Newsletter from 17/07/2012
Tour de France Finishes in Paris in 5 Days – Olympic Games Start in London in 10 Days
MOBILE PRODUCTION
Proshow Broadcast
Proshow Broadcast is a highly capable and innovative team of people who proudly deliver industry-leading quality to broadcasters and producers in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Proshow provides OB vans, in Western Canada and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Proshow routinely moves HD mobile production trucks to events in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta. Whether you’re looking for a highly capable and portable HD flypack or a full-featured TV mobile, Proshow has a solution to meet your needs. The in-house engineering team has custom designed and built packages, integrating cutting edge technology with methodical implementation and an unwavering commitment to quality. The result: Ultra-reliable, flexible and well-designed production trucks and flypacks that can deal with the rigors of live television.
Get the specs of Prodigy here
Telewizja Polsat / HD Production
Polsat is a Polish company with headquarter based in Warsaw. Polsat fulfills a pioneers role in commercial TV production in Poland and has been permanently increasing its 'knowhow' since 1992. In 2007 Polsat was the first who introduced HD OB VANs in this part of Europe and since then Polsat has done more than a thousand (1000!) events in HD technology. Beside technical crew, Polsat supports its customers with the full production stuff consisting of the best professionals on the market - Vision Mixers, Sound Recordists, Editors, etc.. Starting from ENG equimpent through fully equipped OB Vans, Helicopter with CineFlex head to DSNG Vans for satellite and fiber transmition.
Get the specs of HD3 here
Get the specs of the SuperSloMo Van here
Get the specs of the CamCopter here
Support for Broadcasters at the London Olympics
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) is the host broadcasting organization for the Games of the XXX Olympiad, London 2012. OBS will be producing and transmitting the unbiased live radio and television coverage of the Olympic Games. In this role, OBS will provide broadcasters with various unilateral facilities and services at both the venues and the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). In addition to the services of OBS, manufacturers, studios, up-link facilities, etc. are on location in London to support their customers with various other services. Our comprehensive overview on available services in London is updated continously until the start of the games on 27 July.
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STUDIO PRODUCTION
concept-A
Engineering, planning and building of acoustical perfectly designed studios: Concept-A is a specialist in realizing sophisticated acoustical optimized and designed environments. In the past concept-A has build high class studios for recording, sound design, industrial application, conference rooms, film industry, radio and TV stations. Ask concept-A as well for options to optimize the acoustical characteristics of existing buildings or rooms. Based on acoustical research and analysis concept-A offer a wide range of absorbers, diffusors and acoustic elements.
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Soundcraft and Studer Consoles Support RAI’s Landmark Recording of Rossini’s La Cenerentola
The vast production of Rossini’s famous La Cenerentola (Cinderella), which involved around 250 members of cast and technical crew, was mixed on a combination of three Studer Vista 9 and Vista 5 consoles, with three further Soundcraft V1 desks providing backup. These were used in four different scene locations: while the actors, singers and choir were variously located in Parco della Mandria in Venaria, Palazzina di Caccia and Palazzo Reale in Torino, the orchestra was recorded remotely at the Auditorium RAI in Torino. All locations were linked by fibre or radio bridge to give the actors the sense of performing in real time with the orchestra—and a Studer stagebox was positioned in each venue.
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HD Studio Directory 2012
On 27 August - right in time for IBC - the 2012 edition of of our HD Studio Directory will be published. It will feature 40 state-of-the-art HD studio facilities with detailed listings of the installed audio, lighting, communication and video products. In addition we will highlight the production of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, the integration of servers in studio environment to streamline the production, describe the advantages of LED lighting in studio environments as well as the implementation of backdrop displays in large studios.
SPORTS
CCTV Deploys EVS’ XT3 Server for the 2012 Haiyang Asian Beach Games
CCTV relied on EVS systems to deliver 150 hours of coverage for the Games which saw more than 1600 athletes from 45 nations compete in 13 sports such as beach basketball, beach soccer, beach volleyball, dragon boat, powered paragliding, sailing and water skiing. The broadcast was supported by four OB vans and a team of more than 300 people. EVS’ XT3 server, configured with four HD channels for ingest and two HD channels for playout, enabled slow-motion replays and media exchange with third-party systems. With its flexible eight-channel SD/HD and six-channel 3D/1080p configuration, the XT3 enables complete media control from ingest to playout, including live editing, slow motion replays, multi-channel playback, and media exchange with third-party systems such as craft editors, automation, archiving and storage.
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NEP to Provide Broadcast Services for NBC Olympics
For the London Games, NEP is assisting with technical and operational management services for NBC Olympics’ installation at the International Broadcast Centre and sport venues, which includes planning and design, operations coordination, and acting as a liaison between various groups to ensure that the engineering system design will meet the requirements of each production team. In addition, NEP is supplying management staff onsite to assist with execution in various roles including technical venue management, technical operations management, project management, project engineering, communications engineering, venue operations management and facility scheduling.
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Tour de France 2012 - MPEG4 Improves Contribution and Distribution
On 30 June arguably the greatest show in broadcasting, the Tour de France, took to the streets of Liege in Belgium for the prologue of a race that will conclude on July 22 in Paris after covering more than 3,497 kilometres. And while the course may change every year the challenge for France Televisions and Euro Media Group, the two companies at the center of the host broadcast feed production and the feed for French viewers, is the same: set up, strike, and move a sport production 20 times in 22 days. The 2012 Tour de France is the 99th and current edition of the Tour de France. It began in the city of Liège in Belgium on 30 June, and is scheduled to end on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on 22 July. Besides Belgium and France, the Tour will also pass through Switzerland. The route features a total of 101.1 km covered in individual time trials and only three uphill finishes: La Planche des Belles Filles (stage 7), La Toussuire - Les Sybelles (stage 11) and Peyragudes (stage 17).
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SHOWS
XL Video Gets The Elbow at Jodrell Bank
XL Video supplied production company Ear To The Ground and the band Elbow with LED screens, PPU / cameras, a Catalyst media server system and crew for a sold out performance at the hugely atmospheric Jodrell Bank Observatory & Centre for Astrophysics near Manchester. The majestic 76 metre wide Lovell Radio Telescope was also used during Elbow’s performance as a projection screen, with Pod Bluman Associates also taking a feed from XL’s PPU system and projecting onto the Telescope using 6 overlaid 20K projectors. Onstage at the Jodrell Bank event, Pixled F-11 LED screen was arranged in five upstage columns of three different sizes - designed by Shrimpton - who mixed the IMAG cameras using a Grass Valley Kayak switcher.
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Rock of Ages Entertains with High End Systems
The rock and roll romance of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, meeting on the Sunset Strip in search of their Hollywood dreams, is told through the music of Journey, Foreigner, Def Leppard, REO Speedwagon and more, much of which is recreated in performances in the film. LD Mike Baldassari, who has designed the theatrical lighting and concert scenes for a number of films including “Nine,” “Joyful Noise,” “Sex and the City 2” and more, was tasked with handling the live stage performances in this production. In his rig full of assorted lighting, he chose to include 4 High End Systems SHOWBEAM 2.5 automated luminaires. However, to run all the performances, he specified the High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar console for Programmer Paul Turner. Larry Thomas at Christie Lites supplied the theatrical lighting equipment for the film.
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Massive 90s Nostalgia Party with Clay Paky Sharpys
Clay Paky Sharpys have dazzled up-for-it crowds across Norway during a series of mammoth ‘We Love the 90s’ concerts. This year, German group Scooter headlined, alongside 90s stalwarts Haddaway, E-Type, and the Vengaboys. LD Philip Lindhfelt racked the Sharpys up at the rear of the stage and used them to beam directly onto the audience, which provided some spectacular, 1990s scanner-style, mid-air displays. Playing to packed houses in arenas in the Norwegian cities of Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund and the capital Oslo, 'We Love the 90s' was a sell out event. Lindhfelt used the Sharpy before but never quite like this, as he explains: “I used them primarily as an effects fixture. Bands such as Scooter are quite progressive in terms of their music. I needed a fixture that was fast to respond. While the speed and the brightness of the Sharpy make it an ideal fixture for an event like this they also allowed me to recreate the effect of the old fashioned scanner that LDs used back in 90s club-land, but with a modern twist!”
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PRODUCTS
Sky News Arabia Puts Vizrt at the Core of its News Graphics
The channel has a variety of uses for real-time 3D graphics, such as the “screen furniture” of multiple tickers, side panels, maps and Breaking News alerts constantly animating around the video window. In addition, the news content includes full-frame 3D animations in its stories, as well as displaying maps and background story graphics displayed on a large video wall in the studio. The Viz World map server allows news producers to generate animated 3D maps instantly from their newsroom system, providing useful geographical context for every news story. Everything is generated with a consistently branded look that is uniquely Sky News Arabia.
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A New Generation of Digital Mixers
In line with a gradual replacement of BR’s older first-generation digital CANTUS consoles, the two most important studios (Studio 1 and Studio 2) in the main BR radio centre have already been fully modernised and upgraded to AURUS systems. Both studios are used for very diverse applications – ranging from jazz, chamber music and solo recordings to folk music and pop. They offer plenty of space for concerts with a large audience. For example they are important venues during the on3 Festival, which is held every year as part of on3, a tri-media youth programme organised by BR. A striking feature of both control rooms is their orientation. The AURUS consoles are installed facing away from the large glass windows which overlook the studios. This allowed the console area to be enlarged considerably compared to the previous arrangement and for the Geithain 5.1 monitoring system to be installed without compromises.
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YLE and Lawo Warm Up for Another Sporting Challenge
This summer, the biggest broadcasting event in history will take place – the 2012 Olympic Games in London – and, as with other international sports events before, Lawo digital consoles will play an important role in conveying the sporting action to an international TV and radio audience. Coverage of the Games is being overseen by Madrid-based Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the host broadcaster responsible for providing international coverage. OBS’s ‘neutral feed’ will be customised by rights-holding broadcasters like YLE, who add commentary and additional footage for their own audiences. OBS commissions venue production teams from around the globe to produce coverage of certain sports and events, according to their expertise, and YLE has been assigned to a number of Athletics competitions as well as the prestigious Opening and Closing ceremonies.
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The Future Has Started Already
Mini-cameras and similar gimmicks only were featured in James Bond films – if at all. When the qualified electrical mechanic and video engineer started to follow the footsteps of super-brain Q, he didn’t have Queen and Country, but rather practical reasons in mind: Working as a technical service contractor for TV productions, he knew the growing demand for special equipment – e.g. small high resolution color displays – from his own experience. Due to the limited number of sales, leading manufacturers like Sony or Philips were not interested to add the much-wanted gadgets to their portfolio. After thorough preparations, Lux’s plan to bridge this gap in the market took of: One of his first designs became a real triumph and entered Europe’s first HDTV broadcasting vans and even the HD editing suites of Sony USA.
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3D / 4k ARISING
Mediapro is producing the feature-length documentary “BCN3D”
Barcelona from head-to- toe in never before seen scenes in 3D, this is the ambitious objective of the feature-length documentary that Mediapro is currently filming in the city. Directed by Manuel Huerga and written by Lluís Arcarazo, the filming of “BCN3D” has taken place in two of the city’s big events in recent weeks: the Harley Davidson meet with 15,000 motorbikes attending the event and the launch of the Grec summer festival. The resources available to Manuel Huerga for “BCN3D” are at the cutting edge of audiovisual technology and include EPIC network cameras (used in super-productions such as “The hobbit” by Peter Jackson), Technocrane, steadycams, Segways, helicopters, spydercams and computer-generated images: an impressive display hitherto unseen here in Spain for the capture of spectacular images for the documentary.
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NHK Research Organisation to be Honoured by IBC
The IBC International Honour for Excellence is presented each year to an outstanding individual or organisation who has fostered or contributed to the relationship between technology and creativity in the broadcast, movie or media industries. In 2011 the award went to Sir David Attenborough; previous recipients have included Director James Cameron, Aardman Animation, Manolo Romero, Managing Director, Olympic Broadcasting Services and the BBC Natural History Unit. This Year the International Honour for Excellence, to NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) at the IBC to be held in Amsterdam in September. Japanese public service broadcaster NHK has been foremost in developing new techniques and technology for broadcasting since its formation in 1930 and again will play an important role this summer by producing some of the Olympic Events in Super HiVision.
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Spanish 3D Technology at London Olympics
Kronomav IN3D LIVE will be used at “North Greenwich Arena” venue, and the disciplines to be broadcasted in 3D will be Basketball, Trampoline and Artistic Gymnastics, emphasizing the latter by its visual beauty in 3D. The IN3D LIVE solution will be integrated into Alfacam OB Van, where Thompson Grass Valley LDK 8000 cameras will be used. The latest IN3D LIVE System designed by Kronomav is probably unique in the world. It controls the 3D acquisition workflow through its main 2 parts: their fully Robotized STC-303 RIGS, and their Stereoscopic Real-time Image Processor, that besides calibrating and operating Kronomav Rigs, allows to control remotely other kind of 3D cameras, as e.g.: the Panasonic AG3D-P1.
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