Broadcast TECH
OLYMPICS & PARALYMPICS PRESTEIGNE CHARTER FOR LOCOG AND IMG/SUNSET + VINE
Units used n/a Cameras 42 max
How did you get involved in these OBs? Mike Ransome, chief executive, Presteigne Charter We’ve been fortunate enough to be very much in demand during the Olympics and Para- lympics. As well as major installations for overseas rights-holders, we’ve worked with our sister company, Creative Technology, to provide live footage programmes that were shown on giant screens at each of the London 2012 events, enabling spectators to watch the action in close detail. After working with Canadian broadcaster CTV during the Olym- pics, we redesigned its space within the IBC to fit the specifications by IMG and Sunset + Vine for the Paralympics.
What do you supply to make it all happen? MR For the event work, which took place at 25 different venues, we provided a total of 42 wireless cameras to facilitate the transmis- sions. For the IBC re-rig, part of the redesig- nation process involved two of the four CTV studio areas being used as production galler- ies. IMG also substantially increased EVS operations, including 25 XT2 video servers and 33 EVS IPDirector systems.
We kitted out the central equipment room,
master control room, studio, two production galleries, five edit suites and two voiceover booths, and we supplied two sound control units and vision and lighting control. Onsite at the IBC, IMG took in the main multilateral feeds from OBs as well as uni- lateral feeds from the main venues: Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, Aquatics, Basketball Arena, Excel Centre and North Greenwich Arena. Each of these venues was outfitted with two Sony HDC-1500 camera channels, a small production area, an audio mixing facil- ity and an on-site commentary team. On top of the unilateral cameras, IMG had five ENG crews shooting on Sony PDW-700 XDCAM HD camcorders in and around London.
Any stand-out features, such as speciality cameras? MR The wireless event cameras included Cob- ham MPEG-4 systems in the 7GHz frequency range, which were used in conjunction with 2GHz Cobham MPEG-4 systems and Link HD and SD MPEG-2 systems. For many of these cameras, London 2012 was the first event at which they had been used. Many of the cameras will also be used for Paralympic events, including equestrian events at Green- wich, swimming and basketball. Channel 4 also wanted to give viewers a
real ‘wow’ factor during their coverage and requested we provide four NAC Hi-Motion 2 super slo-mo cameras to IMG.
FEATURE
Is there one bit of kit you would single out without which the project would fall apart? MR We chose the Cobham systems because of the increased compression and efficiency the MPEG-4 H.264 encoder offers users, with the added benefit of small size, low latency of two frames and low power consumption of 10W. HD transmission is possible using 40% lower bit-rates than conventional MPEG-2 systems, enabling true HD transmission in a single 8MHz DVB-T channel while using robust modulation settings. All that means it was possible to transmit images in a non-line-of- sight environment up to 1km, depending on mode and frequency, and with up to eight- channel RF diversity. For the environments where the events were held, that was essen- tial in gaining the coverage the programme producers required and expected.
What challenges did you have to overcome to ensure all went without a hitch? MR We run a pretty tight ship at Presteigne Charter and are well known for our large stock inventory. 2012 is a busy year for us, not only at home but also abroad, where we’re servicing the various legs of the America’s Cup and the World Match Race Tour, as well as having had kit and crew deployed in Europe for the Roland Garros French Open and the Euros just before Wimbledon. Mak- ing sure the right people and kit are in the right places at the right time involves strate- gic planning, but that’s what we do.
London 2012: Prestigne Charter provided 42 wireless cameras
www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils September/October 2012 | Broadcast TECH | 27
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