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.