Telecast Fiber Systems has teamed up with Screenworks, a division of NEP Supershooters and provider of touring video production systems, to supply gear for the Rolling Stones 2002-2003 "Licks" World Tour.
The Telecast Viper II fiber optic transmission and linkage systems move live and prerecorded video to a portable 34 x 64 feet LED video display, used as a backdrop for the shows.
Three Viper II rack-mount frames with 15 digital video send-and-receive sets from Telecast support the Screenworks-designed LED screen, which was specially developed for the concerts. Composed of 176 modules arranged in eight columns, the LED screen is positioned on a tracking device that lets each column move up to 100 feet around the back of the stage which suspended 40 feet in air. Telecast says the flexible, modular characteristics of the Viper system let technicians more easily distribute broadcast-quality video to four narrow columns, two square screens or one big screen.
"We work with Telecast's fiber optic equipment because we do very long cable runs and use a lot of high-voltage power cable," said Danny O'Bryen of Screenworks. "Because fiber is compact and durable, we have built some of it right into our video screen design, allowing the crew to link our systems together quickly at each venue." According to O'Bryen, the screen is the largest moving LED screen on the road.
A seven-man crew captures the live Stones footage, with Ikegami SDI broadcast cameras, which is relayed to the correct module combinations along the video-clip playback. In addition to video, Telecast's Viper system provides audio and data functionality with interchangeable modules distributable to analog audio and data signals over a fiber optic cable.
