Grass Valley Goes to the Oscars

"Chicago" stole the show at the 75th Annual Academy Awards, but Grass Valley gear mounted a strong showing on the technical side. Shot in HD for the first time, the Academy Awards, which marked the first live simulcast of a network entertainment show, was shot by three NEP Supershooters mobile production trucks equipped with Grass Valley servers, switchers and multi-format cameras.

NEP's trucks contained two Grass Valley ZtenDD HS switchers, three Gveous HD digital effects systems, two HD PVS 2000 Profile XP Media Platform servers, several SD PVS 1000 Profile XP Media Platform servers and over 19 LDK 6000 mk II WorldCam multiformat cameras.

The Oscars were produced in 4:3 SD and 720p16:9 HD and NEP said that the multiformat capabilities of Grass Valley equipment was crucial for the simulcast. NEP also cited as important the LDK 6000 mk II World Cam's, which switch between multiple formats and frame rates and support all HD formats and oversampled SD acquisition and output.

ProQue, an A/V services company, handled the random-access playback of the on-air bumpers, key signals, presenter titles, virtual sponsors and film clips and used four PVS 2000 Profile XP Media Platform servers and PVS 1000 servers.