WORLD WATCHES ITS FOOTBALLERS GO FOR OLYMPIC GOLD WITH HELP FROM CRYSTAL VISION (November 2004)

Twenty Crystal Vision interface boards allowed the largest and most technologically advanced OB vehicle in Greece to transmit the Olympic football matches to the world. Outside Broadcast Solutions Ltd. used its state-of-the-art vehicle to broadcast the 12 matches which took place at the Kaftatzoglion Stadium in August, with the Crystal Vision boards used to convert composite PAL to SDI, synchronise SDI, and embed, de-embed, delay and distribute analogue audio within the truck.

Completed in April 2004, the OB van project was intended to offer something different in the Greek and East European markets and bring a new dimension to mobile television engineering. The expandable vehicle is 16 metres long and has three different production rooms: for engineering-camera control and replays, video production and audio production. The impressive equipment list includes up to 16 Sony cameras and four slow motion cameras with corresponding hard disk replays and video and audio switchers from Thomson, Soundcraft and PESA. In addition to the vehicle, Thessaloniki-based Outside Broadcast Solutions (OBS) also provides production and post production facilities.

The vehicle's signal infrastructure is SDI video and analogue audio. The broadcast environment in Greece is still 70% PAL and therefore a fundamental requirement of the truck was to be able to convert analogue equipment such as wireless cameras, graphics and links to SDI. This is done using Crystal Vision's flagship composite to SDI decoders, the DEC103S and DEC104S. The timing of the SDI in the vehicle is adjusted by the SYN102 synchroniser. OBS is making full use of the dual functionality of the flexible TANDEM-110, using the same board to both embed and de-embed the analogue audio, while to synchronise the video and audio sources and preserve lip sync, the TAD102 tracking audio delay is used. The AADA416FM analogue audio distribution amplifier distributes programme and auxiliary outputs from the audio switcher, with OBS taking advantage of its inputs/outputs flexibility and configuring the boards in two different ways: as two inputs with eight outputs of each channel and as four inputs with four outputs of each.

When selecting the interface for the truck, OBS chose the supplier who could provide the best performance-price ratio. Space is always critical in an OB vehicle which means Crystal Vision's space-saving modular system was ideal, with the ability to fit 12 boards in 2U. The 20 boards are being housed in two Indigo 2 2U frames, with card edge control.

The vehicle's most high-profile production so far was when it covered the football games at the largest ever Olympics, with 11,099 athletes watched by four billion viewers. The men's and women's football competitions were hosted in five Olympic cities: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklio and Volos. OBS was awarded the Outside Broadcast contract for Thessaloniki from AOB (Athens Olympic Broadcasting), the host broadcaster for the Athens Olympics who provided coverage to all those who had purchased the Olympic Broadcast Rights. The football was transmitted from the Kaftatzoglion Stadium back to the International Broadcast Centre and from there to the world via optical fibres or satellite earth stations. Football is the oldest team sport at the Olympics, and the 12 matches broadcast by OBS included the Men's Semi-final where Paraguay beat Iraq and the Men's Bronze medal match which saw Italy beat Iraq.

With its high specification the vehicle has been in great demand in Greece, and has since made productions for the football and basketball leagues and an international athletics meeting, as well as concerts, commercials, music videos and documentaries.

Crystal Vision's Greek distributor, Calavitis SA, was responsible for putting together the complete OB vehicle - from the system design and integration, to providing the equipment and technical training for the OBS engineers. Appointed as the Crystal Vision distributor in March 2004 and based in Athens, Calavitis combines systems installation with the import and distribution throughout Greece and Cyprus of products from a diverse range of broadcast manufacturers, including Canford, Chyron, Clear-Com, FOR-A and Radamec. It was the first time Calavitis had worked with OBS.

Based at Whittlesford near Cambridge in the UK, Crystal Vision provides digital keyers and a full range of digital and analogue interface equipment including converters, decoders, encoders, distribution amplifiers and audio embedders to the professional broadcasting industry worldwide.