SVG Sit-Down: Dome Productions' Mary Ellen Carlyle and Mike Johnson on New 1080p HDR Trucks, the Promise of the Cloud, What's Ahead in 2024 The Canadian facilities/distribution provider has opened a new facility in Toronto By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - 2:48 pm
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2023 was a busy year for Dome Productions, which exited its longtime home at the Rogers Centre for a new facility in midtown Toronto and built a pair of state-of-the-art IP-based mobile units, Titan and Empire. In addition, the company's facilities and distribution services were as busy as ever, while its production services continued to add clients.
SVG sat down with Dome Productions GM/SVP Mary Ellen Carlyle and Director, Engineering, Mike Johnson to discuss the duo of new IP-based mobile units, the maturation of the IP production ecosystem, the 1080p-vs.-4K debate, the evolution of the company's REMI business, the growth of the company's Productions Services division, the rise of alternate broadcasts, the evolving role of the cloud, and what's on Dome's 2024 calendar.
Dome Productions GM/SVP Mary Ellen Carlyle and Director of Engineering Mike Johnson
Besides opening the new facility [HYPERLINK AGAIN], you rolled out two brand-new IP mobile units in 2023. Why the aggressive truck-building year for Dome?
Carlyle: To be honest, COVID set us back a bit in terms of building trucks, so we needed to catch up. We ended up building two trucks [in 2023]. The last time we built back-to-back trucks like this was the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, so this was a pretty special year.
Johnson: We got Titan on the road at the beginning of August and Empire on the road at the end of December. They are nearly identical 1080p HDR trucks with a lift-up path to get to 4K. Our shows are only getting bigger, so they have a lot of capacity and the capability to add new services.
Both are all IP from the core, which is an Evertz NATX system, and are Evertz throughout all the frame syncs and other IP devices. We like that because of the interoperability it offers. It gives us better assurance that everything is talking to everything else, instead of having a lot of different vendors involved. Both trucks started taking shows right away, so we didn't have any pause in terms of coverage.
[Both have] all Sony cameras and Canon lenses, EVS and Evertz DreamCatcher [replay], Grass Valley K-frame XP switcher - all the latest and greatest [equipment].
In your view, has the IP production ecosystem achieved full maturity? Will all future Dome trucks be IP?
Carlyle: We did our first IP truck in 2019, and we continue to improve our skills and awareness on that front. I think our engineers are well-versed in IP at this point, and we feel comfortable working with IP.
Mike tells the group this all the time in terms of the engineering: We aren't going to go backwards. We're going to stay IP going forward because it's the right thing to do, but, in terms of operations, we don't really need to be IP: you don't get to charge more for it, and it doesn't mean anything to the operators. But we're not moving backwards. We're going to continue to build IP trucks and continue to train our engineers. Even on the distribution side, it's not going backwards. We see our future being IP.
Johnson: SDI was a robust environment: you could suffer some different problems and get a resolution very quickly. [With] IP, a problem can manifest itself in so many ways; there's uncertainty about where the problem is originating from. But we're figuring that all out. It's part of the learning process; we work with our partners and when we learn something new, we know one more thing to avoid [in the future].
IP is not a technology that's causing us to replace trucks. It's not like anybody comes screaming to us, Hey, I got to have your IP truck. If it's SDI, I don't want to see it. We still have a lot of HD SDI trucks. We're keeping those trucks running a bit longer, and I think you'll see SDI for a long time to come.
Empire was one of two new Dome Productions Mobile units to hit the road in 2023.
Both of your new trucks are 1080p HDR. Where is 4K on your roadmap?
Johnson: Right now, we're not seeing a lot of [requests] for 4K because it really cuts down on the volume of cameras and technology you can have on a show. As our shows keep growing, it makes more sense to stay in 1080p and upconvert to 4K toward the end [of the production chain]. That helps make it more economical and feasible when you want to deliver lots of camera angles and replay [channels] and things like that. IP supports that [workflow] because of the single-link capability. It's what will allow you to deliver that 12-gig or 1080p signal.
Carlyle: We were on the 4K path all the way back in 2016 when we did 4K using the quad-3G [production model]. At this point, the switchers are there for 4K, the cameras are there, the EVS [replay systems] are there, but it's hard to match the ease of operation that you get with 1080p HDR upconverted [to 4K]. The industry is moving in the direction [of 1080p], and we are always going to give the client whatever flavor they want. If the client wants native 4K, we can do native 4K. If they want to go 1080p upconvert, we can do that. But we certainly see a trend more toward 1080p upconverted to 4K.
How has the REMI portion of your business evolved over the past year?
Carlyle: It's certainly part of our business, but I have not seen any major growth in REMI. Right now, 100% [of our] trucks can do REMI if needed. Let's put it this way: before COVID, I had many REMI events, and today I have the same amount. It's all about the flavor of the day: if you want to do onsite, we&
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SVG Sit-Down: Dome Productions' Mary Ellen Carlyle and Mike Johnson on New 1080p HDR Trucks, the Promise of the Cloud, What's Ahead in 2024 The Canadian facilities/distribution provider has opened a new facility in Toronto By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
