Pacers Move to HD

By Andrew Lippe
IMS Productions is providing HD mobile units for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. IMSP’s HD 1 unit is being used this season; the HD 2 is under construction to Pacer specifications for launch next season. It will be able to accommodate dual feeds. “The Pacers control room is all serial digital. They have not made the full conversion to HD yet,” says Dave Gass, senior director, field operations and engineering for IMS Productions.
The Pacers’ facility provider, IMSP has long been a mobile provider for the Pacers. The HD 1 unit was fully capable in March 2008; HD 2 will be released next March.
The physical layouts of the two trucks are slightly different. Although the control rooms are nearly identical, the HD2 has less gear, the HD1 containing additional cameras and more EVS machines. “The biggest difference in HD2,” says Gass, “is that we made a curbside expando to accommodate personnel for a dual feed.”
The HD1 houses 16 cameras, including Sony HDC 1000 studio cameras and HDC 1500 handhelds with an array of Canon lenses. The Pacers will run the cameras on triax, which is part of the infrastructure of Conseco Fieldhouse.
The IMSP HD 1 also includes a Thomson Grass Valley Kalypso switcher, an NVision routing system, an Evertz monitor wall, an Abekas Dveous MX digital video-effects system, a Chyron HyperX graphics system, Sennheiser and Shure microphones, and a Calrec Bluefin Sigma console. Next month, IMS will offer a seminar for audio technicians on working with the Calrec Sigma consoles.
Fox Sports Indiana said last week that it will produce 15 Pacers games in high-definition this season. The first will be this Saturday. “We’re excited to be delivering Pacers basketball in high-definition for the first time and expect our HD schedule to continue to grow in future seasons,” says Fox Sports Indiana spokesman Geoff Goldman.