Archive for the ‘Systems Integration’ Category
A Kelly Clarkson Sunrise
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
On Labor Day, Gearhouse facilitated an early-morning performance from inaugural American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson for Seven’s Sunrise. The Sunrisemini-concert at Martin Place is a classic OB for Gearhouse Broadcast. In the past we have helped cover concerts from artists like the BlackEyed Peas, Pink and Evermore. Sunrise crosses to the performance site regularly during the show, with the hosts often stepping outside the studio to introduce the performers in person.
Gearhouse Broadcast has been working on some interesting projects with the Broadcast Express vehicles. They’re perfect for smaller, quick-deploy, four-to-six camera productions in confined areas: minimum presence, maximum impact.
Watch Kelly belting it out.
Telstra Wave Of Colour
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
What a way to launch 4G. Chief Entertainment and Telstra came to Gearhouse Broadcast with a unique project: a 1500-strong flash mob stripping their way through the colours of Telstra’s new corporate branding. The result? A two-minute online video destined to go viral. Two Broadcast Express vehicles were taken to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair for a six-camera shoot, two on jibs and one in a helicopter. US Director Charlie Todd arrived in Sydney with a highly detailed shot list that accounted for every second of the 2-minute final product.
Chief was keen to edit the piece immediately, so speed was of the essence. Gearhouse Broadcast integrated Chief’s MacBook Pro into the EVS system, delivering files straight into Final Cut Pro in real time.
Please check out the Telstra’s Wave of Colour here.
Switching Codes
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
This time of year marks a change of football codes for Gearhouse Broadcast, from Seven’s AFL coverage to Fox Sports’ A-League telecast.
Fox Sports broadcasts over 120 A-League games, utilising 11 cameras. On-field and studio hosting positions and (regularly) on-camera commentary makes for a dynamic broadcast. Fox Sports adds colour to the coverage with point-of-view cameras in the locker rooms, and in the nets. The locker room cameras are remotely controlled HD cameras that provide crystal clear, fly-on-the-wall vision of the teams as they go through their preparation. Gearhouse uses Sony BRC-700 and Camera Corps Q-Ball models.
Bigger games feature cameras in the nets, and Gearhouse employs the Toshiba IK-HD1. These cameras are especially handy when putting together replay packages, providing an interesting perspective as the goalkeeper lunges for the ball.
Fox Sports’ telecast brings the A-League to viewers with world-class production values, and Gearhouse Broadcast is pleased to be a part of it.
From broadcast to post: workflow integration from EVS to Avid and Final Cut Pro
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Recently, clients have been coming to Gearhouse Broadcast attracted, in part, to its experience and offerings in the area of workflow integration from the broadcast truck to the edit suit. In the past, file compatibility and transfer speed rendered live broadcast and post-production very separate entities. Not any more.
Through its close relationship with EVS and recruiting experts with particular skills in data management, Gearhouse Broadcast has developed fast, agile and seamless workflow solutions- whether you’re dealing with two camera channels or 20.
Gearhouse Broadcast tailors ingest to your specific file types and codecs, and utilises EVS’ XFile, XHub and XStream products to plug in to your Avid or FCP suite.
This means post-production can begin the moment the on-air light goes out.
Gearhouse Broadcast – Broadcast System Integration For Existing Sports Stadia
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011Gearhouse Broadcast and associate company AV Tech were awarded the contract to upgrade the technical infrastructure at four football stadia in Doha, Qatar – Al Gharaffa, Al Rayyan, Al Sadd Sports Club and the Qatar Sports Club.
As the preferred supplier to the Qatar National Olympic Committee, Gearhouse Broadcast and AV Tech have previously completed a number of broadcast cabling and audio visual contracts at various sports arenas including; the Aspire Tower and Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, Khalifa Tennis and Squash Centre, Qatar Sports Club, Al Arabi Sports Club, Al Khor Sports Club and the Al Wakrah Sports Club.
The stadia were all being upgraded from SD to HD and the new installation consisted of installing new cabling, wall boxes and technical equipment. The installation was spread across four stadia and the upgrade consisted of 115 wall boxes, SMPTE hybrid fibre, HD video and audio and network cable.
The equipment racks used for the upgrade were assembled in the UK prior to the installation phase and shipped to site pre-wired to all the local termination panels. This meant that only the wall box connectivity will need to be terminated on-site thus speeding up the installation process. Harris distribution and conversion equipment was used, along with Tektronix video test equipment, Bel audio test equipment and Belden and Draka audio and network cable.
To complete the installation Gearhouse Broadcast provided a supervisory management team of 12 Wireman, 16 riggers, a Project Engineer and a Project Manager. Each venue had a dedicated installation team headed up by a Site Supervisor, who oversaw the pulling in of all cables from the TV Rooms to the correct locations. The HD upgrade took two months to complete and was ready for the start of the Asian Football Cup which Qatar hosted in January 2011.
Gearhouse Broadcast upgrade Mediahouse/IMG’s HQ Facilities
Friday, September 16th, 2011
Mediahouse, a division of IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, selected Gearhouse Broadcast’s Systems Integration division to deliver two new London-based high-definition studios which are used by the BBC’s The Football League Show and ESPN’s Premier League matches. This build brings the total number of HD studios at Mediahouse to four.
The studios were built to fulfil a commitment to broadcast top-flight English football to rights-holders worldwide. The service is offered to broadcasters 24 hours a day and includes a mix of studio-based output; including wrap around up to six live football matches a week, regular news shows and additional magazine programming.
The new installation consisted of installing new cabling, technical equipment and bespoke studio furniture. Gearhouse Broadcast built two HD/ 3D capable galleries to support three studio floors which are now 3G ready for 1080-50P productions.
The project involved a two week planning period followed by four weeks of onsite installation and commissioning. The equipment selected to carry out the upgrade included Axon glue equipment, Vutrix Quad Splitt Monitors, Sony MVS-8000X Switchers and Miranda 8500 Hybrid Routers. Six Sony HXC100 HD cameras were added to bring the existing complement to ten.
Shane Warden, General Manager at Mediahouse, said: “Our decision to use Gearhouse Broadcast was based on a number of factors; they are one of the few broadcast companies in the UK who can source and work with such a wide range of equipment. They have excellent in-house product knowledge through their technical divisions and their systems integration track record demonstrates successful studio installations delivered for Astro and Al Jazeera. The installations went smoothly and we are very happy with the new facilities”
Kevin Moorhouse, Chief Operating Officer at Gearhouse Broadcast added: “We are delighted to have been selected by IMG Media to undertake the systems upgrade at their studios in London”
“Following the original brief from Mediahouse, Gearhouse Broadcast provided consultancy and project management throughout the contract and carried out the systems integration on site. Technical support is available to Mediahouse post installation in the form of GearhouseBroadcast’s after sale support service”.
The changes were done in the close season and were completed in time for ESPN’s first live HD Premier League match, which transmitted on Saturday 13 August 2011.
Gearhouse Broadcast to Deliver Malaysia’s First HD Studio Facility for Astro
Friday, June 24th, 2011After competing in a fully competitive tendering process, Gearhouse Broadcast’s Systems Integration division was awarded the contract to upgrade Astro’s studio facilities in Kuala Lumpur to accommodate HD productions. The studios are used by both Astro and Arena to produce a wide range of shows including singing and dancing competitions, live music performances, game shows, talk shows and sport highlights.
The state-of the-art HD digital broadcast facilities will be the first of their type in Malaysia for market leader Astro.
The project will include upgrading 4 Studios Floors, 3 Production Control Rooms and a Central Equipment Area. The project will be carried out in two phases. Phase one will be the technical upgrade and refurbishment of studios 1 & 2, incorporating their associated Production Control Room and Audio Control Room areas. Phase two will involve the technical upgrade and refurbishment to studios 3, 4, 5/6, 7 and their associated Control Rooms.
In addition to the core contact, Gearhouse Broadcast are providing Consultancy and Project Management Services to Astro including time line management, location and design requirements, awarding supplier contracts, design of the Production Control Rooms and lighting systems for Studio 1 and Studio 2, managing upgrade and renovation works to the studio floor spaces, broadcast systems design and looking at Astro’s current and future production requirements so that their new systems meet all their future needs.
Central to Astro’s broadcast requirements was that their new broadcast system was designed around the ability for part of the system to be taken off site and used in a flyaway mode, the Production Control Room to be able to control any studio floor space and interface with Astro’s pool of OB trucks, flexibility in sharing of central resources e.g. camera channels, replay service and VizRT graphic engines, additional production needs designed around tapeless workflow, allowing rushes recorded in the studio to be transferred directly to Astro’s Post Production Facility and an interface with Astro’s Playout Centre for live productions.
In order to provide a full integrated bespoke solution, Gearhouse Broadcast’s Project Managers and Systems Engineers needed to gain a full understanding of Astro’s production requirements, including how every department operated. A significant period of time was spent time on site observing how productions were made and meeting with individual areas and Heads of Departments e.g. Sound Team, Directors, to ascertain their exact production requirements.
In terms of the equipment chosen for the project, Gearhouse Broadcast selected Snell Routers and Glue products, Harris Quads and Yamaha PM5D 64 Channel Analogue Consoles. The Snell range of routers are renowned the world over for quality and reliability. Coupled with extremely flexible control operations, they cater for all sizes and operations from simple edit suites to outside broadcast trucks. Snell were also able to provide Astro and Gearhouse Broadcast with 24/7 customer support within the Asia region ensuring rapid diagnosis and resolution of any issues that might have arisen.
Eamonn Dowdall Business Development Director at Gearhouse Broadcast said, “We were awarded the contract by Astro based on our proven track record for delivering broadcast solutions for major international studio facilities. We are highly skilled in the provision of broadcast infrastructure installations, and in particular, the area of studios systems integration having carried out numerous installations for studios and venues such as the Qatar State Mosque and Al Jazeera studios in Qatar”.
Why you should let us handle your HD Upgrade
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010The broadcast industry is in the midst of a revolution sparked by the steady introduction of ever more sophisticated and affordable High Definition, technology.
Although Standard Definition (SD) broadcasting is still alive and kicking, the onus is increasingly on broadcast professionals to produce high quality HD tapeless workflows for studios and Outside Broadcast facilities. In short if you are not already part of the HD revolution, you probably should be.
Broadcast Systems Integration Services
The good news is that with help from Gearhouse Broadcast’s Broadcast Systems Integration Services it does not have to be a case of ripping it all up and starting again. Our specialist Broadcast Systems Integration team can help and advise anyone who wants or needs to upgrade and convert their existing SD Outside Broadcast facilities, OB trucks or studios to HD.
As authorised dealers for many of the major players in the HD broadcasting market, Gearhouse can supply its customers with all their HD needs, whether for sale, rental or as part of an overall HD upgrade project.
As a multi-tiered broadcast company, Gearhouse Broadcast has a wealth of experience in the sales, rental installation and integration of HD products and equipment across all its divisions.
“Manufacturers are rapidly scaling back production of SD equipment and there is a significant rise in demand for our integration services around the world,” says Gearhouse Broadcast’s Senior Systems Engineer Dave Gill.
We can maximise the potential of existing HD capable equipment, install new HD equipment and then help in managing the transition between the two formats.”
HD upgrade case studies
M-Net
When South African broadcaster M-NET needed an HD integrated outside broadcast truck they turned to Gearhouse Broadcast as proven integration specialists.
In the past, Gearhouse Broadcast supplied M-NET with multi-camera flyaway solutions and, based on the service they received on that occasion, they looked to Gearhouse Broadcast again to provide this large, custom-built multi-format trailer.
Doordarshan, India
India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan chose Gearhouse Broadcast’s proven HD integration expertise when it came to commissioning their first HD outside broadcast truck, which was also the first in the country.
The newly built vehicle is part of a major investment programme in HD technology by Doordarshan, and the system building and integration work was carried out at Gearhouse Broadcast’s Watford headquarters.
A TATA chassis was shipped to the UK for coachbuilding before Gearhouse Broadcast’s team of specialist technicians and engineers got to work fitting the outside broadcast van with specialist HD broadcasting equipment.
Just the Ticket for Middle East World Cup Graphics Upgrade
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010Gearhouse Broadcast’s Doha office recently teamed up with market-leading broadcast graphics solutions provider Vizrt to provide Arabic and English language broadcast giants Al Jazeera with a graphic system and studio upgrade to do justice to their coverage of this summer’s football World Cup in South Africa.
The increasing demand for Gearhouse Doha’s broadcast systems integration and project solutions expertise across the Middle East led to the opening of our Qatar offices in Doha two years ago.
Satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera was the first 24/7 news channel to broadcast in both Arabic and English, and its comprehensive HD coverage of the World Cup in June was in huge demand across the Middle East and also in North Africa and Asia.
Gearhouse Broadcast’s strong track record for broadcast systems integration and broadcast equipment in Qatar
Since the Gearhouse Broadcast Doha office opened in 2008 it has been involved in a number of high profile projects in the Emirate.
It was responsible for designing and delivering a bespoke, complete and ready to use integrated broadcast system for the State Mosque of Qatar, believed to be the biggest in the Middle East and capable of holding 10,000 worshippers.
In Doha itself, Gearhouse Broadcast provided audio visual and cabling upgrades to the prestigious Khalifa Squash and Tennis Club and also installed a robotic camera system at the Aspire Tower in the city
Providing broadcast systems integrations for Al Jazeera Sports and 3D on-screen logos.
Gearhouse Broadcast’s Doha broadcast systems integration team were brought in to work with Vizrt to expand Al Jazeera Sports’ studios to coincide with the most widely watched sporting event on earth.
Vizrt’s systems are used to Broadcast 3D on-screen logos and characters to weather maps and broadcast graphics tools for everything from sports statistic analysis to election coverage.
Specialists from Gearhouse Broadcast supplied the necessary expertise to upgrade and extend the 3D on-screen logo Vizrt system and permanently install new infrastructure links to a further three studios within Al Jazeera’s Doha complex.
Having configured the system according to a meticulous layout plan drawn up in collaboration with Virzt, our engineers routed and installed the direct cabling required to upgrade and extend the Vizrt system to the additional linked studios.
Rigorous testing was carried out before the new system was turned on and went live. The transfer and integration with the existing Vizrt system was seamlessly achieved within a critical two hour downtime slot.
“This is our first project with Al Jazeera, and we are very pleased to have worked with this most high profile broadcaster in the region,” said Gearhouse Broadcast.
“Vizrt are world leaders in the field of broadcast graphics and it is a tribute to our Doha team’s reputation for delivering broadcast systems integration solutions that they turned to us to manage this important systems upgrade.”.
Helping Astro Launch Malaysian SD to HD Revolution
Monday, September 6th, 2010As the shift from SD broadcast technology to HD broadcast Equipment gathers ever greater momentum around the world, so does demand for the specialist services of the Systems Integration Division at Gearhouse Broadcast.
The latest leading satellite television company to call on the expertise and experience of the Gearhouse Broadcast Systems Integration’s team of engineers and technicians as it looks to upgrade its broadcast facilities from SD to HD is Asian giant Astro.
The Malaysia-based satellite television company, the country’s equivalent to SKY in the UK in terms of output and subscribers, currently offers 125 channels, including eight HD channels, but their capacity to broadcast in HD is now being significantly increased as part of Astro’s stated aim of ‘placing Malaysia in the forefront of multimedia technology.’
SD TO HD EXPERTISE
The team from Gearhouse Broadcast has a proven track record in helping broadcasters make the transition from SD to HD broadcast equipment and technology smoothly and efficiently.
Recent projects have included delivering SD to HD solutions to the prestigious Khalifa Tennis and Squash Centre in Qatar and the building of India state broadcaster Doordarshan’s first outside broadcast HD truck.
Astro produce much of their own programming from a network of six studio facilities and are keen to upgrade most, if not all, from aging SD broadcast equipment to the latest HD technology.
EXPERTS ON SD TO HD STUDIO CONVERSION
The UK-based Gearhouse Broadcast team, with some additional input from their colleagues at the company’s Sydney offices, has been called in to advise and oversee the upgrading of four studio floors and associated control rooms, with the potential to eventually help convert all six studios in the Astro stable.
Dave Gill, Senior Systems Engineer at Gearhouse Broadcast, said: “It is becoming increasingly recognised across the broadcast industry that when it comes to upgrading from SD to HD broadcasting, the level of HD experience that we have across all divisions of the company is a very valuable commodity.
“We’ve successful built up a reputation for enabling conversions from SD to HD because we not only own our own HD equipment but we also install it, operate it and sell it.
“It’s that proven day-to-day, hands on experience of HD broadcast Equipment and the technical expertise that comes with it that our clients value so highly.”
With a total floor area of 350,000 square feet, the Astro All Asia Broadcast Centre (ABC) in Kuala Lumpar is one of the world’s largest and most advanced all-digital broadcast and production complexes.