Gearhouse Broadcast delivered technical facilities for four international broadcasters, ARD and ZDF, Supersport and Al Jazeera Sport at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

ARD AND ZDF BEIJING FACILITIES
German broadcaster ARD and ZDF selected Gearhouse Broadcast to design and install its facilities for Beijing 2008. Gearhouse provided broadcast coverage facilities at the National Sports Stadium (NST), the National Aquatics Centre (NAC), the Rowing area (SRF), and the Equestrian Centre (HKS), which was situated in Hong Kong. Kevin Moorhouse, Technical Director at Gearhouse Broadcast explained "the facilities included a presentation studio at the main stadium and unilateral cameras which could focus on the German athletes."
Situated in down town Beijing at the Kempinski hotel was German House, the facility where all German athletes, media and sponsors met during the games and where ARD and ZDF anchored their prime time and late night shows highlighting the day's events.  The facility Gearhouse Broadcast built at German House comprised of two large studios, multiple avid edit suites and two production control rooms.

In terms of crew Gearhouse Broadcast provided seven engineers across the venues with ARD using their own production crew.

SUPERSPORT OLYMPIC FACILITY
Gearhouse Broadcast supplied leading South African satellite channel Supersport with a high definition broadcast facility for the 2008 Games. Gearhouse Broadcast designed, installed and operated a facility which included Switching, Editing and Production in the main International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Beijing.” The crew covered two VTR Operators, one Audio Engineer and two Video Engineers. Shift patterns were planned and scheduled for the sixteen hours of transmission every day.

AL JAZEERA SPORT OLYMPIC BROADCAST SOLUTION 
Qatar's most popular sports channel, Al Jazeera Sports, contracted Gearhouse Broadcast to design, install and operate their broadcast operation at the Beijing Olympics. The broadcaster shot the games in SDI and Gearhouse supplied Al Jazeera Sport's Production, Editing and Switching facility along with a 4 camera Studio and provided two engineers for the installation and set up. 

ARD AND ZDF BEIJING FACILITIES OUTCOME
The broadcast equipment across all of the centres and stadia included: 250 monitors which include Vutrix, Sony and Panasonic; 11 x Yamaha Audio Desks - PM1 D's, MC7's, DM 2000s, DM 1000s, 02Rs and 03Ds; 5 x Riedel Comms talkback systems, 6 Avid Adrenaline edit suites, 14 x EVS XT2, 3 x Sony 7350's vision mixer, 3 x Sony DFS 800s vision mixer, 2 x Sony DVS 2000 vision mixer, 30 x Sony MSW-M2000 VTR, 7 x Sony J30 VTR, 13 x Panasonic AJD SD93E VTR, 33 x Camera channels inc 11 Sony HDC 1500s and 3 LDK 23HS (supermotion) and 19 Sony E30, Canon lenses, Vinten camera support, Harris & Evertz glue.

SUPERSPORT OLYMPIC FACILITY OUTCOME
High Definition Broadcast Facility included, 1x Sony MFS 2000 vision mixer, 2x EVS LSM XT HD, 2x Sony PDW F75 XDCAM VTRs, 4x RDRG X210S DVD recorder, 1x Sony BVM , D14H5E Grade 1 monitor, 1x Sony PVM 14M2, 3x Sony LMD 5320, 11x Vutrix 23" & 17" TFT montors, 20x CRT Monitors Sony/JVC, 1x Pro Bel Halo 32 x32 HD router, Harris Glue Products & Signal Distribution, Evertz & Tektronix Signal Generators, 1x Tektronix WFM 700 waveform monitor, 1x Yamaha Audio MC7, Bel Signal Generators and Clearcom Communication Systems 

AL JAZEERA SPORT OLYMPIC BROADCAST SOLUTION OUTCOME
Equipment Gearhouse supplied and operated included; 4x Sony BVP E30 Camera channels, 12x Canon lenses, 2x Sony PDW 1500 XDCAM VTR, Sony DVW M2000 VTR, 1x Sony DVS 7150 vision mixer, 12x 23" Vutrix TFT monitors, 8x 17" TFT monitors, 2x Evertz 7767 VIP8 multiviewer, Sony BVM 14F5E Grade 1 monitor, Sony LMD 1750 monitors, Sony PVM 14 M2E, Sony CD & MD units, Pro-Bel 64x64 SDI router, Yamaha M7 audio, Soundcraft B800 - 48 channel audio console, Clearcom communication system, Harris glue products, Tektronix WFM 601E waveform monitor, Avid x2 Edit suites & Unity Avid Server, 2 x EVS XT2 SDIs, EVS IP Director and Avid Systems.

Kevin Moorhouse said "Our involvement in Beijing was probably one of our largest projects to date and on the whole went very well. The biggest challenge we had was getting the correct equipment delivered to site at the right time. We shipped five 40ft sea containers and nearly 80 000 Kg's of air freight to Beijing. Shipping all this equipment into China had to be meticulously planned as any errors with shipping lists and paperwork would delay deliveries and put our installations under pressure. But with our inventory control system that we have modified to suit our operation we knew exactly what kit was in each shipment and for whom it was destined. This was just as important for getting it all back to the UK quickly, for us utilization of equipment and delivering the correct kit to clients is crucial to the success of our business." 

Gerald Heitzig, Head of Operations for Beijing 08 at ARD German TV said "Gearhouse Broadcast was once more a reliable source for parts of our equipment and engineering needs during our Olympic operations. Personally I was very impressed again with the performance of the Senior Engineers as well as the other crew. They were all very engaged and always available, supplying valuable assistance and knowledge to our crew. It was a pleasure to co-ordinate and prepare the games with Gearhouse Broadcast's Kevin Moorhouse." Following the brief Gearhouse Broadcast designed, installed and operated a facility which included Switching, Editing and Production in the main International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Beijing. The crew covered two VTR Operators, one Audio Engineer and two Video Engineers. Shift patterns were planned and scheduled for the sixteen hours of transmission every day.