11/18/2016
The Prix Qatar Arc de Triomphe: a billion TV viewers
This is one of television's most watched global events. The Prix Qatar Arc de Triomphe is also a real technical challenge for TV, involving six OB trucks sending out the feeds to channels around the world. AMP VISUAL TV provided miles and miles of cables, total mastery of RF, and faultless organisation.
As its time away from the Longchamp hippodrome continues, the famous Prix Qatar de l'Arc de Triomphe took up residence in Chantilly in October. This was the prestigious setting for our multi-facetted services. The event's broadcast was structured around an international feed and multiple private programmes, namely Equidia Live, Equidia Life, The Arc (internationally), Super Théâtralisation (in the hippodrome itself), Fuji TV and Al Ryan. Each one of these was, of course, enriched using various resources.
AMP VISUAL TV's teams were in charge of coordinating all these resources.
Multiple RF sources
The task of producing the international feed was at the centre of this set-up. For this particular programming alone, the Millennium Signature 11 was met with a mobile unit made up of a mobile unit belonging to GTHP (Groupement Technique des Hyppodromes Parisiens) and Extender 5 RF which took care of all the RF links. The events' long distances and mobile nature made resources such as these necessary. This unit coordinated 14 links (including one from a helicopter) and redistributed them depending on where they were destined for, whether the international feed or private feeds. Thanks to RF we could, for instance, see images from a miniature camera installed on the head of the starter operating the gates, a "profile" camera, two "flip" cameras along the course and multiple portable cameras for the journalists.
Immersion
These RF resources do not provide the only original perspectives on the race. Three Hyperslow cameras offered exceptional slow motion footage all along the course, and our LiveTrack solution gave the director the chance to use augmented reality, including dynamically embedded jerseys, course markings and positioning against the track record.
As for the Extender 6 truck, it too served as an extension of the Extender 5 RF from the starting gate. Thanks to its 1,300m monomode fibre, it was able to process and supply images from the eight miniature cameras and the motorised travelling camera, all of which were set up around the competitors' gates.
Thanks to its power and flexibility, the Millenium Signature 12 was dedicated to both producing programming for Equidia Life and The Arc as well as broadcasting for Japan.
All in all, our teams used six units including the IXI 3 and E truck, both of which were dedicated to private programming. Our 80-strong staff coordinated seamlessly to supply all the images for various customers. Along with technical mastery, production expertise is the key to successful operations of this scale.