New Zealand broadcaster employed Crystal Vision at Olympics
New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ used 16 of Crystal Vision’s TANDEM HD-21 HD audio embedders/de-embedders to add commentary to more than 800 hours of coverage from the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. These broadcasts were distributed to 104 countries around the world and watched by more New Zealanders than any other TV event.
The Olympics host broadcaster supplied all 40 incoming feeds to TVNZ with eight embedded audio channels. TVNZ used the HD-21 to replace the low-frequency effects channel with mono commentary on all of its coverage. The HD-21 can overwrite a single audio channel.
Adding commentary at the start of the production chain ensured the pictures and international sound always had the right commentary, whether it was being taken live to air in the production suite or recorded on a server for later replay. All of the events requiring commentary were routed through the HD-21 single module units, with TVNZ using 16 boards because they needed to handle a maximum of 16 events a day.
For more information, visit http://www.crystalvision.tv/.
Game Creek Video’s new HD truck monitors audio with Wohler
Mobile production company Game Creek Video has installed Wohler’s VMDA-SUM8 analog/digital summing audio monitors in its Liberty HD, a two-truck mobile TV production unit. Rolled out in August, just in time for the college football season on ESPN/ABC, Liberty HD relies on six VMDA-SUM8 units for the monitoring and mixing of intercom aux inputs.
Game Creek’s production staff typically uses the VMDA-SUM8 for discrete sources such as IFB talkback, network returns and producer and director hot mics. Eight volume controls on the front panel allow for separate adjustment of each channel in the summing mix, and a recessed trim pot on the front panel serves as a master volume control for all eight selected channels.
The VMDA-SUM8 analog/digital summing audio monitor provides self-powered stereo or mono monitoring in 1RU. A total of eight mono or four stereo channels may be summed together and monitored from the two speakers on the front panel. The user may select either digital AES/EBU or standard analog audio input sources for each of the eight input channels to be monitored.
For more information, visit http://www.wohler.com/.
Grass Valley helps Dome Productions bring the Canadian Football League home in HD
Toronto, Canada-based Dome Productions, covered the recent 2008 Canadian Football League (CFL) season in HD with a fleet of trucks carrying Thomson Grass Valley HD cameras, production switchers and routers. The season officially ended with the 96th Grey Cup Sunday, Nov. 23, in Montreal.
Dome’s five HD mobile units all feature Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switchers, while some include 10 LDK 6000 mkII HD cameras as well as either Trinix HD or Concerto HD routers. Dome also offers special HD flypack kits that can include Thomson Grass Valley HD cameras.
Dome Productions is located at the newly renovated Rogers Center in Toronto (home of the MLB’s Blue Jays) and provides broadcast and post-production services to the North American TV industry.
For more information, visit http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/.
