90 km of camera cable!
The first Sunday in March every year is traditionally the day of the ski race, Vasaloppet. The race first took place in 1922 to honor the Swedish king “Gustav Vasa” who is said to having escaped Danish troops by skiing through the forests of Dalarna, where the race now is held between the villages Sälen and Mora.
The main race on Sunday usually draws more than 15 000 participants in all categories struggling to finish the race as fast as possible. The winner usually crosses the line after about 4 hours of hard work, when the majority of the skiers still have many hours to go. During the week about 59000 people participate in different ski events.
To cover this race for SVT, Mediatec has 31 cameras along the track all connected to the same truck. The truck is the Mediatec unit HD2, with a workspace for 30 persons in one single unit.
To be able to run the cameras over such long distances Mediatec has developed a way to connect the cameras to the local fiber network and still remain in full control of all the camera functions such as paint control, tallies and communication. The fiber devices have a proven track record from earlier events such as alpine skiing, biathlon and city marathons.
Jens Envall, chief engineer at Mediatec says: -“Since the truck is parked at the midpoint of the race most of the fibers have enough light budgets for the GVG cameras. At the start and finish line we use a multiplex solution, still with full control, called Geckoflex from GVG.
We have long experience of doing the race for SVT but this is the first time we do it with just one unit and it is a very complex setup involving wireless cameras, helicopters, SNG units and of course a lot of fiber networking.”
To give the live audience the ultimate enjoyment Mediatec delivers three Mobile LED Screens in different sizes. As a complement to the TV-production Mediatec supply a 9-camera production exclusively for the screens. During the whole week the common people can follow their relatives live through IP-TV from the check-points Sälen, Mångsbodarna, Evertsberg, Oxberg, Hökberg and Eldris
Mediatec are proud to be forerunner in modern production techniques by pushing the limits of technolgy making production safer, easier and using less crew.
All for the benefit of the client.
