In Broadcast - August 2017 - 64

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 7 - Issue 8 | August 2017

InStudio

Mega Vision Delivers Live
Confederations Cup Football
C

hilean national broadcaster, Red
Televisiva Megavision (Mega),
has used a Clear-Com Eclipse digital
matrix system with IP-enabled V-Series
intercom user panels to cover the FIFA
Confederations Cup men's football
tournament in Russia.
The V-Series intercom panels use the
Internet to interconnect Mega OB vans
at stadiums in Kazan, Moscow, and
Sochi with the Mega production crew
at the International Broadcast Center
(IBC) in St. Petersburg, and Mega's
central studios in Santiago, Chile. The
Intercom-over-IP signals from Russia
are fed into Mega's Eclipse intercom
system in Santiago.
The FIFA Confederations Cup is
played every four years as a run-up to
the quadrennial FIFA World Cup. Eight
teams are in the tournament, including
Russia (host of the 2018 FIFA World
Cup), Germany (winner of the 2014
FIFA World Cup), and the six winners
of FIFA confederations championships
worldwide including Chile and Mexico.

Mega will be using the
same IP-connected ClearCom intercom system to
cover the FIFA World Cup
in Russia in 2018.
New to Mega's setup
is the deployment of
IP-enabled
V-Series
panels at the various
communication locations,
which are connected
to the existing Eclipse
intercom system, as part
of a larger series of improvements.
"Overall, we are upgrading and
upscaling our intercom system
to support new applications and
technological solutions as needed,"
said Antonio Ormazabal, Mega's
Operations Manager. "This includes
being able to connect to our remote
production crews anywhere in
the world efficiently, reliably, and
cost-effectively."
Deciding to connect its intercoms
remotely via IP solves a number of

intercom communications with
low-bandwidth requirements
(less than 300kbps) between
far-flung locations such as
Santiago and Moscow. "The
remote IP panels provide
us with stable, consistent
communication between our
production headquarters in
Chile and our crews in Russia
for live broadcasts," noted
Ormazabal. "So not only is
IP communications via our
Red Televisiva Megavision has deployed an IP V-Series panels cost-effective
enabled Clear-Com Eclipse system
and easy to provision, but
problems for this national Chilean you can count on it to be quick and
broadcaster.
"It
is
becoming intelligible."
increasingly difficult to find ISDN
Functionally, Mega's engineering
or analogue telephone lines for technicians found it easy to add the
international events," said Ormazabal. V-Series panels to their existing Eclipse
"Adding a number of Clear-Com intercom system and to get those units
V-Series user panels allow us to located in Russia connected back via
connect instead via IP, since Internet is Internet to Santiago.
pretty much everywhere these days."
This was accomplished quickly
Clear-Com's IP technology is robust thanks to the V-Series' one-time
and powerful, providing low latency configuration set-up.

LMC Elects For URSA Mini Pro
A

n opportunity to provide
production services to SKY TG24
HD's for the live broadcast and 4G
streaming of the recent Italian election
was the ideal brief for LMC Vision -
operated by a trio of young Italians.
Having worked with almost every
camera available on the market,
LMC decided it was time to try
something new. The URSA Mini Pro
from Blackmagic Design was the
natural next step. "We've always
been impressed by the products
they manufacture," says Alessandro
Mattiolo of LMC Vision. "Combining
a RAW workflow, and coupled with
the attractive price point, we simply
couldn't ignore Blackmagic any
longer."
When selecting the URSA Mini Pro,
flexibility and quality was deemed
essential given the broad range
of work undertaken by LMC. "We
invested in the URSA Mini Pro as it
would allow us to raise the quality
bar," he continues. "It's an incredibly
versatile system, easily adapted to
meet our requirements, whether we

are shooting a film, delivering an OB or
live streaming."
"For the SKY TG24 HD brief, which
was project managed by legendary
Italian broadcast operator Ivo Bonato,
we configured the URSA Mini Pro for
ENG work with a Canon CN-E 18-80
T4.4 lens and a grip zoom," adds LMC
Vision's Vito Custodero. "It has a really
straightforward menu configuration,
and once we had it all set up, it was
ready to go."
During filming, LMC operated in 1920
x 1080 50p to generate an SDI out at
50i for live production as this was
the only signal permitted by the Sky
Italy broadcasting systems. Initially
experimenting with both film and
video mode alongside a custom LUT
for increased sharpness and contrast,
LMC ultimately decided to use the
URSA Mini Pro's video mode which was
more aligned with the broadcaster's
look.
LMC applied sharpening within the
camera menu to adhere to the stylistic preferences of the news channel.
"The result was incredibly satisfying,"

says Vito. "The image quality stood
head and shoulders above anything
else we saw during the election night
coverage."
The only rigging required for was
an URSA Mini Shoulder Kit and URSA
Viewfinder; this transformed the URSA
Mini Pro into a fully functioning ENG
camera, according to Vito.
"With those two additions it can be
used off the rack without the need for

LMC Vision deploy the URSA Mini Pro

lots of additional third party accessories. The shoulder mount and viewfinder are very comfortable for productions like this, and the whole package
felt nicely balanced," he concludes.
"Ergonomically, everything was where
you'd expect it to be and I like the fact
that Blackmagic has added more external camera controls making it easier to
work with ENG situations."

http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.clearcom.com https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - August 2017