11/16/2016
RF Factory at the World Cycling Championships
The International Cycling Union chose Doha for its Road World Championships. RF Factory, the HF department of AMP VISUAL TV, was commissioned by Eurovision Production Coordination to roll out the entire RF system for this Mondovision filming operation. It was proof, if it were needed, of our impeccable reputation in this area.
The sun was blazing and the temperatures were nudging 37°C in the shade. The cyclists were not the only ones who had to acclimatise to the Doha region's conditions for this essential meet in the international cycling season. Under the direction of Eurovision Production Coordination, every technician and piece of equipment also had to be ready to lead the pack.
Our RF department is certainly used to flying over to different continents, but for this occasion RF Factory had particularly weighty specifications, with 70 hours of live broadcasts over eight days.
We provided five motorcycle-mounted cameras, a helicopter for relays and aerial shots, and our pressurised B200 plane at 7700m to guarantee all the feeds were passed on.
What's more, all the helicopters and equipment were sent to location from France. This way, we could completely manage the signal using our own technology.
On-board cameras
RF resources provide us with highly innovative perspectives and features. An example of this is the miniature systems which can be mounted on bikes. These on-board cameras capture exceptional images from the heart of the action. In Doha, we installed three live on-board systems. This was the first time this was ever done for this type of event, and the quality and stability of the images gave TV viewers the chance to enjoy this all-new point of view to the max. The results were unanimously hailed and appreciated.
Remote Production
The second notable innovation we rolled out at the World Championships was undoubtedly our use of remote production at the starting line and on the route. We were able to offer the director remote cameras on the start line, which were directed from the truck on the finish line. We first mastered this function many years ago and will probably make it a standard service.
Two intermediary cameras also fed to the truck via IP links connected to Sony NXL IP55s, which also allowed us to control our cameras without the use of RF links.
AMP VISUAL TV rolled out a whole host of solutions to suit the setting.