Annova’s newsroom system reports on Euro 2008 games for Germany
German broadcaster ARD used Annova Systems’ OpenMedia newsroom system to report on the Euro 2008 soccer championships. ARD implemented the enterprise OpenMedia system across all of its game reporting facilities, including the DFB headquarters in Tenero, Ascona, the IBC in Vienna and all game venues in Austria and Switzerland as well as game locations in Germany. The OpenMedia system allowed journalists to report on all aspects of the event including real-time coverage, press briefings and other news feed outlets. OpenMedia also managed the rundown, allowing for last-minute updates from any of the locations.
The OpenMedia system provides a variety of newsroom computer system features, such as simultaneous agency feeds research, contributions and rundown planning and on-air management as well as integration of standard broadcast equipment and media asset management solutions to streamline the flow of content. Highly configurable, the OpenMedia system also provides a plug-in interface for third-party development. Automation, managing assets, integrating desktop editors and controlling playout can be managed through the plug-in API. For the Euro 2008 football games, an OpenMedia module for connecting with third-party broadcasters for file transfers was used extensively.
For more information, visit http://www.annova.de/.
Barco displays installed at Wimbledon
Ten color displays using Barco’s OLite 612 LED panels were used on Center Court and No. 1 Court at this year’s Wimbledon 2008 tennis championships. The LED screens displayed statistics, player profiles, live slow-motion hawk-eye replays and judgment calls of the new electronic line-calling system.
Creative Technology, a supplier of LED display systems, selected and installed the technology to replace the existing dot matrix scoreboards at the All England Tennis Club.
In addition to the four on-court scoreboards, four IBM ball speed indicators were also upgraded using the same full-color OLite 612 LED panels. The traditional IBM displays outside Center Court and in the newly redesigned Tea Lawn Area overlooking the new Center Court balconies also used the Barco panels.
For more information, visit http://www.barco.com/.
Alfacam adopts 3Gb/s routing with Axon
Live sports production company Alfacam, based in Belgium, has equipped its fleet of OB facilities with Axon’s routers and Synapse infrastructure and communications system. The whole project consisted of four 30-camera and six 12-camera OB vans and one 36-camera flight pack. Alfacam will use some of mobile production vehicles for the A1 GP car races and the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
The four large OB vans as well as the flight pack each include Axon’s NV8288 truck router with 3Gb/s I/Os. The six other OB vans have the NV5128 multiformat router equipped with HD, RS-422 and time code routing. In addition, the production vehicles are equipped with Axon’s modular Synapse system. The 12-camera vans have four Synapse SFR18 frames with a mix of SD and HD modules, and the 24-camera vans have six SFR18s. Alfacam also purchased the Synapse 2HS10, a dual-channel, high-end downconverter with de-embedding. The 2HS10 is especially designed for high-density applications, such as in OB vans.
For more information, visit http://www.axon.tv/.
