Turner Sports, Bexel bring HD to Bermuda for PGA event

HD came to Bermuda last week when Turner Sports provided HD coverage of last week’s PGA Grand Slam of Golf from Bermuda’s historic Mid Ocean Club. The two-day, 36 hole event aired on TNT and it was the first time the event had been broadcast in High Definition (HD). Bexel, on the strength of its "Hercules" HD flypack, was on the scene to help capture all the HD images.

Bexel says the unit features components unique to any other HD flypack in the world. Hercules highlights include a Sony 8000G 80-input, fully optioned switcher, a Calrec Alpha console, 96-input LCD production monitor wall utilizing Evertz MVP multi-image display processors, Pesa Cheetah Multi-format video router and DRS audio router and multiple, HD EVS LSM XT[2] 6 channel DDR’s, Sony SRW-5500 HDCam SR VTR’s and Sony HDC-1500L multi-format HD camera chains. 

“Our experience with the “Hercules” system can be summed up in one word:wow!,” says Tom Sahara, senior director of remote operations for Turner Sports. “Everything is first rate, from the cameras, to audio, to the LCD monitors; the system is truly a “TV Truck” that you can take anywhere”.

Sahara went on to address the versatility of the HD flypack, “Hercules enabled us to turn a woodworking shop into a top-notch TV control in less than two days. The well-engineered system took longer to unload from the shipping containers than it did to assemble and connect the racks”.  

Its diverse functionality and ease of set-up make Bexel’s Hercules an ideal HD production facility for situations where it may not be practical to utilize a full-size mobile unit. The light-weight, rugged design of the flypack makes it suitable to all shipping conditions while maintaining it’s quick deployment once on-site.

“We wanted to design and build a scalable HD flypack that would allow our clients to have access to a first class production facility anywhere in the world. We believe we have created such a system with Hercules”, adds Johnny Pastor, Bexel’s manager of Technical Operations.