Studer Consoles Ready For Olympics

By Dan Daley
The XXIX Olympiad will be the most heavily broadcast Olympics in history, with a vast fleet of OB trucks and vans in attendance. Calrec seems to have locked up much of the U.S. broadcast work but Studer’s Vista is popular with Chinese broadcasters and their overseas colleagues.
China’s top network, CCTV (China Central Television), is using a Studer Vista 7 in its on-air studio for its English-speaking international channel, CCTV-9, while CCTV’s main studios are equipped with four Vista 5 consoles and five Studer OnAir 3000’s. Quindao Radio has purchased an OnAir 3000 for the games, and Hong Kong’s TVB has purchased three Vista 5s for its studio and two for OB vans for the games.
Other OB users include local broadcasters Guangdong TV, Beijing TV (BTV) and Shanghai Media Group, which all feature Vista 8 consoles in their trucks. The Shanghai Media Group also fitted a dedicated 5.1 audio truck with a Vista 5. CCTV’s HD OB van is equipped with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000, and TJTV’s HD truck (Tianjin) is now equipped with a Vista 8. HLJTV’s HD (Harbin) van comes with both a Vista 5 and an OnAir 3000, BTV’s HD truck is fitted with a Vista 8 and an OnAir 3000. Jinan TV and Dalian TV are sending HD trucks, both fitted with Vista 5 consoles.
Euro broadcasters are also fitting their studios and OB vans with the consoles. Spain’s TVE is constructing its own studio in Beijing, in which three Studer Vista 5s handle all the mixing task. Hungary’s MTV has the Vista 5 in its studio. Denmarks Radio’s facilities include a Studer OnAir 3000 (which is in line with the fact that the broadcaster operates some 90-plus Studer OnAir mixers at its main facility in Copenhagen). Brazil’s TV Bandeirantes TV system is using an OnAir 3000, while OB vehicles from France (SFP and VCF) and Norway (NRK’s HD-1) will employ Studer D950’s, Vista 5’s and Vista 8’s. Swiss SRG Media Services (MSC) will use the OnAir 3000 infrastructure to feed all 13 of its network
On the live sound side, two Soundcraft Vi4 consoles are installed at the National Olympic Conference Centre, and several Soundcraft analog mixers including CompAct mixers and MH4 mixers are installed in Olympic venues such as the Fengtai Softball Field, Chang Ping Indoor Stadium, Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, Beijing Foreign Language University Stadium, Ditan Park Indoor Stadium, Shanghai 80k Stadium, Hong Kong Equestrian Venues and the Hong Kong Olympic House Conference Room.