International Biathlon Union World Cup
Movicom was rolled out to multiple events and locations to help cover the extensive International Biathlon Union’s (IBU) World Cup competitions during the 2019/2020 season, culminating with World Championships in the Antholz Valley, Italy, at the end of February. The months’ long competition came down to a very close finale between the French and Norwegian teams – with Norway edging out by a small margin to win the competition for the fourth year in a row.
https://issuu.com/mondiale/docs/mondostadia11/78
Madisonville High School Follows One Successful Weatherised Danley System with Another
It was over two years ago that Dallas-based music store and AV integration specialist Romeo Music designed and installed a fully-weatherproof Danley sound reinforcement system to cover Madisonville High School’s baseball and softball fields. The project was a huge success. Not only does the system sound intelligible, punchy, and musical, but Danley’s weatherproof options have made the system resilient in the face of east-central Texas’s humid, stormy climate. Thus, when the aged sound reinforcement system at Madisonville High School’s 3,500-capacity football stadium was no longer acceptable, the school again turned to Romeo Music and Danley Sound Labs.
“They love the baseball/softball system, which uses four fully-weatherproof Danley OS12CX loudspeakers,” explained Kevin Deal, regional sales manager with Romeo Music. “Their football stadium’s old horn system was on the fritz, and they could no longer justify limping along with it. They needed something powerful, clear, and modern to convey announcements with intelligibility and to deliver music with the kind of impact that heightens the game-day experience. Of course, the new system would have to stand up to Texas weather as well. We felt that another Danley system would meet and exceed Madisonville’s needs on all those scores.”
Deal worked with Danley’s regional rep, Anderson Sales and Marketing, and Kim Comeaux, Danley’s western sales manager, to arrange a Danley demo for the football stadium. “Even in a situation like the one at Madisonville High School, where we have a satisfied client who is familiar with the product, I still like to do a demo, if only for the sake of due diligence,” Kevin explained. “It allows the client to picture that exact system in that exact scenario. In this case, there was an additional consideration; the football stadium, unlike the baseball/softball field, would need subwoofer support. I wanted them to hear the subwoofers’ contribution to the overall impact. Kim is based in Houston, so it was just an hour drive for him.”
The demo was a success and Romeo Music received the go-ahead a week later. Deal designed a straightforward system that uses five fully-weatherproof Danley OS80 full-range point-source loudspeakers and two Danley TH118XL subwoofers with optional Aqua Tight weatherproofing. The OS80s are mounted to lighting poles on either side of the tall home-side stand. Two OS80s point backward to cover the home-side stand; two more fire across the field to cover the visitor-side stand; and the fifth OS80 fires at an angle to cover the concessions area. The Danley TH118XLs thunder from below the home-side stand. A single 20,000-Watt, four-channel Danley DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier, with onboard DSP, powers the system and delivers the modest, model-specific processing to make the already-neutral Danley loudspeakers and subwoofers shine.
As with the baseball/softball field system, Deal gave the Madisonville High School staff wonderfully simple controls with a Xilica Solaro QR1 processor and touch panel. Users simply mute/unmute the various input sources, including microphones and a Bluetooth player, and adjust their volumes within a reasonable range.
A 2nd Queen’s Award for Lighting Experts Midstream Lighting
London based Midstream Lighting winner of the 2018 Queens Award for Innovation, has been awarded the prestigious honour of the 2020 Queen’s Award for International Trade.
Midstream is a designer and manufacturer of advanced, specialist, best-in-class LED lighting solutions for the aviation, sports, maritime, and horticultural industries around the world. Their purpose-built lighting solutions are designed to tackle the technically precise demands of the world’s most critical and major infrastructures. Manufactured to meet the highest quality standards and regulations of each region they’re deployed in.
On the award, Midstream Lighting’s Co-Founder, Alexander Krupkin, said: ‘’We’re extremely proud of this award. It doesn’t just recognise us. It’s also a testament to our dedicated team of partners all over the world. And to our amazing clients.’’
His Co-Founder, Yuli Grig, who was recently appointed as an Export Champion by the UK DIT (The Department for International Trade) went on to say: ‘‘As a child I remember looking at the packaging of Vitabiotics Vitamins and setting myself the goal to win a Queen’s award. Now Midstream has won two. My childhood dream has come true – twice!’’
Since 2018 the companies turnover has continued to grow organically at 70% year on year, and they have expanded further exporting to over 50 countries, opening up new markets as well as launching a number of new product series.
About the Queen’s Awards.
First established in 1965, the UK’s most prestigious business awards, celebrate the success of exciting and innovative UK businesses leading the way with pioneering products or services. This year 220 UK businesses have been recognised for their contribution to International Trade, Innovation, Sustainable Development, and Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility).
Midstream’s other most recent awards include:
• 2020: Financial times 1000 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe
• 2019: Sunday Times Fast Track 100
• 2019: Sunday Times SME Export Track 100
• 2019: Deloitte Fast 50 Awards
• 2018: Queen’s Award for Innovation
• 2018: Financial Times Future 100
• 2018: Financial Times 1000 Fasted Growing Companies in Europe
• 2017: Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Winner
• 2015: inter airport Innovation Award\
Hippotizer has a BLAST at Pro Series Global Final
The long-awaited BLAST Pro Series Global Final, one of the highlights of the booming international e-sports market, was hosted in the Kingdom of Bahrain in December 2019, with Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Media Servers looking after the complex playback requirements. The event, an action-packed first-person shooter tournament spanning two days, attracted gaming fans from around the world to the 7,000-seat Isa Sports City Arena.
Working directly for the tournament organisers, Copenhagen-based specialist 4K Projects supplied all of the Hippotizers and AV equipment for the fast-paced event. Project Manager Mikkel Samuelsen oversaw the project, along with operators Kasper Lange and Balder Thorrud.
Lange was in charge of lighting, video and design, whilst Thorrud set up and operated the Hippotizer Media Servers. The Green Hippo package consisted of three Boreal+ units, two of which ran content for all the main LED screens while the third served as a back-up. In addition to this, one Hippotizer Amba+ unit was used to feed auxiliary displays around the arena, including digital signage, scoreboards and TV monitors.
4k Projects’ Hippotizer and signal system set-up included a NewTek NC1 I/O Module for converting SDI (Serial Digital Interface) to NDI (Network Device Interface), plus a complete 10GB Network for distributing NDI data between servers and preview positions.
The Bahrain show was the last of seven BLAST shows worldwide for which 4K Projects provided their expertise during 2019. The Hippotizer set-up for each was similar, said Mikkel, but the main challenge for this event was the vast array of inputs required for the Hippo Servers.
“On a full show we have 12 live inputs with a combination of direct 3G SDI in 59.95Hz progressive inputs and NDI sources,” explained Mikkel. “A typical tournament has three games running simultaneously, which we then input and distribute to all the LED screens.” There were 15 screens in total, not including the arena’s scoreboards and LED signage ribbons, measuring 450sq.m in total.
The video content was designed by BLAST and Danish media company Timeline. All the video playback was programmed and executed on a GrandMA2 console in order to keep in sync with the show’s lighting.
Thanks to the versatility and reliability of the Hippotizers, 4K Projects was able to input live game data, including player stats provided by Danish company TV Graphics, and feeds from the player cams, for each of the 30 competitors. “We input all the live tournament graphics which displayed the standings and results from all the matches throughout the day,” he says.
4K Projects have been working on the BLAST shows since its conception in 2017 by Danish e-sports company RFRSH. In 2019, they successfully completed BLAST shows in Copenhagen, Sao Paulo, Miami, Madrid, Moscow and Los Angeles, using Hippotizer Media Servers at every one.
FIH Becomes Latest Affiliate Member of ESTC
The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) has joined the EMEA Synthetic Turf Council (ESTC) as an affiliate member. The affiliate membership enables FIH to interact directly with the synthetic turf industry and to participate in the various ESTC knowledge forums.
ESTC Director General Stefan Diderich calls the membership a milestone for both the synthetic turf industry and the international hockey community: “FIH and ESTC share the ambition of sustainable and durable synthetic turf fields that don’t compromise on affordability and game experience. Having FIH onboard will help speed up the process as ESTC represents the entire synthetic turf value chain for synthetic turf for different applications. FIH will certainly also benefit from knowledge gained or best practises observed in other synthetic turf applications and which our members have achieved.”
Hockey, through the innovative leadership of the FIH, has over 40 years’ experience of playing on synthetic turf fields and now fully embraces this type of playing surface, using it for all high-level competitions. Looking to the future, the FIH is working with the synthetic turf industry to develop surfaces that perform as desired, but without the need to water them first.
Commenting on the FIH joining the ESTC, Jon Wyatt, FIH Sport and Development Director, says that playing on synthetic turf has made hockey the fast, exciting and technically skilful game that is now played by millions of people around the world. By joining the ESTC, the FIH will be able to strengthen its relationships with the companies producing the surfaces that hockey needs. It will also help to ensure that FIH is part of the debate as questions around sustainability, maximising opportunities and returns on investment and environmental considerations become ever more important.
Freaks 4 U Gaming Invests in Blackmagic Design for esports Broadcasting
International gaming and esports agency, Freaks 4U Gaming, has deployed multiple studios and portable production units (PPU) built around Blackmagic Design. The solution for acquisition, control and delivery, allows the facility to offer native 4K content creation services for broadcast and live streaming.
Whether for traditional broadcast or live streaming, the Freaks 4U Gaming facility can support a host of formats, ranging of esports content from gaming tournaments, Twitch battles and magazine style esports programming. As well as fully customizable studio sets, caster booths and presenter spaces, it also offers more than twenty studio pods where influencers can create content for their own social media channels.
Working with gaming specialists at Teltec Berlin, Freaks 4U Gaming has fitted out 2800m2 of multipurpose production space at its headquarters in Spandau, Berlin, with a fleet of URSA Broadcast and URSA Mini Pro G2 cameras, paired with 4K B4 lenses.
“Providing a bridge between esports, broadcasting and influencers, Freaks 4U Gaming has a reputation for creating engaging and exciting content,” explained Matthias Remmert, Freaks 4U Gaming’s Senior VP, TV & Media Productions. “We understand what the gaming community wants, and we can translate that into compelling broadcast shows like ran eSports for ProSieben MAXX, as well as international events such as Europe's Twitch Rivals tournaments.”
Matthias explained that this insight was the driving force behind the studios’ incredibly flexible production infrastructure. “We chose to install a SMPTE fiber network as the facility’s backbone so that we can produce shows and content simultaneously. It also means the various studio spaces can all be controlled remotely through a single production gallery when more than one location or space is needed.”
Three new galleries feature the ATEM Constellation 8K production switchers to form a powerful production hub. “A major challenge for esports production is managing multiple layers of content from within the gameplay itself, as well as matching up reactions from gamers and commentators," Matthias continued.
Adding “The ATEM Constellation switchers facilitate a much more streamlined workflow, as the increased number of inputs reduces the complexity at the back end of the system or the need for additional I/O capacity. Standards conversion on the inputs also reduces the need for patch panels to juggle all of the incoming sources, which can vary vastly from production to production.”
For its schedule of external live events and tournament coverage in Europe, the Freaks 4U Gaming team also relies on a series of bespoke PPU mobile production systems. These have been configured around the URSA Mini Pro G2 for acquisition, ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K production switchers and Teranex AV for standards conversion.
“Blackmagic Design is an integral part of our offering as a creative agency and ensures complete consistency across our entire production schedule,” concluded Matthias. “That uniformity also means that we can redeploy resources wherever they are needed for ultimate flexibility while also giving us complete confidence that we can maintain the same high quality production values for our clients.”
Daktronics Resumes Redwood Falls Production
Daktronics announced it will resume production at its factory in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, on 13 April as demand for communication products remains steady.
“It is essential that we reopen to meet customer needs. Our sister factories in Brookings and Sioux Falls have continued to work during this time, and some of our work supports them and their customers,” plant manager Tom Quackenbush said.
As a manufacturer and distributor of communications equipment which is used to support all types of communications, including supporting transportation and public works projects, Daktronics is an exempt entity under the CISA critical infrastructure designation of Communications and Information Technology. Although the factory is exempt, Daktronics temporarily suspended its Minnesota manufacturing operations on March 28 in response to Governor Walz’s executive stay-at-home order and the factory’s production schedule.
As the health and well-being of workers is a top priority, Daktronics has mobilized a Global COVID-19 Response Team and has implemented a robust plan to maximize health and safety while maintaining production and services capabilities. Daktronics maintains health and safety measures in its Redwood Falls facility which meet the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Standards as well as the Minnesota Department of Health and CDC guidelines related to COVID-19.
Daktronics gave a statement on personnel and working procedures: "As it is essential for them to be on the premises to do their work, we have implemented zones, with a small number of people per zone and rigorously restricted movement between zones to minimize in-person contact. This includes parking areas, entrances, break areas and restrooms.
We have implemented additional cleaning and hygiene safeguards following CDC guidelines. We are prepared for rapid response and are cleaning zones frequently so people can continue to work. We require employees who are ill or have COVID-19 symptoms to stay home and not report to work. We have contingency plans for cleaning and work stoppage within zones if an employee tests positive for COVID-19. Hand washing stations are located throughout our campus and disinfectants in break areas. We are not accepting visitors."
Tom continued: “As people return to work, they can be confident we are taking precautions and implementing plans consistent with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommendations.”
The company is also working closely with the National Association of Manufacturers and their guidance and direction to ensure worker safety.
To help reduce the spread of COVID-19, Daktronics has also provided COVID-19 related content for free to assist our customers in communicating important, timely information on their displays. This content has been downloaded thousands of times in recent weeks.
WFS Suspends All On-Site Events for the Next Four Months
The World Football Summit (WFS) has suspended all on-site events for the next four months due to coronavirus.
The WFS released a statement: "The coronavirus pandemic is posing an unprecedented challenge for the world. One that can only be overcome if the global community works together as a team and puts general interests over individual ones. This means setting people’s health and well-being as the only priority, and that’s what the World Football Summit team is committed to.
We are all confident that the end of this battle is near, that the ball will soon roll again and we will be able to gather around football and the rest of the things that make us happy. But currently there is no way to know exactly when this will happen.
That’s why, as painful as it is, we have decided to suspend all our on-site events scheduled for the next four months in order to avoid any unnecessary risks and inconvenience to our partners and friends. This includes the second edition of both the Football Innovation Forum (FIF20), set to take place in Istanbul (Turkey) on the eve of the UEFA Champions League final, and WFS Asia, scheduled for the 1st and 2nd of July in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
We would love to give alternative dates, but at the moment nobody is able to predict when it will be safe for people around the world to travel normally and come together for large events. What you can be sure of is that this global crisis will only reinforce the first and most important of our founding principles: our commitment to serve the football industry through thick and thin. FIF and WFS Asia will be back.
If we all play our role, we will win this match. We will soon be able to step outside again, visit our relatives and friends, hug them, go to the stadiums, share a drink around a great match, make plans, travel… but that will only be the first step to recovery.
The world we will come out to may not be the same anymore, and our industry will have to adapt. Because football, a force that unites people like no other one, will be more important than ever. The beautiful game has helped heal deep wounds across the world throughout history and now we need to make sure that it remains that way.
When the time comes, all the stakeholders will need to be united and put all their efforts together to guide the sport and the industry towards a future fraught with challenges and opportunities. At World Football Summit we will be there for you the way we’ve always been.
We look forward to seeing you all in Madrid for WFS20."
Elation lighting and High-Tech Scoreboard Enrich Fan Experience at Wells Fargo Center
Last October, Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia debuted a high-tech scoreboard and arena lighting system that has enriched the fan experience and set a new standard for arena scoreboard displays. Full-service production company Light Action Productions of Delaware played a leading role in specifying, designing and supplying the lighting and included a range of Elation lighting products in the system.
Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers fans know all about the massive configurable display that is described as the most technologically advanced arena scoreboard in the world. The world’s first 4K kinetic centre-hung entertainment system, the new scoreboard has become a huge part of the fan experience.
The new scoreboard is the latest step in Wells Fargo Center's extensive renovation plan, a $250 million multi-year transformation of the arena that began in 2017. Completed in collaboration with Comcast Spectacor, TAIT Kinetix and ANC Sports, the scoreboard features the ability to expand and compress into a variety of formats during the course of a game, splashing the action across more than 6,600 square feet of 4mm LED video. Complementing the display are two large crown trusses designed to create a captivating experience with multi-directional movement and lighting effects.
Besides Flyers (NHL) and 76ers (NBA) games, Wells Fargo Center is home to the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, as well as college basketball’s Villanova Wildcats. The venue also hosts concerts and a number of other special events like motocross and monster truck rallies. “A scoreboard and complementary lighting package was needed to service all these different groups,” said Light Action’s Joshua Schulman, who was responsible for design of the new lighting system. “The Flyers and 76ers used to have their own individual lighting systems but with this new package there is now one system that works for all teams. The lighting system needed to be flexible but beyond that, with so much LED in the arena in the form of billboards and ribbons, brightness was key. The scoreboard itself is an enormous LED display so we needed fixtures that could fight through all that and still have power behind them.”
Another point Josh stressed from the very beginning as far as the design concept was the idea of layers of light. In the arena’s previous lighting system, which he also designed, all the lighting came from up top in the catwalk. “One of the things we wanted to do in this new design was create light from all different angles, sort of a modern dance concept with layers of light.” To realize the vison, he chose a package that includes Elation Artiste Monet, Smarty Hybrid, Protron Eclypse and Platinum Beam 5R Extreme luminaires.
Two 160-foot long trusses house 1000W discharge source moving heads along with 36 Elation Smarty Hybrid moving heads. “We wanted the Smarty to give us a hybrid that can operate in different functions,” Josh explained. “We like them because they give us the ability to wash the ice and audience or narrow down to a tight, punchy beam that can cut through all the other layers of light that we have in the arena. Those layers of light and the fact that the light comes at you from all these different angles and all these heights was one of the main concepts driving the design decisions.”
Also on the 160-foot trusses are pairs of Protron Eclypse multi-effect lights, eight fixtures back to back on each truss. “In addition to strobing, we use them for a color wash in the arena,” Josh said. “On the overhead catwalk are an additional 16 Eclypses pointing straight down and lighting the goal ends of the house. Between all the Eclypses, we can use them to colour paint the entire house seating and have written a couple of effects that move the colour around the arena. We use them as colour wash because they have so much power behind them. They’re able to make that really long throw and have enough punch that they can really add something, even when the rest of the room is lit up.”
Atop and underneath the two crown trusses - arching ribbons of LED tile that fly up, down and under the scoreboard itself - are mounted 12 of Elation’s award-winning Artiste Monet LED profile moving heads, six fixtures per ribbon. Schulman commented: “We really love them. They have a ton of punch and because they are an LED fixture, lamp hours is no longer an issue, which is fantastic. The Monet punches through all the other light, and that includes glare from flame cannons.” Graphics from the Monet’s two gobo wheels are used to ornament the floor below while the fixture’s 360-degree framing system allow for projections of dynamic shapes.
“Each team is particular to their branding and the Flyers are very sensitive to their colour of orange – Flyers Orange,” says Schulman, noting that he has worked with the Flyers for a number of years. “With the Monet’s colour mixing system, we were able to hone in on that particular shade. The 76ers are red, white and blue and obviously the Monets can do that well.”
Wells Fargo Center has two tiers of seating and over every level suite, under LED panels, are installed a Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving head. “We like that fixture because it’s small and really punchy. We were able to tuck it up so it doesn’t create a visual obstruction to those sitting in the suite. When we turn all 41 of them on, because they are coming from an angle you don’t usually see, they can tip up and hit the catwalk or project all the way down to the ice. It creates a nice, multifaceted layer of light.”
Running 34 universes of control through Art-Net, Schulman says that 90% of the lighting system works on Elation eNode Art-Net to DMX routers. “Everything runs through a complicated infrastructure system but it’s been nice how quickly and easily it is to work with the eNodes and integrate the Art-Net system into the building system.”
Light Action often works with Elation rep firm The Healy Group to realize its projects and such was the case with the Wells Fargo Center install. “Working with Chris Healy is great,” said Josh. “He’s always on point and always willing to take a phone call at some god-awful hour!”
The new Wells Fargo Center scoreboard and lighting system have been a hit since the Flyers inaugurated it at their home opener on October 9th. Used to add an extra level of excitement to the pre-game hype, it serves as an important way to pump up both player and fan prior to a game. During the game, a series of effects are triggered during goals and timeouts and the system is an integral part of half-time entertainment and post-game activities.
The Olympic Committee Postpones the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020
In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 will be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.
The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.