NELONEN New TV Channels WERNE HD Van DIRECTOR`S CUT

TOOLS
Views
for
a
better
audio
and
video
production
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc. 2009
DIRECTOR’S CUT
HD Truck
NELONEN
New TV Channels
WERNE
HD Van
OASIS
of the Seas
TOOLS
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc.
Table of contents
3
Editorial
4
Werne brought Finland’s
outdoor production
into HD time
6
An Oasis in the Middle
the finished show can finally be seen on the television set at
of the Sea
home.
8
Nelonen New TV Channels
10
DC HD1 Truck
13
Tammerkosken tuotanto Inc.
14
SM-League and Sports
cameras either on a disk or a memory card, from where the
Channels
files end up on the editor’s work station in their native format.
17
18
Editorial
Tapeless television
The production chain of television programmes is long
and eventful; all the way from the set to the moment when
Although there are many phases, the device manufacturers have been able to develop a common vision of tapelessness already for a long time and extensively. Every day we
see recordings and reports, which have not been on tape at
any stage. News videographers record their clips with their
Editors use a few search words to find pictures from the digTV Tools Manufacturers
ital archive for their stories and the clips appear on the work
station at a moment’s notice. No more searching for archive
Altti Loikkanen
tapes. After the news story is completed, the editor saves
the finished story on a video server, from where he can immediately make video footage for the Internet or for a mobile
phone. At the next news broadcast, the broadcast automation can transmit the news story directly from the video server
and the interview, recorded a moment ago, will reach your
TOOLS
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc.
home faster and with a better quality than ever before.
Publisher
TV Tools Oy
Itälahdenkatu 15-17
FI-00210 Helsinki
+358 9 525 9700
www.tvtools.fi
info@tvtools.fi
This technological development has opened up opportunities
Executive editor
Jukka Keski-Loppi
lutely reliable is definitely the corner stone of the present pro-
Journalists
TV Tools Inc. staff
developing an infrastructure as open as possible create good
Print layout
Klaara Helsinki
Matti Liimatainen
Printing
Saraste Suora Oy
for different kinds of approaches, but it has brought with it a
whole new set of questions, which we have been forced to
find solutions, too. Administering and filing the expanding digital media so that the material service is clear, fast and absoduction model. Incorporating different kinds of formats and
preconditions for a long time in the future.
Let’s build solutions for the future together!
Jukka Keski-Loppi
TV TOOLS
Views for a better audio and video production
3
Werne
outdoor
production
brought
Finland’s
into HD time
The domestic truck body was made
in Interkori factories in Honkajoki and in
ten weeks mechanics from TV Tools finished all the cabling and equipment installations with testings. The truck was
conveniently finished in time of the Finnish SM-Leagues Christmas break, so it
was put into TV production right away.
The new car’s incomparable capacity
can be seen in the live game broadcasts
of the SM-League. Image many times
sharper than “traditional sharpness” and
a flawless signal route guarantee that the
puck really does stand out from the ice.
In addition, rigging the car for production
is notably faster than with the old set.
The HD outdoor production truck is
equipped with eight Thomson HD cameras and there is cabling even for sixteen
The new HD outdoor production truck by Werne
Facilities was completed just in the turn of the year
2009. This HD OB truck with an expanding body, designed and executed by TV Tools together with the client, is the first in Finland. The truck will bring outdoor
production into a new level of comfort with its spaces
and technical execution.
4
Production car MAN TGS 26.360
Equipment car MAN TGL 12.180
Length:
12 feet
Width: 2,6 feet in drive
5 feet in production
Height:
13,12 feet
Electrical connection:230V/400V/62A
Length:
8,5 feet
Width: 2,55 feet
Height:
3,6 feet
Electrical connection:230V/10A
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc. 2009
cameras. In addition, the car has SD
hi-speed camera as a standard as well
as four SD/HD effect cameras. The intercom system is Clear-Com Eclipse
64X64 router equipped with partylines,
fourwires and a sufficient number of different user panels, one for each seat.
The system also includes fully digital
Freespeak beltpacks, which enable 12
separate wireless connections with any
intercom router source.
The car’s recording capacity includes HDCAM, Digital Betacam, Betacam SP and DVCAM formats as well
as 3 EVS video servers, which naturally
also serve as slomo players. AJA Video
and Axon converters are used for signal
conversions. Signal routing is executed
with a Harris Platinum 256X256 HD 3G.
Studer’s Vista5 commands the sound
unit, a digital audio desk which has
AES/EBU and analog audio router in its
core. The system transforms easily from
a hockey game all the way to demanding concert recordings. There is also a
64-track ProTools HD3-Accel audio
workstation connected to the desk with
MADI. DolbyE, 5.1 space sound is a part
of the HD standard and it has naturally
been taken into account. In addition, the
control room also has 5.1 listening. The
car’s audio monitoring has been executed with Genelec technique. Evertz VIP
multi-image distributors have been used
for video monitoring, which enables free
adapting of each monitor’s layout, depending on the situation. RTW audio and
Tektronics video equipment is used for
quality monitoring. The truck also has an
Apple Final Cut Pro editing workstation
with HD video card and dedicated hard
drives. The workstation can also directly
use the material from EVS video server
as well as connect to Werne Pasila facilities using Fork automation.
The truck’s design has taken alternating needs into account as much as
possible. The car has an extensive connection lines and a sufficient number of
connection possibilities in addition to
automation. This enables adapting and
changing locations. Each location has
Internet access. There have not been
any compromises in the car’s body and
quality of furniture, either. The body’s
metallic parts are mainly stainless steel
and furniture solid cherry wood.
Views for a better audio and video production
5
Travelling at sea has never experienced anything like this. The newest
ocean cruiser from Royal Caribbean International, Oasis of the Seas, is the first
Genesis class cruiser which is scheduled
to be finished at the Pansio dockyard in
October 2009. The cruiser is the largest passenger ship ever built and at the
same time the most expensive single export product from Finland. The ship has
the capacity for 5,400 passengers. In the
middle of the ship, there are two promenade decks one upon the other, the upper one being open and there are, among
other things, a full-sized carousel for the
children as well as real plants. A Roman
amphitheatre with a stage and water basins has been built in the open rear of the
ship. In the amphitheatre, there are diving towers and video screens in the sides
of the stage and flamboyant water fountains in the front.
An
Oa
sis
IN THE MIDDLE
OF THE SEA
Oasis of the Seas is already the ninth
Caribbean cruise ship, for which TV Tools
has designed and executed the television technology. For the first time in ship
building history, the Caribbean cruiser
being built uses IP-distribution all the
way to the cabins. In this way, the cabins can be equipped with TV and radio
stations, phones and Internet, all at the
same time.
The broadcast premises have a Harris Nexio 20-channel video server, from
where programmes are broadcasted to
the ship’s TV channels. The information
channels have been executed with Harris
Infocasters, which have almost become
the shipping company’s standard. As a
shooting set, the ship has used Sony XDCAM HD cameras and as an vision mixer
Sony MFS-2000.
Building a daughter ship, Allure of the
Seas, has already begun at the Pansio
dockyard and it will be finished in about a
year from the departure of the Oasis. The
ships will operate from Florida’s harbours
to the Caribbean.
Subtitles for TV shows
HD Color Definitions in Xsan
Pre-Text Inc. is a translation agency
founded in 1990 specializing in AV translations, which uses the Cavena Tempo
subtitling system. Switching to digital
image has revolutionized the work of the
subtitlers and they can, for instance, see
the subtitle on their own screens almost
as it will eventually be seen on the television.
The biggest clients of Pre-Text Inc.
are Sanoma Television Inc. / Nelonen
Media and Finnair. At the moment, the
company employs about fifty translators,
all freelancers. Some of them do the timing in the Pre-Text office, where there are
four work stations. Most of them, however, have their own laptop, so they can
do the subtitles at home, for example. “I
have one Cavena Tempo license in my
laptop, because I spend a part of the
year in my other home in Crete. From
there I can even take care of office duties: receive finished works, check them
and send them forward to the client”,
says Kati Metsola, chief executive officer
of Pre-Text.
”The actual timing work also
changed with Cavena Tempo. Before
there were two screens on the table: a
TV and a computer. The previous timing
programme was still DOS-based and it
worked only with 386 computers which
were slow enough. Switching to digital
image had a revolutionary significance.
Before messengers carried bags full of
tapes back and forth, and it naturally
took its own time to copy them. If the
image was faulty, we had to make a new
copy and deliver it. Now all the necessary material, video files and the script,
are available from our server and downloading them takes from fifteen minutes
to a couple of hours depending on the
speed of the connection”, Kati Metsola
says.
The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio’s color correction units
in Tohloppi, Tampere, were renewed
and built in Apple Xsan network. TV2’s
drama productions use Apple Color to
color correct their programmes and Final
Cut Pro software to master them. Two
identical color correction units as well
as a DVD master unit have been built
in Xsan production network. The use
of native HD material simultaneously as
well as Apple’s compatible software enable programme production’s seamless
processing at file level and at the same
unit. Tangent Devices color correction
panels and AJA Kona3 HD video cards
provide their users with an easy user interface as well as possibilities to monitor
and master versions in real time in both
SD and HD.
Views for a better audio and video production
7
Nelonen’s broadcast center expanded
with three new channels: movie channel Kino
started in the beginning of 2009, Finland’s first
lifestyle TV channel Liv started in the middle
of February and Sports Channel Urheilukanava started broadcasting on May. At the same
time, Nelonen’s broadcast center in Pasila
underwent a complete space renovation and
three identical broadcast centers as well as a
material preparation unit were built in the new
premises.
NELONEN
NE W TV CHANNELS
The Pebble Beach automation in Nelonen’s broadcast unit was expanded to broadcast new channels in
addition to the already existing Nelonen’s main channel
and Jim. Hard drive space was added in Omneon video servers and Quantum tape archives were replaced
with a new, bigger Quantum iScalar 2000 robot. In addition, the broadcast center’s router was renewed with
a Harris HD/SD 3Gb Platinum and the Cavena subtitling system was expanded to meet the demands of
the new channels.
From the logistics unit in Tehtaankatu, the material
moves digitally with the help of Pebble Beach automation to the archives in the Pasila broadcast center,
where the broadcast servers retrieve outgoing material
according to broadcast lists. The Pebble Beach automation controls the broadcast on all channels, signal routing, archive transfers from both Quantum and
Tehtaankatu, controls the subtitles of programmes,
VizRT graphics devices as well as mediates information
8
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc. 2009
about image relations to Digita. The broadcast units
are equipped so that all channels can, if necessary,
be monitored from each unit. Evertz MVP multi-image
dividers have been used in the monitoring walls and
the broadcast supervisor can easily and fast change
views in all the monitors from the table’s panel. In addition to the image being transmitted, the monitors show
audio levels and give an alarm if, for example, picture
or sound is missing. The units have a Tektronix video
analyzers as well as RTW audio monitoring for closer
inspection as well as domestic Genelec loudspeakers.
Control connections between units, to the news studio in Tehtaankatu and to the logistics unit, are built
with Clear-Com Eclipse panels, which also come with
phone hybrids.
It is simple and fast to control channels’ broadcast lists
The speaker has a good view to the broadcast unit
DC HD1
HD truck of the Director’s Cut Inc.
Director’s Cut ordered an HD OB truck in the
summer of 2008 and it was finished in June 2009.
The semitrailer is produced by TV Tools and its body
is, like with the previous van, built by Interkori and the
technical execution is by TV Tools.
When the truck is ready for production, its length is 45 feet and width
18 feet, which make it the biggest HD
OB truck in Finland. Everything is a little bigger when it comes to the technical execution, too. The HD truck
comes with 16 Sony HD cameras, one
of which is a hi-speed camera, which
are connected to the car through fiber. Two of the cameras can operate on
a local wireless link to the truck. Two
remote-controlled effect cameras are
also a part of the camera equipment.
The cabling is built for 24 cameras, so
even large productions can be done
inside the same walls. The cameras
are equipped with Canon objectives
10
from wide-angle lenses all the way to
86-fold stabilized objectives. The production switcher is Sony with 3 MEs
and 50 inputs.
Signals from 8-12 cameras can
be recorded to the EVS XT2 video
servers and X-file servers in real time,
depending on the file format and, of
course, by copying the files at the end
of production. In the X-file there are
two portable hard drives, which can
be connected to the client’s postproduction unit and so the production can be edited in privacy. EVS
can, if desired, record directly in Final
Cut Pro compatible format. In addition, the truck comes with a separate
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc. 2009
workstation with a Final Cut Pro HD
editing unit. The same unit can also
search for material directly from the
truck’s EVS hard drives over the GigE
ethernet.
A separate master sound control room has a Studer Vista5 digital
audio desk combined with Madi to
a Protools 64-channel HD3 Accel
sound treatment unit, which enables,
for instance, live recording of music productions and after-treatment.
The truck also has the readiness to
execute a production in Dolby 5.1
sound. Audio monitoring is done with
Genelec DSP.
The truck’s 2nd Production unit
can produce a separate feed from the
main signal, for example international
and domestic feeds in large sports
events. There is also a separate audio
control room for the other broadcast
signals. Routing the HD signals is
done with a Harris Platinum 256x256
HD 3G. Evertz equipment is used at
the core of the truck. Signal synchronization and distribution, format variations as well as multi-image monitoring are all done by Evertz.
The HD-truck is equipped with
Digita’s @450 wireless Internet connection, so Internet can be accessed
from the HD truck’s internal network
from all work areas. As a speciality,
the semitrailer includes Sony 47” LCD
screens as standards on both outer
sides.
Views for a better audio and video production
11
A video production
company Tammerkosken Tuotanto Inc.
is situated in Tampere,
right next to the rapids of Tammerkoski.
At the door, producerdirector Timo Rajakallio
greets me and welcomes me warmly.
TAMMERKOSKEN
Timo is a veteran in
the business and he
has started working
with video cameras
already in the 1970s.
First, he filmed product
demonstrations and
sports and after moving to Helsinki, games
of HIFK and Jokerit,
for instance. In 1982,
he was asked to film
and edit full-time, first
news gigs and later
corporate videos and
advertisements, and
this is what Timo Rajakallio is still doing
today.
TUOTANTO INC.
Tammerkosken Tuotanto Inc. was
established in the spring of 2007, when
Filmaattiset Inc. and Timo Rajakallio
joined forces. Tammerkosken Tuotanto
employs full-time four employees and
the company does television ads in addition to corporate and community communications. Timo Rajakallio has mixed
views on the competitive nature of the
business, competing about know-how
and ideas keeps people on their toes and
their thoughts sharp, but it is unfortunate
how ridiculous the competition about
the cheapest prices sometimes is. The
gigantic leaps in technological development have not scared the industry’s veterans, specializing and keeping a small
distance from the newest trend waves
have been smart moves. Timo mentions
that the downside of the industry’s development is the enormous speed and
constantly upcoming new recording formats in the market, but at the same time
he states that the current developments
in technology and prices have brought
with them democratization, which means
that making good quality productions is
possible for a larger number of people.
Still, know-how, experience and view still
have to be acquired in the old-fashioned
way, with time.
Collaboration with TV Tools started
already at the time TV Tools was established. In the middle of the 1990s,
Timo Rajakallio ordered a couple of VideoCubes and a Sony production camera and today they already have half a
dozen common projects behind them.
“A wide range of products which are of
good quality, straightforward service and
the fact that they have told me straight
out if a solution I have planned for myself
was not the best possible. And of course
the fact that I have always gotten what
they promised. These are the facts I have
based our collaboration on and I see it
continuing on in the future”, Timo Rajakallio says.
According to his view, the strength of
TV Tools in this line of business has been,
in addition to high quality products, an
extensive experience as a system supplier. Small as well as big projects have
created a good base for success. ”An influential, touching document would surely be something I could be happy about
myself, with a good group, and that is
something which I dream about sometimes. If only I had that famous time and
money to start working, I have plenty of
topics!” the producer-director Rajakallio
says about his dreams in conclusion.
Views for a better audio and video production
13
SM-LEAGUE AND
SPORTS CHANNELS
The production house Werne Inc. renewed
their SM-League TV production system by introducing Building4Media Fork automation as
well as Apple Xsan network solution. This same
concept was used when Urheilukanava+ (Sports
Channel+) broadcast system was built in Werne’s
premises. The Apple-based production automation looks after the simultaneous recording of all
matches in the Pasila unit and editors as well as
reporters get to edit all eight incoming signals in
real time. This way hockey highlights and whole
news broadcasts are finished faster and easier
than ever before.
Apple XSAN works at the
core of the production
14
A bulletin of TV Tools Inc. 2009
The Building4Media Fork automation looks after eight HD/
SD signal’s recording, flipping through material, format changes,
archiving and distribution forward for the clients to use. There
are four logging stations in the Pasila unit, and these are used
during matches to edit material. Four operators each monitor
two matches and cut, together with the reporter, the highlights
ready using the Fork Content Navigator browser and the Apple
Final Cut Pro editing programme. The logging stations are outand-out Final Cut Pro editing units, in which also presentings
can be finished during the rush of the game. Finished highlights
are on the hard drive ready to be
transmitted directly or the automation
can also move them to a FTP server,
from where clients can pick them
out for their own use. SM-League’s
coaches, among others, receive web
versions of the games, which they can
use how they like. In addition to the
logging stations, two Apple Final Cut
Pro seats were built in the Pasila unit.
In these, programmes can be edited,
tapes mastered and inserts made for
live broadcasts. A Quantum Scalar25
tape archive is used for archiving the
material, and this has been submitted
to the automation’s control.
Werne’s HD outdoor production
car integrates into the Pasila production system via Fork remote connection through broadband, which
enables the use and flicking through of all archive material in
broadcasts made by the outdoor production car.
Ingest operators create highlight packages while games are played.
”After seeing the production system built by TV Tools for the
WRC rally, we were convinced that we can offer similar services also for domestic clients and the speed and versatility of
the system fit perfectly into Finnish ice hockey. Building4Media
automation has offered excellent tools for our fast, high quality
sports production. In addition, really easy managing and flicking through of gigantic amount of material has made it easier
to edit programs, when flipping through tapes has been left out
completely and the material is ready for use in all units”, says
Roni Kianta, technical producer in Werne.
In the sports channel, the same Building4Media Fork automation is used, which is a natural extension to the existing
production system. The Xsan network solution expanded and
the common disk space grew in size to 75TB. In addition, two
new Apple Final Cut Pro seats and another studio were built,
and the broadcast unit was renewed. The whole Werne infrastructure is HD compatible. The Harris Platinum HD/SD 3Gb
router looks after signal routing, Axon shufflers take care of audio control and both the editing units as well as the broadcast
center have Tektronix and RTW video and audio measuring
equipment. The sports channel’s system records four signals
from the world, which, if necessary, are edited and presented.
It is also possible to broadcast the material directly, with or
without a presentation.
The automation systems with Urheilukanava (Sports
Channel) and SM-League production are separate, but tools
have been created between them with which materials can be
searched from either system.
Building4Media offers software products for the broadest range of solutions for production, post-production,
master control playout and new media automation.
The largest customers in the industry buy our software, because we provide the most advanced feature set, like: the shortest time from ingest to
finished clip or playout, media asset management fully integrated with ingest and editing, proxy editing, integrated archiving with proxies on-line,
versatile workflow management, the most advanced collaborative editing
for Apple Final Cut Pro, transcoding for the Internet and 3G phones, etc.,
etc.
All this illustrates that we offer both an unrivalled feature set and a
unique price/performance, especially on the Apple platform. In addition
to this, our solutions are cross platform (Mac OS and Windows), scalable
(almost) without limits, and future-proof due to open standards and stateof-the-art software technologies.
Building4Media currently has around 260 TV channels on-air and
installations (ranging from the largest to the smaller customers), including around 200 Apple-based systems. Building4Media has offices in The
Netherlands (HQ), the United States and India.
Building4Media
Waterpoortsgracht 32
8601 EM Sneek
The Netherlands
www.building4media.com
MTV Media relies on ViewCast Osprey video encoding cards in its Internet video services.
MTV3 – Digital
Communication
MTV Media encodes a large amount
of its programme supplies made for television also on the Internet and supplements
its broadcast operation with live broadcasts
that can only be seen on the Internet, when
the television channels’ screen time does
not allow for any more programmes. These
kinds of typical extra broadcasts are sports
events, special news broadcasts and personal interviews. From our channels’ programme supply, we produce Internet broadcasts on a regular basis from MTV3, Sub,
Max and Junior broadcast maps as well as
occasionally from our other channels, too.
MTV3 counts on Harris
Channel One graphics systems in all of its channels.
The Channel One Digital Signage graphics systems have
been harnessed to channel
MTV3 broadcast automation and the systems receive
commands of the broadcast
lists and broadcast “menus”,
which means programme information, channel graphics
as well as whole fully-automated programme sections.
The interactive parts of the
women’s channel AVA as well
as MTV3.fi channels have
been executed with Channel One equipment. Feedback and answers from the
Internet as well as real time
news supply are seen on the
screen automatically. “The
best things about Channel
One are the easiness of its
introduction, good integratability, high quality effects and
shifts as well as an amazing
image quality. The system
has also surprised us all with
its stability and ease, and
that is why a test in a couple
channels grew to be a system
which covers all MTV’s own
TV and streaming channels”,
says Kimmo Sinkko, Head of
Interactive IT, MTV3.
Simulstream-technique, which is supported by Osprey cards, enables the production of material simultaneously with same
cards, both for traditional pc-based terminal
equipment and mobil terminal equipment.
Due to the fact that it is possible to install
several physical video hijacking cards to one
server, we save money in the prices of the
equipment. And the reliability of the Ospreycards guarantees savings in the system’s
cost of maintenance”, says Vesa Kankkunen,
MTV Inc. / Interactive Services IT.
TV TOO LS O Y - m a n ufact ur e r s
Active Storage
ADC
AJA Video
Astro
Atto
Autodesk
Blackmagic Design
Brick House Video
BUF Technology
Building4Media
Cavena
Clear-Com
Dalet
DataDirect Networks
DNF
DVS
Evertz
EVS
Front Porch Digital
Gefen
G-technology
Harris
Lentequip
Mandozzi
Miller
Omneon
Pebble Beach
RTW
Tektronix
Telemetrics
ViewCast
RESELLER
Apple
Genelec
Maxell
Panasonic
Sony
T V To o l s O y, I t ä l a h d e n k a t u 1 5 - 1 7 , F I - 0 0 2 1 0 H e l s i n k i , + 3 5 8 9 5 2 5 9 7 0 0 , w w w . t v t o o l s . f i , i n f o @ t v t o o l s . f i
ALTTI LOIKKANEN
Some TV Tools Inc. customers have already been acquainted with Altti Loikkanen, who arrives on location to install
and maintain Apple post-production systems. Altti had a summer job in TV Tools already when he was in upper level of comprehensive school, and he was there, for instance, to make the
cabling in the Caribbean ocean cruiser. In the fall of 2005, Altti
took a year off after high school and on the side he did installation gigs for TV Tools, until he received a regular post as a
mechanic in the fall of 2008. Varied job descriptions, diverse
working environment and a business that is constantly changing, offer challenges and keep him fresh. “It is hard to come to
this business straight from school, this calls for real interest in
mechanics and acquiring new things comes mainly from experiences. It is quite the pioneer work!” Altti says. In his free time
Altti unloads energy on football, for instance, and he is a big fan
of the Italian Inter Milan.
Views for a better audio and video production
19
TV Tools Oy
Itälahdenkatu 15-17
FI-00210 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 525 9700
www.tvtools.fi
info@tvtools.fi