESN
The XT3 media server from EVS, the leading provider of live video production systems, brings new super slow motion capabilities and an improved live production workflow to NESN (New England Sports Network). “Both our regional and national clients are implementing super slow motion across all platforms,” said Garrett Sullivan, Vice President of Business Development, Game Creek Video. “Through its increased support of high-speed cameras, the XT3 will not only help NESN deliver much more compelling live sports coverage but do so more efficiently. The overall viewer experience will be greatly enhanced.”
Gearhouse Broadcast launches HD9 hybrid supertruck
V8 Media required an on-site facility to deliver a high-end multi-camera production for its 2015 V8 Supercar coverage. Requiring both RF and on-board camera systems and on-air graphics solutions, HD9 was built to provide a state-of-the-art production facility for Fox Sports. It’s also been set up to integrate fully with the broadcaster’s existing HD5 supertruck. Among the technical workflows, HD9’s scalable work area gives space to operators and technicians who have previously been out-boarded into multiple site sheds, allowing crews to work together in the same facility. The truck incorporates Sony MVS7000X VMU switchers, Lawo MC56 audio consoles, Riedel communications and Miranda NV hybrid routing matrices. The truck is designed so that it can be used in many different configurations.
_wige MEDIA AG Future-Proofs OB Van with Grass Valley Live Production Solutions
The OB van will be equipped with an NVISION 8500 Hybrid Routing system, a Kaleido-Modular-X multiviewer, several LDX 80 Première cameras, an LDX 86 HiSpeed (LDX 86 HS) super-slow-motion camera, a Karrera K-Frame S-series production switcher and Belden cables for one complete solution. “It’s extremely important that we provide high-quality productions to our customers, and we knew it was time to begin the transformation of our existing standard definition OB vans when the demand for HD and 3G productions increased tremendously,” said Peter Lauterbach, CEO, _wige MEDIA AG. “Having great success with Grass Valley solutions in the past, we reviewed their state-of-the-art products and found they offered a ‘one-stop-shop’ solution that was exactly what we needed. Now, our customers will benefit from the best picture quality on the market and we gain a future-proof solution that can be adapted to meet our, and our customers’, needs.”
STUDIO PRODUCTION
BBC Studios and Post Production Upgrades with Studer Vista X
For BBC Studios and Post Production’s Sound Supervisor, Andy Tapley, who is responsible for the sound infrastructure at the company’s studios, the commissioning of the new Studer Vista X extends the studios’ long relationship with the manufacturer, after specifying the first Vista 8 for TC1 at BBC Television Centre a decade ago. “I always look forward to introducing new technology,” he says. “We moved four Vista 8s to Elstree when we relocated from Television Centre in 2013 and at the same time revamped four of the stages, upgrading the desks to go further down the MADI route. But there comes a point where it becomes difficult to keep upgrading existing desks as production requirements change and grow.
Lindenwood University Relies on Hitachi HDTV Cameras for Student-Run Studio and Field Production
Lindenwood installed three high-end Hitachi SK-HD1000 studio/field cameras in its 40x40 foot LUTV studio, which is used to produce a wide array of educational and cultural programming. LUTV—the higher education cable channel for St. Charles County— delivers programming to local Charter Cable and AT&T U-verse systems for broadcast as well as Webcast via the University’s website. Based on its positive experience with the SK-HD1000’s, the University later purchased four Z-HD5000 HDTV production cameras to produce live coverage of the Lindenwood Lions NCAA Division II athletic events for its LUTV outlets. The Z-HD5000s are part of larger upgrade that encompassed building a new Student Athletics Center (SAC) with a new video production control room and campus-wide fiber optic cable network.
MMC Studios Creates the World’s First Live Sports Event for a Prime Time Commercial Break
On April 1st, 2nd, and 4th, 2015, Media Markt, organized the ‘The Rabbit Race’ in the MMC Studios. Ten rabbits competed in a race that was broadcast live during prime time. For the first time on German television, nine of the biggest private TV channels broadcast such an event simultaneously. In addition it was streamed live on the Internet. The winner of the race determined which Media Markt customers won 50% of their purchase prices back. The sales receipts of the respective day were used as betting slips for the race in the evening. Next to all the fun of this event, the main priority was the professional supervision of the stars. For this reason, the renowned animal trainer, Renate Hiltl, was in charge of looking after the rabbits. She took great care to make the animals feel at ease.
Grass Valley Outfits Star India’s Sports Studio with Suite of Live Production Solutions
Star India Ltd., one of the leading broadcasters in India and a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, Inc., has engaged Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, to equip its sports studio at Mumbai with a suite of live production solutions. The new equipment will provide the flexibility and productivity to deliver compelling content across multiple platforms, in less time. Equipment purchased includes the Densité modular platform, offering signal management solutions with unmatched simplicity for audio and video signal conversion to save time, money and space for single-function applications or processing thousands of signals.
SPORTS
GoPro hitting the road for 2015 Tour de France
Viewers of cycling’s Tour de France will be able to enjoy on-bike views from this year’s race, which starts on Saturday, as a result of a deal between GoPro, the US maker of action sports cameras, ASO, the event organiser, and Velon, the group of 11 top UCI WorldTour teams. Under the agreement, a minimum of eight cameras will be fitted to bikes in each of the 21 stages of the Tour, which started in Utrecht in the Netherlands on last Saturday. Edited footage will be shared with broadcasters, teams and the social media networks of the Tour and GoPro, and ASO also has plans for a trial of live on-bike images for the neutralised start of stage two, from Utrecht to Neeltje Jans, on Sunday.
Telestream Wirecast Streaming brings the Extreme Sailing Series to any screen near you
Now in its ninth season in 2015, the award-winning and adrenaline-fueled global Series has given the sport of sailing a healthy dusting-off. Bringing the action to the public with Stadium Sailing, putting guests at the heart of the battle and dramatically increasing the pace on the water, the creators of the Extreme Sailing Series have set new standards, both in terms of high level competition and sporting entertainment. Whether you’re a hard-core sailing fan or a wide-eyed newbie, the Extreme Sailing Series has something for everyone as the worlds top teams including Olympic heroes, World Champions and record breakers will go head to head on 40 foot, high performance catamarans, racing just meters from the spectators on shore.
Key figures from the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ has come to an end after 52 matches played over 30 days and with a total attendance of more than 1.35 million. Plenty of records have fallen along the way - not least of which was the USA claiming a historic third title. An average audience of 25.4 million fans in the United States watched their team beat Japan 5-2 live on FOX, the best viewing figures for any football match broadcast on U.S. television. The figures beat the previous high set during the USA-Portugal men's match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil and surpassed the women's football viewing record from the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final. It was also higher than the viewing figures for every game from the NBA Finals.
Arch grabs second straight win with thrilling victory in Budapest
Austria’s Hannes Arch won the Red Bull Air Race World Championship stop in the heart of Budapest on last Sunday, overcoming scorching heat and a ferocious challenge from championship leader Paul Bonhomme to pull off a stylish victory. With his second straight victory, Arch moved into second place overall of world’s fastest motorsport series at the midway point of the eight-race championship with 29 points. Bonhomme, who still has the overall lead with 34 points, was a close second, just 0.207 of a second behind Arch's winning time of 59.350 seconds in the high-speed, low-altitude race on the breathtaking track set up on the Danube River in front of the Hungarian parliament building.
SHOWS
Another Glorious Glasto for Robe
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, the UK’s highest profile and best known festival event once again proves a massive hit for Robe moving lights – over 600 of which were deployed on a multiplicity of stages site-wide, including in major creative areas like Arcadia’s giant spider spectacular show and legendary underground dance destination, Block 9. Lighting equipment for both these areas was delivered by Colour Sound Experiment, who joined several different rental companies involved in supplying Robe products, including the South West Group, which lit the trendy Park Stage and BBC Introducing showcasing lots of rising talent, and DPL who took care of lighting at the West Holts stage.
Brazilian pop superstar films DVD with Clay Paky
Brazil’s biggest pop star Luan Santana has filmed his latest DVD ‘Luan Santana – Acoustic’ at a sold out show, with the production and lighting designed by Ludmila Machado and Marcos Olivio of Spectrun Design. Together, the creative duo employed an array of Clay Paky fixtures to deliver crucial looks for the event, with the video becoming the second most watched in YouTube history. HPL Light Company is the Clay Paky official distributor for Brazil. Machado and Olivio specified 60 x Clay Paky Sharpy, 36 x Alpha Spot HPE 1500, 8 x A.leda B-EYE K10 and 8 x Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures from both Spectrun and rental house Illuminaçäo. The fixtures were positioned throughout the rig to play integral roles within the team’s dynamic lighting design and to delight audiences with ever-changing looks.
Adlib Enjoys 5 Seconds of Summer!
The boys, Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin are known for their serious musicianship, hi-energy entertaining live performances and for having a fantastic rapport with their hyper-enthusiastic audiences.Adlib first ‘met’ 5SOS at the sizzling 2014 Summertime Ball event at Wembley Stadium in London where they were co-ordinating all things audio. As always, the Liverpool based company provided a fantastic sounding system and the great service, for which they are renowned, impressed the band and their production. The band’s FOH engineer John Delf, asked Adlib’s very own Ben Booker to mix monitors for the band’s headline shows at London’s Islington Academy and then Birmingham Academy 2. This was back in October 2013. At this point Ben saw the potential of the band and jumped on board full time.
PRODUCTS
Gearhouse Broadcast showcases the benefits of live remote production
As part of Gearhouse Broadcast’s commitment to offering clients improved operational efficiencies through new technologies, the worldwide broadcast services specialist has successfully showcased the productivity and business benefits of remote production. The live demonstration for leading broadcasters and production companies was enabled by top industry manufacturers, including EVS, Hitachi, Riedel, Tata Communications and Lawo. Using a single 10Gbit 10km fibre, HD footage from two Hitachi SK-HD1200 portable production cameras and a Panasonic AW-HE130 pan-tilt camera was transported by two IP-based servers. These signals were carried and then cut together by Gearhouse Broadcast’s brand new DYVI IT-based switcher from EVS. Audio and comms signals were also carried remotely through the DYVI set-up.
TV2 Fyn goes HD with Kahuna switcher, Maverik control and Sirius 800 router
Denmark public broadcaster, TV2 Fyn, has purchased a Snell Kahuna switcher with two of the new Maverik configurable control panels to help drive its move into HD news production. Snell’s unique Kahuna Make M/E technology enables a single mainframe to support two independent studio operations, with both studios benefiting from full 2M/E production power, including super-keyers, eKeys and 3D DVEs, via Maverik control. The system also integrates a Sirius 800 router with built-in Advanced Hybrid Processing on every input and output, eliminating the need for external signal processing devices. The systems were supplied through AVIT-Systems, Snell’s partner in Denmark.
EUROMEDIA acquires its first Sony HDC-4300 camera
EUROMEDIA, the leading French broadcast services provider is currently overhauling its technical vehicles and cameras and has recently acquired the first Sony HDC-4300 camera in France for its slow-motion applications. EUROMEDIA has also acquired the SZC-4002 licence, which makes it possible to increase the standard replay capacity of the HDC-4300 (3x) up to 8x HD high frame rate meaning that slow motion shooting in full HD (1920 x 1080) can therefore attain up to 400 fps. These high speed images known as HFR (High frame rate) can be recorded on Sony’s 4K/HD PWS-4400 live server system in order to obtain high quality slow motion replays thanks to the XAVC recording format.
4K/8K ARISING
BT Sport selects Ericsson to launch UK's first UHDTV channel
Ericsson will be responsible for designing, building and running BT Sport Europe, free-to-air service BT Sport Showcase, and BT Sport UHD. BT Sport UHD will be the first ultra-high-definition channel to launch in the UK and will feature live football and other premium content. Ericsson will also help to deliver BT Sport's new BT Sport Extra red button service, which will enable viewers to choose between eight UEFA games broadcast live simultaneously - including UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League games. As part of the deal, BT Sport has also extended Ericsson's existing six-year contract for BT Sport 1 and 2 by an additional three years. This contract includes playout and media management services and access services for both channels.
National Theatre Live’s The Beaux’ Stratagem and Hamlet to be broadcast in Sony 4K
Two new National Theatre Live productions are to be captured in ultra-detailed Sony 4K and projected with the highest picture quality to audiences across Vue Cinemas’ 84-site estate. The autumn shows mark the next step in a year-long three-way partnership between National Theatre Live, Vue Entertainment and Sony Digital Cinema 4K – bringing world-class theatrical experiences to Vue customers with unsurpassed 4K clarity. Audiences at Vue Cinemas around the country will exclusively be able to experience the on-stage action in 4K, as if they’re right there in the auditorium. Screened with Vue’s fleet of Sony Digital Cinema projectors, these special 4K showings will bring both NT productions to life with unsurpassed detail, clarity and contrast. It’s an ideal opportunity for theatre fans to enjoy the immersive spectacle of world-class drama at their local cinema.
From 4EVER… to 4EVER-2
Today, the nine project partners of 4EVER-2 wish to continue and complete the UHD-TV work initiated in the original 4EVER. The main issue is to develop technologies that will enable the distribution of audiovisual content improving the video quality of experience. It will contribute to define, via international standardization committees, a UHD-TV format Phase 2 « High Fidelity » adapted to the specificities of digital television services and their evolution. To achieve this objective, the 4EVER-2 project partners will study the gain in perceived video quality with« Ultra High Definition » future formats such as HDR (High Dynamic Range), HFR (High Frame Rate), and WCG (Wide Color Gamut). They will evaluate the various technologies proposed to encode and distribute these formats.