The recent Brit Awards, the UK’s equivalent of the Grammies, used two wireless cameras, both equipped with Boxx TV Meridian systems chosen for their zero delay. “There aren’t any lip sync problems, which is a crucial factor for awards shows and singing,” said Boxx TV co-founder, Scott Walker. “Directors won’t put up with latency in productions with music and song performances, but there was no problem intercutting the wireless and wired cameras.” CTV provided the OB facilities for the ITV show, including 19 cameras. The two cameras with microwave links were a Steadicam and a shoulder camera, which were used for the audience shots and for bringing the award winners from the tables to the stage. The Steadicam, operated by Curtis Dunne (pictured), was also used to cover the host James Corden, and had a return feed for the Autocue plus full telemetry for the Sony 1500 camera to allow the vision controller see both black level and iris, so that all the remote control panels could match. “Directors are utilising wireless a lot more now, just like a wired camera, they are much more adventurous and are pushing the boundaries,” he added. The venue was the O2, which can seat about 40,000 people, and the Boxx systems covered the entire venue with ease, although as it has previously had up to eight wireless camera systems in one area at one time, for shows in Australia and the US, two cameras shouldn’t be an issue. However, there were at least three other systems using the free 5GHz bandwidth at the event (pyrotechnics, lighting and sound), but Walker checked on his spectrum analyser before the event and monitored it to make sure there was no overlap. “There were no problems with coverage through all the rehearsals and the live event, there was no break up,” he said. “In the past six months I’ve noticed that other people are starting to use the 5GHz band,” so departments will have to get together to co-ordinate their usage to ensure no one tramples on another department’s signal. “It’s vital you do have a spectrum analyser on location when it’s live on air, but it’s only a £400 USB device, so it’s reasonable to use. It’s not completely accurate, but it’s enough to see what else is in use and where they are,” he added. “Fortunately, the way WiFi works, it’s very polite. It’s highly unlikely to jump into the same channel as you. In real terms, I’ve never really had an issue, but if that was to happen I know where I would switch to.” David Fox www.boxx.tv
