Gearhouse Broadcast Upgrades Mediahouse/IMG Studios

Mediahouse, a division of IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion, and media company, selected Gearhouse Broadcast’s Systems Integration division to deliver two new London-based high-definition studios which are used by the BBC’s The Football League Show and ESPN’s Premier League matches. This build brings the total number of HD studios at Mediahouse to four.

The studios were built to fulfill a commitment to broadcast top-flight English football to rights-holders worldwide. The service is offered to broadcasters 24 hours a day and includes a mix of studio-based output, including wrap around up to six live football matches a week, regular news shows, and additional magazine programming.

The new installation consisted of installing new cabling, technical equipment, and bespoke studio furniture. Gearhouse Broadcast built two HD/ 3D capable galleries to support three studio floors which are now 3G ready for 1080-50P productions.

The project involved a two week planning period followed by four weeks of onsite installation and commissioning.  The equipment selected to carry out the upgrade included Axon glue equipment, Vutrix Quad Splitt Monitors, Sony MVS-8000X Switchers, and Miranda 8500 Hybrid Routers. Six Sony HXC100 HD cameras were added to bring the existing complement to ten.

“Our decision to use Gearhouse Broadcast was based on a number of factors; they are one of the few broadcast companies in the UK who can source and work with such a wide range of equipment,” said Shane Warden, general manager at Mediahouse. “They have excellent in-house product knowledge through their technical divisions and their systems integration track record demonstrates successful studio installations delivered for Astro and Al Jazeera.  The installations went smoothly and we are very happy with the new facilities”

“We are delighted to have been selected by IMG Media to undertake the systems upgrade at their studios in London,” added Kevin Moorhouse, chief operating officer at Gearhouse Broadcast. “Following the original brief from Mediahouse, Gearhouse Broadcast provided consultancy and project management throughout the contract and carried out the systems integration on site. Technical support is available to Mediahouse post installation in the form of Gearhouse Broadcast’s after sale support service.”

The changes were done in the close season and were completed in time for ESPN’s first live HD Premier League match, which transmitted on Saturday, Aug. 13.

Gearhouse Broadcast also announced that they have been awarded the contract to design and build two new high definition outside broadcast vans for the Turkish state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, also known as TRT.

The state-of the-art HD Outside Broadcast vans will be the most up to date and the largest HD OB units in Turkey.

The two custom built 13.95m single expanding HD Outside Broadcast vans will have the capacity for a production crew of sixteen and each climate controlled vehicle will have a standalone 5.1 Audio Mixing Area, Production Gallery, and Engineering Control Room.

Each of the units will be fully equipped with 9 x Sony HDC-1450R/U connected to 9 x Sony HDCU-1500/U CCUs using HDFX-100/UF Triax Fiber Converters and 2 Sony HDC-3300R Super Slow Motion Cameras connected to 2 Sony HDCU-3300R CCUs, 4 Canon HJ40X10B IASD-V 10-400mm HDTV Zoom Lens, 2 Canon HJ75xs EDFS Box Lens, 6 Canon HJ22EX7.6BIASE Lens, 3 HJ14x4.3BIASE HD Lens, 3 EVS XT2+ Broadcast Servers, 3 SRW-5800 Series HDCAM-SR VTR’s, Snell Kahuna 32 Button Compact, 64 Input, Multi-Format Video Switcher, Studer Vista 5 Digital Mixing Audio Console, Sony LCD Monitors, Harris Balanced AES Platinum Audio Router (192 x 160), Harris Platinum Video Router (176 x 256) and Harris Neo glue products.

Gearhouse Broadcast’s Systems Integration division will provide TRT with broadcast systems expertise ranging from planning and project management through to design, engineering, installation, commissioning, training, and aftercare support.

“We are delighted to have been selected by TRT to undertake the design and build of two new outside broadcast vans,” said Eamonn Dowdall, managing director at Gearhouse Broadcast. “This is a key project for our Systems Integration division and I believe we were selected for this project because of our proven and demonstrable experience in the provision of HD outside broadcast installations”.