Mediapro North America Alto 53-Foot Expando Gets 1080p/HDR Upgrade

Mediapro North America Alto 53-Foot Expando Gets 1080p/HDR Upgrade By Ken Kerschbaumer

Friday, April 7, 2023 - 9:01 am

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Mediapro North America is the latest remote production service provider to get on board the 1080p/HDR bandwagon, converting their Alto 53-foot expando mobile unit to the next-generation format in five weeks to get ready for several events.

Mediapro Altos' front bench area now has HDR monitoring.

It's exciting around here as I think HDR is going to be something increasingly in demand, especially in sports, says Chris Priess, vice president, sales, Mediapro Broadcast Services Canada. We think our investment is going to pay off.

Priess says Alto was used by CBS live this past Saturday to shoot Karate Combat for CBS in studio A, the largest studio in Mediapro's Miami broadcast facility.

It was a nine-camera shoot and we'll be doing it every three weeks as it is a 1080p show, he adds.

Priess says the trailer was stripped down its bare walls to be rebuilt for 1080p/HDR. The EVS servers required an upgrade, new frame synchronizers were installed and the shading area as well as the front bench both have HDR monitors. Gear in Alto includes two EVS XT-4K servers with Multicam v16 as well as 10 Sony HDC-4300 cameras (a total of 20 are on board) and Canon lenses. There is also a Grass Valley Kayenne 6 M/E switcher, a Calrec Alpha audio board, Sennheiser mics, and an RTS intercom. An Imagine Platinum router, Lawo, AJA, and Imagine frame syncs, and an Evertz master sync generator are also on board. The shading area also added an extra position, going from two to three shaders.

I don't know if the director or producer can really tell the difference but the perspective, we have is that is the area where the client is located and they should not have to go back to the engineering or shading area to see HDR, adds Priess.

It's all part of a busy month for Mediapro Canada as the Canadian Premier League kicks off on April 15 whereby the team will produce 165 matches in a little more than five months. The Alto truck will head to Vancouver for the Billy Jean King Cup on April 15-16 to produce the International Tennis Federation's World Feed.

This seems like a logical move as we needed more than just one truck in our fleet that could do 1080p, says Priess. And next year we will upgrade Omega. We're already planning all the gear for that.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/04/07/mediapro-canada-alto-53-foot-ex...
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