Posts Tagged ‘integration’
Gearhouse Broadcast Helps Take Sky Sports F1 Coverage on the Road
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
After competing in a fully competitive tendering process, Gearhouse Broadcast’s Projects Solutions division was awarded the contract to build a series of interconnecting Flyaway Pods for satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting for their coverage of Formula 1 motor racing. Since the award of the contract in late October 2011, the design, build and integration of the Pods took four months to complete.
Sky Sports are broadcasting Formula 1 races for the first time in a deal which started in March 2012 and will run until 2018. Sky Sports are broadcasting all the races, qualifying and practice sessions live and uninterrupted on their dedicated HD satellite channel Sky Sports F1 HD. All races are being produced in HD and 5.1 audio which has added a new dimension to Sky Sports coverage.
Sky Sports full onsite broadcast specification is a mixture of portacabins linked into the Flyaway Pods which contain the servers, audio facilities and all the technical equipment needed to support the production. The portacabins house the main production gallery, on air EVS, editing, logging and the production office.
The bespoke Flyaways, built and integrated by Gearhouse Broadcast, comprise of four 17 tonne interconnecting airline Pods that are standard Q6 construction with aviation bases. They are made up of a MCR Pod housing all the distribution, routing and camera control, a Server Pod housing all the EVS, Avid and SAN storage, an Audio Pod which houses the 5.1 audio control room and a Stowage Pod which is used to store all the loose equipment.
When the F1 races are in Europe the Pods will travel on flatbed trucks and when the races are taking place outside of Europe they will fly as cargo on Boeing 747’s.
An overview of the equipment chosen for the project includes EVS XT3 Servers, Omneon MediaGrid storage, Avid, Harris Glue, Pro-Bel Routers, Grass Valley Kayenne Mixer, Grass Valley Karrera HD Vision Mixer, Lawo Audio Console, Riedel Communications System, a mixture of Panasonic 3100 and Sony HDC-1500’s Cameras and Fujinon Lenses.
“Gearhouse Broadcast’s Flyaway Pods are the perfect solution for Sky Sports F1 needs; the Sky team will have an identical production facility at all 20 races. This is vitally important to the success of their broadcast as the production team can focus on their roles without having to find their way around different facilities around the globe” explained Kevin Moorhouse, Chief Operating Officer at Gearhouse Broadcast.
Darren Long, Sky Director of Operations said “We chose Gearhouse Broadcast because we needed a very specialist facility company that had the experience to understand the complexity of how to build and then deploy one of the most complex broadcast systems to 20 racetracks around the world”.
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.
Build of India’s First HD OB Van
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010When India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan decided it was time to commission their very first custom-built, high definition (HD) outside broadcast van they turned to Gearhouse Broadcast to deliver the solution.
The newly built van is part of a major investment programme in HD technology by Doordarshan and much of the system building and integration work was carried out at Gearhouse Broadcast’s Watford headquarters.
Following an initial brief from Doordarshan and project managers Agiv (India) Pvt. Ltd, a TATA chassis was shipped to the UK to be adapted by coach-building specialists JS Fraser of Oxford before Gearhouse Broadcast’s team of specialist technicians and engineers got to work. The van was fitted with specialist equipment to meet Doordarshan’s requirements, including: four Ikegami cameras (expandable to six if needed), Canon box lenses, a multi-format Snell Kahuna vision mixer, Marshall/Barco monitors and a Harris Router.
Ten weeks later the van was ready to be shipped back to India for testing and final adjustments, carried out in partnership with a team of engineers from Doordarshan’s parent organisation Prasar Bharati, and it is now fully operational, providing news and sports outside broadcasts.
The arrival of the country’s first HD outside broadcast truck was quite an event and marked by an official visit from Ms Ambika Soni, the Honourable Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Indian Government.An order for a second van is testament to Gearhouse Broadcast’s expertise and specialist system integration skills, and Managing Director Eamonn Dowdall says: “I believe we were selected for our proven and demonstrable track record in the provision of high definition outside broadcast instillations.”“We have delivered many previous high profile HD outside broadcast units in the UK and Europe and now Doordarshan’s high definition van raises the bar for standards in Indian broadcasting and sets a benchmark for other to follow.”
Gearhouse Broadcast agree order with XL Video for fifty Sony HXC-100s
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
HD approved Sony specialist dealer, Gearhouse Broadcast has agreed an order for fifty Sony HXC-100 HD camera channels to concert touring and event specialist video company XL Video.
XL Video’s Managing Director Lee Spencer explained “XL’s business is growing and the increasing demand for HD required a long term investment. We made a conscious decision to move our inventory to HD throughout 2009. The HXC-100 was evaluated against the best of breed alternatives and was selected as the best value and most appropriate fit to support our intensive HD expansion plans.”
Gearhouse Broadcast was tasked with trialing the HXC-100 on XL’s behalf to ensure the camera was capable of meeting the company’s high-demands. With the assistance of Sony, the first HXC-100 in Europe was supplied to Gearhouse and tested in live broadcast applications. Working closely with XL’s technical team, Gearhouse was able to determine that the HXC-100 was an ideal fit for their application.
“The transition to a new camera is a major undertaking, especially when prestigious client projects are involved and resources and support are required immediately.” Said Eamonn Dowdall Gearhouse Broadcast’s Managing Director. “As an authorized HD Sony Dealer, Gearhouse Broadcast was uniquely positioned to assist XL in their transition to HD. Our product knowledge is supported by the resources of expertise and equipment from our Rental and Project divisions enabling XL to have a smooth and hassle free transition.”
Spencer concluded “as a result of the investment XL has now become the leading HD Events business in the UK. The HXC-100 is a cutting edge camera, allowing XL to offer both SD and HD productions with features and quality previously unachievable without major budget investment. Our investment in HD technology and infrastructure has redefined the quality potential
and possibilities for our clients.”
XL Video has used the HXC-100’s on the Kylie, Elbow and Neyo tours and will take delivery of the remaining 38 channels later this autumn. Gearhouse Broadcast is the first reseller to sell the Sony HXC-100 HD Camera Channels into Europe.
I’m A Celebrity Series 9 sees Gearhouse Broadcast return to the Jungle
Thursday, March 4th, 2010ITV Studios has awarded broadcast solutions company Gearhouse Broadcast the contract for I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here series 9!
Gearhouse Broadcast will provide ITV Studios with technical and broadcast facilities for series 9 of the production using flyaway facilities which will create a large Production gallery, an MCR area, a CCU area, a VTR/EVS Room, two big Audio Control rooms and a Comms area.
Helen Kruger Bratt ITV Production Executive said “We’re looking forward to working with Gearhouse Broadcast again on Series 9. It’s no mean feat having to produce over 40 hours of live programming over 3 weeks from the Australian bush. We have reality cameras filming 24/7 out in the jungle in all weathers and terrain: torrential rain, hail storms and lightning strikes can be frequent occurrences in the Australian Outback.”
Eamonn Dowdall, Gearhouse Broadcast Managing Director said “We are looking forward to returning to the jungle for Series 9 of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here. Once again we will be presented with many challenges working in the tough jungle climate but we are confident that we have the experience and expertise to deliver the technical facilities required to meet ITV’s needs.”
Working with the latest technology including Sony MVS vision mixers and a Calrec Omega with blue fin audio desk Gearhouse Broadcast will use over eighty cameras with many speciality models to ensure extensive coverage of all the jungle action which will be broadcast on both ITV 1 and ITV 2. A technical team will be supplied to provide onsite engineering support.