Posted by Rich Cerny
It is time to start preparing for the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month. If you are looking for a
free exhibition pass you can have one on us.
We have been quite busy of the last year. The biggest news is that we have become part of the
Belden family. This will allow our customers to capitalize on their continued need for mixed copper and fiber solutions and growing bandwidth demands in 'live entertainment' applications.
We hope you can make it to Las Vegas. Here are some of the things we will be showing:
3-D Technology
Using Telecast technology, 3-D camera engineers have been able to devise a system that enables the controlling electronics to be de-coupled from the camera lenses. Connected by a fiber link, the lenses can be deployed far away from the electronics for difficult shots such as undersea scenes, and can be controlled independently of each other to create the highly realistic, stereoscopic 3-D effects that are rapidly transforming movie-making and audience expectations.
TeleCube™ Modular Media Interface
Developed specifically for OEM applications, the
TeleCube MMI system offers broadcasters a highly flexible, cost-effective I/O solution for distribution of HD-SDI signals via fiber optics as well as copper cable. Simply by plugging a TeleCube onto any FPGA-based device, engineers can instantly configure the device for 3Gbps optical or electrical input and/or output. For a range of applications including HD monitors and displays, switchers and routers, cameras, and modular DAs, the TeleCube modules help lower engineering design costs and improve time-to-market for broadcast engineering solutions.
CopperHead™ 3000 Series
The
CopperHead 3000 Series has been designed to offer a cost-effective solution for a variety of applications and users, and provides a single fiber optic link between any professional camera or camcorder and the broadcaster’s truck, control room, or “video village” position. Representing the best of Telecast’s award-winning fiber optic technologies, the CopperHead 3000 is designed to handle all vital camera signals and can be configured for specific applications such as ENG or multi-camera use.
The system will simultaneously transport both digital (SDI or HD/SDI) and analog (NTSC or PAL) program video, as well as all two-way camera control, audio, video, data, tally/call and intercom signals between the camera and the Base Station.
Posted by Ed Miley
On New Years day the NHL’s Winter Classic rolled into Fenway Park for a nationally televised game on NBC between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. What a great place for the outdoor game complete with a classic ending!While the event by all accounts was a great success there were considerable changes made to the typical setup that the local news media is accustomed to over at Fenway.
The biggest change was to the normal SNG/ENG truck parking location which was hi-jacked by the NHL for trailer mounted generators and the mobile plumbing unit for keeping the ice frozen. The usual parking area for the locals at Fenway is on Van Ness Street with an access point into the stadium cross connects right inside the ambulance bay. While during the baseball season this would be the typical setup for this eventa whole new approach was taken.
The NHL secured parking for the local media in a parking lot beyond the right field area of Fenway Park and put the local trucks about 500’ further away then usual and on the opposite side of the street from Fenway.
So you ask, how does Telecast figure into this equation? Would you venture a guess as to which type of cable you were not allowed to flyover the street to cable into Fenway? Now would you venture a guess as to which cable was allowed to be hoisted over the street to connect into Fenway? Yes the answer is fiber optic tactical cable. A temporary modification made to a street light pole and some rope paved the way for some Tactical Fiber to flyover the street. On a side note, a very similar scenario takes place during MLB Playoff and World Series games at Fenway. This tradition started at Fenway in1999 when Fenway hosted the MLB All-Star game.
Through the NHL and some other local vendors Thistle Communications (Telecast’s New England rental house) from nearby Pelham, NH was contracted by the NHL to supply fiber to connect the media lot to the cross connect point inside the ball park. Any media outlet wishing to provide live shots from inside the park was tied into a series of TelecastFiber Systems Diamondback II and Adder II systems for audio and video transport back to the local truck compound. The Diamondbacks provided the path forstandard def video and the Adders were used for “dry” analog audio . With some prior arrangements Thistle Communications could also supply HD/SDI video and Ethernet connections using the Telecast Viper system that was also on scene. In all a few of the stations from Boston, Philadelphia, Comcast Sports and ESPN tied into the fiber system on New Years Eve which was the setup day and kept the lines in place through the end of New Years Day.
Thistle Communications racked up the Telecast Fiber equipment and secured it in a trailer that served as the field office and the demarc in the truck parking lot, while the otherend of the gear was located inside the ambulance bay at Fenway where the localmedia normally ties in. According to Thistle Communications President, Jim Thistle and his engineer Jay Arthur the setup and performance of the Telecast equipment was flawless and made life very easy for all involved. Noting that there are really not many options available seeing as conventional copper cables were not going to be allowed to be hung over the street.
The weight of the Telecast Fiber Tactical Fiber that was used is about 15lbs per 1000’ feet, far less then conventional ENGstyle copper cables. The weight of the cable crossing the street from the pole to the park was probably between two and three pounds. The total reel of 1000’of fiber plus the reel is close to 30 pounds total. As mentioned earlier for the MLB playoff games at Fenway a similar setup is used and again due to thelight weight the fiber is the only cable allowed to fly over the streets astemporary install. Again the increased signal capacity on the fiber vs.conventional copper lines makes the fiber a logical choice.
Without a doubt another example of how fiber can solve the problems of multiple connections, different standards, distance and weight all in one light weight manageable cable.
Posted by Paul Kamp
Just read the November 2009 article by David Feherty in Golf Magazine about the CBS crew breaking down and setting up the communications at an event. David provides a great behind the scenes account of how the "smellies" tear down the set up after a tournament, pack it up and then set it up again the for the next tournament.
However, we would take issue with one of his statements:
Other teams work on the fiber optic cable, which as I found out, has to be treated differently. There is no bending, knot-tying or knitting with this stuff, as you can it shatter it easily and annoy the production manager, who is the person who can have you assigned to the dumper crew, or worse still, McCord's tower next week.
Fiber optic cable is actually quite durable, weighs much less than copper, can send more data through the system and as such is much easier to pack up after a tournament.
We thank David for highlighting the efforts of the crews that set up at each tournament. To those of us in broadcast production they are the real heroes.
Posted by Paul Kamp
Boston College’s Conte Forum and Alumni Stadium are now enhanced for HD sports television by SMPTE Fiber. The tapeless HD workflow enables them to deliver live HD video to giant-screen display boards in Alumni Stadium and Conte Forum.
The BC athletics department designed the a new facility with Little Bay Broadcast. The Sports Video Group recently published an article with a bit more detail on the system.
It is a great application of fiber to HD for Sports Video for a stadium and arena. It enables the fans to keep an Eagle Eye things.
Posted by Paul Kamp
In today’s anemic and highly volatile economy, choosing the right school for a student has become more important than ever. Gone are the days where college & universities are chosen based on prestige and reputation, or “that’s where Mom or Dad went…..”. Now decisions are based on very specific skill sets that can be offered to students, and help prepare them to enter a competitive work force.
For every level of collegiate entity, Television and more specifically, Sports Production are at the forefront of this demand. Recently the Sports Video Group ran an article about how 
Kent State University has implemented their Sports production.Schools need top notch media services for their athletic programs and academic offerings. Curriculums are being designed around this while keeping the student’s best interests in mind. Often times, budgets are tight and getting the most out of dollars spent on these endeavors is the key.
One-way schools are looking to maximize their budgets in choosing equipment that can pull double duty. The first key in any production chain is acquisition. Schools today are looking for alternatives to the traditional “hard” studio camera, and opting for an ENG style Instead. However, giving up those Operational Studio luxuries is hard to do. The Telecast Copperhead Series, Fiber enables these ENG Style Cameras, yet offers the Flow of signal compliment found in traditional Studio Camera configurations. As most of today’s Eng cameras offer on board recording, now the camera itself is free to be utilized in any production style environment.
Another big demand in university & college production setups is the ability to have a centralized control room with connectivity to stadiums, arenas and other points around campus. To do this effectively, Fiber Runs are the only choice. Telecast Fiber Systems have a full Compliment of equipment to address this, like our Adder II System for Audio, Data & Intercom on to Fiber. Our Viper II Terminal Gear, which handles a full compliment of HD/SDI, SD, Ethernet & Audio needs. Also, offerings of Multiplexing Gear like our Teleport & Telethon Systems round out & simplify very complex System Designs.
Posted by Ed Miley
Recently one of the major television news networks that is a client of Telecast Fiber has stationed a SNG truck in the metro Boston area that will service all of New England and where ever else the network chooses to send it as it all depends on the news.
For those who may not know Telecast Fiber Systems is located in Worcester, MA that is roughly forty miles due west of Boston. The news operation in question made good use of the proximity of our head quarters to their locally stationed truck.
On a recent phone call with the operator of that SNG truck he 
relayed that he was having a difficult time with getting his issued fiber equipment to work properly. It just so happens that this vehicle in addition to all of the normal equipment usually found in a SNG truck is also carrying close to 3000' of Telecast Fiber Tactical cable along with a Mussel shell and a Viper 442 frame. So when the call came from the local truck operator describing the problems he was having he was encouraged to bring the Telecast equipment out the headquarters where we could take a look and see what, if any problems with out equipment he was having. In the course of the phone call the truck operator described what sounded like problems related to either bad connectors or dirty optics, and that he has had no previous experience with fiber optics prior his new position. Obviously we asked him to take a ride out to see us.
Our friend arrived at the appointed time at our facility and we had him set up a fiber reel, the Mussel Shell and the Viper 442 unit, and route some audio and video signal into the either end so we could see what was happening. Right off the bat we noticed a few problems and decided to look at the optical connections first. We did a quick check by applying what would appear to be a flash light equipped with a bright red LED and a narrow tip so that you can aim the light right into the connector and fiber strand. Quickly we determined that our friend in deed was carrying around some bad fiber reels and also some connectors that require a little TLC.
During this time our friend, the truck engineer asked plenty of questions about how the system he has works, what are the do's and don'ts, what is the best way to handle the fiber, how to troubleshoot, etc. With the assembled group that was helping out he got some very sound and sage advice.
In the course of our time together, about two hours, our friend relayed to me on a few occasions his desire to get the equipment back from repair quickly because of the flexibility it allows him coupled with the fact that he has a large remote coming up and really needs the operational flexibility the fiber system offers over copper. Going along with him he explained that because the truck is smaller that it's not equipped to carry many copper reels typically found on a news truck. In all, including the two fiber reels there appear to be six reels on this truck, made up of AC power reels, Audio/Video mults
and the fiber. That is not a lot of cable l. Minus the fiber reels he would be carrying about 750' of copper cable. Those that work in the ENG/SNG part of the business can identify with the thoughts of this operator and how he now will change his approach in the short term.
On arrival at our facility our friend may not have had the experience working with fiber that others may have but he knew these few things:
- With the reels and equipment out for repair he now has to approach his live shot set up differently in terms of signal count and parking.
- HD signals do not travel far over copper cables.
- It's "way easier" to run 1500' of fiber then 1500' of copper".
- Last but not least he got a first hand tutorial on how to utilize and troubleshoot his system.
No pun intended but by the end of the day our friend had seen the light.
Posted by Steve Nelson
One of our clients here in Boston is
NESN (New England Sports Network) who are a very progressive, all HD regional sports network that broadcasts the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins. NESN is unique in that their entire connectivity is accomplished over dark fiber from their headquarters in Watertown MA to Fenway Park, the Bank North Garden, and their uplink facility in Needham, MA. They needed to add an additional uncompressed 1080i program return from master control to the Garden for the Bruins Sky Suite feeds to minimize latency. All the dark fibers were in use over this 24 mile run.
Our choice was to take the existing program return fiber, add CWDM multiplexing and run both return feeds on the same strand, taking advantage of our newest
6292 series digital video cards. The 6000 series gives an end-to-end performance increase of about 6db over the 5000 series. Two new
TX6292 transmitters and a four channel CWDM mux replaced the original program return module in Master Control. At the Garden, the incoming fiber arrives at the mezzanine level studio connecting first to the CWDM mux. The program return feed then goes to a two way splitter; one leg to the studio receiver and the other to a house fiber which takes the signal to the truck bay.
The separate Garden return feed from the CWDM was also connected to a house fiber which brought the signal to the Garden frame room where the new receive module was installed to feed the HD video to the flat screens in the Sky Suites. No more three second delay between the hockey game in front of you and the picture on the flat screens.
So what about this title referring to tigers? When we got to the
Garden we discovered it was also load-in day for the Ringling Brothers Circus. Garden staff and big signs warned us to “stay off level #3” where the animals were in their cages. In our travels around the Garden to install and test, we made sure we routed well away from the “Land of Big Cats”. However, when we were working at the NESN studio above on Mezzanine level #5, all we ever heard were a couple yipping little dogs who were on the same level as the big animals. It must have been time for a CatNap. (GROAN)
Posted by Rich Cerny
We're proud to be the winner of BE Magazine's Pick Hit Award
at IBC this year, and the product that got it is our new modular Rattler™ 3G. This is an amazingly innovative product, even for Telecast.
The Rattler 3G HD/SDI fiber optic video link is the first product that allows you to configure exactly the device you need, whether it's a coax to fiber transmitter, a fiber to coax receiver, a fiber to fiber mode converter or CWDM wavelength shifter, or even a BNC to BNC coaxial inline equalizing repeater. 
Using the groundbreaking Telecube™ technology, you can even change the Rattler 3G into something different by simply replacing cubes whenever you need to.
Like the original Rattler, you also get that indispensible optical power meter on the side of the center "Pit" coupler. But unlike the original, you now have up to 16 CWDM wavelenths to choose from, as well as higher power levels.
According to the BE website "The prestigious Pick Hits Awards, which have honored companies and
their technology for more than 25 years, are selected by a panel of
independent judges who tour the convention floor looking for innovative
products and technology. The judges then meet to make their selections
based on several criteria, including the technical and financial
improvements the product can bring to a facility’s operation. Broadcast Engineering’s
editors and publishers have no vote in the selection process, ensuring
the winners truly represent outstanding achievement in the eyes of a
group of people who are representative of those making TV happen."
Posted by Rich Cerny
Today TV Technology announced that Telecast has received a STAR Award for the development of the TeleCube. Our partner, Marshall Electronics, generated a lot of press for their new HD Monitors which utilize the TeleCube technology for fiber optic input:
Government Video - Marshall Flashes HD Monitor with Direct Fiber-Optic Input
Broadcast Newsroom - Marshall Electronics Announces World's First HD Monitors with Direct Fiber-Optic Video Input
Studio Daily - Marshall Electronics Announces World's First HD Monitors with Direct Fiber Optic Video Input
This is the first product to include the patent pending technology found in the TeleCube.