In the broadcast business, particularly for coverage of live events such as news, sport and entertainment, there’s no such thing as ‘a little bit late’. Five minutes late is as good as five weeks late. You’ve missed it. On air has been and gone. You’ve blown it, both for yourself and your client.
It quite astounds me that in many cases this is still the state of play in many areas of broadcasting, which is perhaps not surprising given the pace of changes with new technologies, standards and most importantly consumer expectations. There are challenges at virtually every stage of the broadcast delivery chain from acquisition to delivery, which means there are equally as many hurdles to overcome, despite what many manufacturers may claim on a trade show floor.
No one can fully guarantee that their solution will answer every question or resolve every issue. The key is to be nimble and versatile – in our case with bespoke products that are designed for one application, but can be readily deployed for any number of additional applications.
Who wants to spend, say, multiples of 10K on systems that will be used once, maybe three times a year? Not many I suspect. It’s more likely that that kind of money would be spent on a system that can be quickly and easily rigged, derigged and redeployed almost effortlessly year-round to capture unique vantage points from a range of locations previously thought to be next to impossible.
Those kinds of systems are just what we are showing at IBC. Our camera control, RF and RF-over-fibre systems are all designed from the start to be easy to set up and easy to use. Our engineers have designed and built RF systems for deployment on everything from boats, cars, helicopters, drones, people and even horses, and we’re showing some of our most recent developments at IBC.
With decades of experience as working broadcast engineers in the field, we are hyper-sensitive to deadlines. As I said, five minutes late, no matter what the circumstances, is the same as never showing up at all, and neither is acceptable if you want to stay in business.
We’re also able to turn projects around very quickly. With the latest technology at our disposal, we can create and build a bespoke housing or off the shelf camera and control system – which these days are often very small indeed to get into those tight spots so you can really capture the action – in a matter of a few days, sometimes even a few hours. It’s this responsiveness that sets us apart.
I wrote this article 20 minutes after I found out about the opportunity, and I’m an engineer, not a writer. Imagine what we can do with something we really know something about, which is knowing what you need, when you need it and how to support it, any day, any time, any where.
