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 Rich Cerny
In AVI-SPL's corporate blog, Jim Stokes, author of Pride of the 
Yankees, mentions the $5.7 million dollar contract for the Bronx Bomber AV project. Download Jim's complete article from Sound & Communications Magazine to see how Telecast is central to the new stadium's HD-broadcast fiber optic video and audio production.
Excerpt: "...transporting HDTV (SDI) signals over the significant distances of a sporting venue required implementation of fiberoptic transport systems
to maintain full signal integrity. Telecast Systems (Worcester MA) products provided much of the fiber transport (audio and video) used to achieve the many requirements associated with transporting video and audio signals to and from the broadcasters.
Audio and video are evident throughout the fan areas.
Benefits Of Fiber
Looking at the fundamental attributes of fiber, McConnell said, “It starts to become difficult to push video around on such long cable runs of 1200, 1500, 1800 feet to maintain HD integrity. It’s really better to transport it over fiber and keep that signal kind of pristine and revert it back to copper for somebody to use at the opposite end.”
Here’s more in-depth information regarding spfx. According to McConnell, each in-Stadium radio booth, along with the television production truck parking areas, is provided with house feeds and effects, including crowd and the aforementioned field effects and crowd noise: up to 48 various discrete feeds over a single fiber, through implementation of the Telecast Systems Fiber Transport.
In addition, the broadcaster is served analog audio in the familiar analog XLR configuration. Input into the Telecast system itself is achieved with A/D converters located throughout the Stadium near the sources, which include dugouts for effects and the PA booth for house feeds, among other source areas. The system provides the benefit of a robust distribution system for effects without the need for analog distribution amplifiers and the lengthy multiple cable counts to all locations.
Summing up, McConnell noted, “The successful outcome of a project is truly the culmination of many things visible, such as the excellent craftsmanship of those performing the work, and invisible, like those who design, engineer and plan the work well away from the jobsite itself. Although hundreds of personnel were involved over several years, it yielded to a single day when the networks arrived and interconnected their equipment for a broadcast, and the word is spread: ‘The cameras have fired and we have audio.’ Speakers are mounted behind the frieze. Play ball!”
Posted by Rich Cerny
On the SpectSoft web site there is a very nice photo and diagram story of this hands-on open house at StereoScope. Several manufacturers helped bring together a technology demonstration of workflow in standard and 3D production. Our Sales Engineer, Aaron Latham-James, helped with the Telecast (Viper and CopperHead) fiber optic video interconnections that were central to this event.
Posted by Rich Cerny
It was a real treat to have Jeff Silverman demonstrate and explain the amazing Digger Cam in Telecast's NAB booth this year. Inertia Unlimited Ltd. makes a lot of wonderous, high performance camera systems, and we're proud that Jeff uses products like our HD/POV links and CopperHeads on them. Learn more about Digger and Inertia Unlimited at http://www.inertiaunlimited.com/
Posted by Jim Hurwitz
Just got word that a new system in Montana is up and running and the customer is happy. It comprises a cross-town link on a single strand between the Bozeman City Hall and the County Courthouse.
Paths were:
<- 5 NTSC Videos, 20 Audios, 5 GPIs
-> 2 NTSC Videos, 8 Audios, 2 GPIs
<-> 4 RS422, 2 RS232
It's all done with two 5242 and three 5142 pairs on CWDM in a
Viper II frame. Drawing attached.
Posted by Jim Hurwitz
Telecast is proud to have figured heavily in this 3D concert hit. Our CopperHead JTs, POVs, and various Viper II gear was used for a variety of applications, including the program video. Gene
Baker was on site to assist the production in Buenos Aires.
http://digitalcontentproducer.com/hdhdv/depth/u2_3d_0122/
Posted by Rich Cerny
WORCESTER, Mass. — Dec. 18, 2007 — Telecast Fiber Systems today
announced that the criminal justice network Court TV®, re-named truTV
effective Jan. 1, 2008, is using the Telecast Ethernet Viper portable
fiber optics video broadcast production system for high-quality digital video
transmission of court proceedings. With the Viper system, Court TV has
been able to leverage the high performance, superior signal quality,
and easy installation of fiber for live on-site coverage of numerous
civil and criminal trials, including such recent high-profile cases as
last month’s O.J. Simpson pre-trial hearings in Las Vegas and the Duke
University lacrosse case.
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