NEP Germany uses air containers for Formula One production

NEP Germany uses air containers for Formula One production Developed by NEP together with the Broadcast Solutions integrator, the new mobile production studio is installed in an air cargo container that interacts with other containers that will travel around the world during Formula One season.

Producing the Formula One for television is, in addition to the production challenges themselves, a great logistical effort that becomes even more complicated in the time of COVID-19.

Production teams have to travel around the world preceding the racing circus and must always be on site and ready to be used at the right time.

For an optimal and quickly operational solution on the circuits, NEP Germany has opted for a new air cargo container-based (POD) solution to transmit signals from the pit lane and for interviews.

Since this season, the broadcaster Servus TV acquired the transmission rights to Formula One, and NEP Germany acts as a production service provider for the Austrian chain.

The new container solution, developed by NEP together with the integrator Broadcast Solutions, is a mobile production studio, installed in an air cargo container that interacts with other containers that function as "assembly vehicles", so to speak, travel all over the world during Formula One season.

This POD, which is housed in an air cargo container equipped with extensions, is mainly used to produce interviews and expert talks, which are captured by two wireless camera crews and an EB team around the runway or on the pit lane. In the smallest possible space, it houses all the essential technical components used for a television production in a mobile unit.

Mark Overkamp, technical director of NEP Germany, explains the history of development: "Due to the excessive displacements involved in the production of Formula One, we needed a highly mobile and transportable solution that could provide all the technology for our productions in the smallest possible space and that remained comfortable to work with. Together with Broadcast Solutions, with the POD, we have developed a solution that, in combination with a sophisticated stage box concept, optimally supports us in todays productions, but also leaves open the options for the future."

All in one With two extensions, the POD can be expanded 7.5 to 14 m2 y ofrece espacio para cuatro estaciones de trabajo (un ingeniero de audio, uno de v deo, y dos redactores), incluyendo un rack t cnico central con 2x 38 RU.

The POD is used to monitor video and audio signals camera equipment working in production, as well as for control intercom signals and the radio links Motorola. During productions, audio and video signals are transmitted directly from the race track via dark fiber to the Servus TV broadcast center in Salzburg, where the PGM signal is created. Ear monitoring of presenters, reporters and camera equipment is managed in the POD to avoid audio delays.

The audio signals generated in this workflow are characterized by their great heterogeneity: the POD and the transmitters Wisycom, which perform the wireless network throughout the track, work with digital audio in Dante format.

Intercom signals are processed in AES67, and other analog audio signals come from office containers. To ensure smooth conversion, several multi-format converters Prodigy of DirectOut, hosted in stageboxes, convert analog audio and AES67 into Dante and vice versa.

A digital audio console Yamaha QL1 WITH DANTE integration is used to mix the signals in the POD itself. In the POD, the system MicroN Riedel functions as the primary router. Control of audio and video signals is at the service of Broadcast Solutions control system Hi Human Interface.

The POD is designed to be remotely controlled from salzburgs broadcast center. The system has already passed its first baptism of fire at the start of the season on March 28 at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The next event will be the Italian Grand Prix in Imola on April 18.

LINK:	https://www.panoramaaudiovisual.com/en/2021/04/14/nep-contenedores-pro...
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