The first live high definition transmission from a wireless camera took place late December at the West Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, writes Fergal Ringrose.
Presteigne Broadcast Hire supplied the HD equipment and specialist crew for the project. In Doha were two complete HD wireless systems, comprising Thomson LDK 6000 HD camera heads and LinkHD wireless transmitters and receive stations. The systems transmitted HD pictures live from the Hamad Aquatics Centre for the duration of the event, with Al Jazeera TV and some additional Asian satellite TV channels taking feeds.
The latest signal delay recorded for the LinkHD system is less than 50 milliseconds, just over one frame. These results confirm that the performance of the LinkHD should match broadcasters’ tough requirements for live sports broadcasting.
The West Asian Games are the preliminary competitions leading up to the Asian Games, which take place in December 2006. Many broadcasters and crews used the Qatar games to test out new high definition equipment that they plan to use for bigger sporting events of 2006. Presteigne supplied a full HD de-rig facility for the aquatics events in Doha, providing HD and down-converted SD feeds to the broadcasters on site.
Presteigne’s Business Development Manager Andrew Murray said, “high definition is a huge growth area for 2006 and we have no doubt that there is going to be a strong demand for LinkHD camera systems over the next few months and beyond. The next major project for our LinkHD systems will be February’s Winter Olympics in Turin.”
