AVIWEST, a leading provider of live video contribution solutions, was appointed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to support selected off-venue events, including official team training and press conferences from Europe's biggest football show — UEFA EURO 2020 — using a bonded cellular ecosystem. With 51 matches held in 11 host cities across Europe and a difficult sanitary environment due to the COVID-19 global health crisis, this year's event was extremely challenging to prepare for and deliver.

Brazilian IT media services company, MDotti Tecnologia, has created a dedicated workflow around Cinegy Capture PRO to support ingest for São Paulo-based television network Rede Bandeirantes’ coverage of the Tokyo Games. Cinegy Capture PRO simultaneously delivers 12 channels of ingest directly to a ZBoox shared storage, allowing the production team to access and edit clips via Adobe Premiere Pro workstations while live feeds are still being ingested.

The broadcast technology experts at Visual Three in Malaysia have provided regional and international support for entertainment and sports productions since 1997. From offering state-of the-art broadcast equipment, to one-stop-shop production facilities, and streamlining delivery of live 4K/UltraHD HDR content, Visual Three is a local leader in broadcast services and production. The studio boasts a robust 4K/UltraHD HDR infrastructure equipped with a range of AJA’s powerful broadcast solutions, including the FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG frame sync and converter, to produce pristine content for live workflows.

Hitomi Broadcast, manufacturer of MatchBox, the industry’s premier audio video alignment toolbox, has announced that Dock10, the largest studio complex in the UK, has invested in the Hitomi MatchBox system to help the Virtual Studios crew align their audio and video outputs efficiently and deliver high-quality programs without complex line-ups.

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has appointed Meryl McLaren as Director, Media Services and Facilities. She will oversee the post-production and broadcast rental offering within the EMEA region.

PBT EU unveils SubtitleNEXT’s enhanced Live Subtitling feature that now includes the integration of Google’s automatic Speech-to-Text engine. This notable new development in SubtitleNEXT extensively sets it apart by further enhancing and substantially speeding up the entire Live Subtitling process by allowing videos to be translated live in real time at a stunning pace.

Hamish Cameron OAM has been appointed as an Advisor to Gravity Media in Australia

Gravity Media Hamish will be working with CEO John Newton and his senior leadership team on the integration of the former Chief Entertainment business with the rest of Gravity Media’s operations both in Australia and globally. He will also be assisting with the growth of the former Chief Entertainment’s major long-term clients to ensure they can draw on the much broader range of services provided by Gravity Media.

Despite current lockdown restrictions still in place in many countries, disguise xR technology has enabled partner XR Studios to create a limitless performance environment for Grammy award winning hip-hop band Black Eyed Peas to promote their new album on primetime TV shows across the world.

AJA Video Systems and SKAARHOJ have joined forces to integrate control of AJA’s FS family of frame synchronizers and converters with SKAARHOJ’s Rack Control Duo, streamlining how professionals make RGB color correction and other parameter adjustments across one or many FS devices and channels in live production environments. Developed in partnership with broadcast services provider NEP, the new Rack Control Duo supports AJA’s FS-HDR, FS4, FS2 and FS1 devices and is capable of ganging control of multiple FS products and processing channels together, making set-up and on-the-fly adjustments faster and easier for operators and engineers with a single tactile hardware control panel.

AVIWEST, a global provider of video contribution systems, today announced that Asia's most prestigious multistage cycling event, PETRONAS Tour de Langkawi 2020, was broadcast live on social networks using AVIWEST's flagship PRO3 Series bonded cellular transmitters, QUAD CellLink antennas, and StreamHub transceiver. Race event organizer Human Voyage offered sports fans and viewers captivating live footage of every stage of the competition.

"Our viewers didn't want to miss a second of the competition, and we needed to ensure there was zero delay during our live streaming sessions," said Shahaizereen A. Hamid, event director at Human Voyage. "We chose AVIWEST for the exceptional capabilities of its field units. AVIWEST's equipment enabled our motorbikes and helicopter to follow riders along the entire road so that they could live-broadcast the excitement of the race over cellular networks, no matter what the environment was like. AVIWEST's team provided us with highly professional support and technical expertise, staying by our side at every stage of the project."

Since 2002, the Parliament of Catalonia has produced an institutional television feed as a free public service and educational resource for its citizens and media organizations. Overseen by a tight-knit team of in-house broadcast and engineering specialists, the Barcelona-based Parliament manages all aspects of production and delivers 150 hours of live video content on a monthly basis. Located within the historic Ciutadella Park, the Parliament’s production facilities include eight meeting rooms, seven television control rooms, two dedicated audio studios, a master control room and an editing suite, housing all video equipment required to distribute up to six program feeds to broadcasters, closed-circuit television and web streaming channels. Critical to broadcast operations are a range of AJA solutions for recording, frame synchronization and conversion, including the file-based Ki Pro Rack capture and playback device, the dual-channel FS2 framesync/converter and AJA’s versatile lineup of Mini-Converters.

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has provided BT Sport’s exclusive PPV coverage of the Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury 2 heavyweight title fight. Columbus, Gravity Media’s Los Angeles-based 4K multi-purpose mobile unit, was deployed at Las Vegas’ iconic MGM Grand venue alongside its operational B Unit for the rematch on February 22, which was expected to become the biggest fight this year. This follows the split-decision draw between the Gypsy King (Fury) and Bronze Bomber (Wilder) in December 2018.

The two Gravity Media mobile units joined three additional OB trucks and six SNG vehicles within the TV compound at MGM Grand showing the scale of the intense media interest. They were used to produce BT Sport’s on-site presentation studio as well as coverage from ringside. In addition, Gravity Media also supplied commentary and comms solutions to the UK rights holder.

Trickbox TV championed its versatility with simultaneous live broadcasts of Brexit coverage on Friday 31 January, for two separate broadcasters in neighbouring studios.

Interest in Trickbox’s Tower Bridge TV studios initially arose due to its location and views of Tower Bridge, City Hall and the City of London. A terrestrial UK broadcaster hired one of the facilities studios, complete with full technical support from Trickbox. A European broadcaster hired the second studio, also with technical support. Both studios broadcast live throughout the evening as the UK left the EU.

A studio director reflected on the success of the broadcast, “Thanks to Andy Yates and everyone at Trickbox that helped make the show run so smoothly. We were all very happy with the result. It’s a great location, everyone was extremely flexible and helpful, and the professional approach from Trickbox was appreciated. We’ve done two successful broadcasts from the studio and hope to do more.”

Tickbox TV’s Head of Live, James O’Farrell said, “Our studios provided perfect backdrops for such a momentous and historic occasion. I’m immensely proud of our team, for delivering two simultaneous live broadcasts.”

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has promoted Ed Tischler to the position of Acting Managing Director. In this new role, Ed will be responsible for the strategic direction and commercial performance of all Gravity Media’s UK-based operations, which include Media Services & Facilities, Production & Content and Equipment Rental & Sales. This appointment follows the recent move to the single brand of Gravity Media late last year and Ed will take the lead in integrating the former Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast and Input Media businesses in the UK. In addition, Layla Cook has also been promoted, becoming Gravity Media’s new UK Broadcast Equipment Rental Manager. 

Ed will report directly into John Newton, Gravity Media’s CEO. In the UK he will work closely with James Gander who continues to oversee Gravity House, the Soho post-production facility, as well as the integrated workflows service for live broadcast and feature film post-production and Steve Norris, the new Director, Production and Content. 

Layla will now oversee Gravity Media’s extensive inventory of the latest professional equipment which includes 4K-ready lenses, cameras and live production tools.

Gravity Media, a leading provider of outside broadcast trucks and flyaway production kits, is building further systems in preparation for premier sporting events in 2020, including a major football competition in Europe. Central to the new flyaway kits is the Platinum™ IP3 router from Imagine Communications.

The key to success in building flyaways is to create a system which provides all the resilience and reliability needed for live broadcasting, but in a compact footprint. As the name suggests, these often have to travel by air freight to meet deadlines, where additional space and weight can be prohibitively expensive.

“We picked the Platinum IP3 because we know it is reliable — we know what it does,” said Peter Newton, technical and operations director at Gravity Media. “Because of the established partnership with Imagine, we knew that we would get good support if we need it, and we will get ample utilization of the equipment. It is a good solid product that does what it says it will.”

Gravity Media has used equipment from Imagine Communications for over 15 years, which has established Imagine as a trusted partner. When it came to choosing routers for the new flyaways, Gravity Media compared all the popular models on the market, but was confident in selecting the field-proven Platinum IP3. The new flyaways will use both the 15RU and 28RU routers.

The key project for which these flyaways are designed requires support in 12 locations over a four-week period in June 2020. The kits will provide live production functionality. The Platinum IP3 routers incorporate integral multiviewer technology, reducing space in the racks and simplifying setup. The order also includes a number of modules from Imagine’s Selenio 6800+™ processing range, along with Magellan™ router control panels.

“While the headlines are about the transition to IP, it is important to remember that a lot of broadcasters and production companies need to extend and enhance existing, SDI-based systems,” said Mathias Eckert, SVP & GM EMEA/APAC, Playout & Networking, at Imagine Communications. “Because of our close partnerships with major operators like Gravity Media, we clearly understand the need for high-functionality, high-reliability SDI solutions, as well as IP technology, and we are committed to supporting our customers for as long as they need SDI, as part of our ‘your path, your pace’ approach to the IP transition.”

For more information about Imagine Communications’ products and solutions, please visit https://www.imaginecommunications.com.