Posts tagged Olympics
Panasonic Pro Video
News and Thoughts from Kadoma
IBC Show 2012
Panasonic’s booth features three main areas, each with a simple message: a live studio area, a camera area, and an AVC-Ultra area.
The studio area features our new HC3800 studio camera,
the camera corner features our new HPX600 and AC90 camcorders,
and the AVC-Ultra corner displays the new AVC-Ultra codec family, from the transfer-prioritized AVC Long-G, to AVC-Intra 444, which provides the ultimate in image quality.
Also featured in our booth is a variety of footage, including 3D footage from the London Olympics. Our goal for this show was to present our concepts as simply as possible. If you are at the show in Amsterdam, please visit our booth, at Stand C45, Hall 9!
Olympic Support Team - 6
Our Olympic support team has been very busy with the games going on every day, but I recently received this report about the public viewing of the games in London, and thought I would share:
There are numerous spots around the city where events are being shown on large screens.
They are free, with concerts and other events happening simultaneously, so thousands of people have been converging in some cases. I have attended a few of the sessions, and of course being the host country, whenever a British athlete appears, the crowd gets extremely excited. I have never experienced watching anything with such a large crowd, but the ability to cheer and share emotion together is really amazing, and matches the intensity of the Olympics.
Seeing so many people together watching the images that our equipment is helping to capture really made me feel proud, and renewed my focus to ensure everything goes well at these Games. I hope everyone around the world is enjoying watching the Olympics, whether at home or at a public viewing.
Olympic Support Team - 5
With one day left to go, our support team at the Olympics has been busy! Below is a report from the team member focused on ensuring the first 3D Olympics is successful.
A rehearsal of the opening ceremony was held on the evening of the 25th. I took the picture below while helping out in the 3D broadcast truck. I recommend everyone watch the show - the rehearsal was amazing!
There are 4 units of 3DP1 to be used to shoot the opening ceremonies. The feeds from two of the units are sent back to the truck via optical fiber, while the other two are set up for Steadicam use as seen below, and their feeds will be transmitted wirelessly.
I can’t wait to see the 3D Olympic footage these cameras produce!
Olympic Support Team - 4
I’m headed to London today to attend the opening ceremony and other events at the Games, and look forward to meeting up with the support team that has been working so hard. Here is another of their entries:
Although I have been in London since July 16th, I have been spending all my time in the IBC and our hotel, and haven’t been able to experience the city at all. I finally had a day off today, so I took a walk around London.
I headed first for central London, and was near Trafalgar Square, when what should I run into, but a video crew with a 3DP1!
I came across the crew just as they had finished shooting and were packing up. Of course I am happy to see our products in use at the IBC, but I felt extremely happy to chance upon a product in public that I had a hand in making.
Next, I headed to a park near Big Ben. Here I ran into Wenlock, one of the Olympic mascots, this one decorated apparently in an homage to Westminster Abbey. 
Wenlock has a single eye, which looks much like a camera lens. I wish that for this “3D Olympics” there was a character with two eyes as well.
This one is designed with a map of London, and was located at the exit of the park.
Also, Olympic-only lanes have opened on the roads, there are advertisements all over the city, and various souvenir shops are opening all the time. We are less than three days away from the start of the Olympics, and the excitement is really starting to build!
Olympic Support Team - 3
Here is the third installment from the Olympics, this one from an employee about visiting the archive room in the IBS last Friday.
I was called to the archive room with a request to arrange cleaning for the 70 HD1400 decks being used there. They will be used to record and provide archived footage to broadcasters throughout the games.
Arriving at the archive room, I could see that the early arriving operators had already begun working. They were extremely serious, and I know from previous events that their tone and choice of words will become much rougher as we approach the start of the Games. It’s a high pressure situation, which ends up being completely transparent to viewers because of the highly-skilled workers and quality equipment used.
Olympic Support Team - 2
This is the second installment of our support crew’s blog from the London Olympics. Today, about the first set of camera crews arriving at the IBC.
After some initial comments, the cameras were handed over.
The crews examined them very carefully, ensuring there were no problems and confirming their operation, asking us many detailed questions in the process.
After checking, the equipment was all packed away, and the crews headed off to get started on their work at the Games.
To all the camera crews I want to say: thank you for a great day, and I look forward to working with you over the next month!
Olympic Support Team - 1
As I explained previously, this year’s London Olympics will mark the 10th Olympics at which a Panasonic recording format is the official format. This year, more Panasonic products will be used than ever before to send more hours of footage than ever before, to homes around the world. The London Olympics will also be the first to be broadcast live in 3D. In addition to providing products to the broadcasters, we are also providing on-location support to them, from a service office in the International Broadcasting Centre, staffed by a team of our technicians.
Over the next little while, in the runup and duration of the Olympics, I will be introducing some of their stories from London, so we can all appreciate the atmosphere of the Olympics and some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes in to making the broadcasts a success.
Today is the first impressions of one of our team members on his first visit to the IBC:
We took the train early in the morning to Stratford Station, the nearest station to the IBC. On the right side of the picture is the reception window.
I handed over my safety course completion certificate, accreditation, and passport, posed for a picture, had my fingerprints and biometrics registered.
From there, it was a walk and bus ride(s) to the IBC. The distance was not short, making for very good exercise so early in the morning. 
On the way I came across two of the London Olympic mascots, but am sorry to say I do not know their names (note to self: learn mascot names).
On the way I came across two of the London Olympic mascots, but am sorry to say I do not know their names (note to self: learn mascot names). Finally I arrived at the Panasonic Room at the IBC.
By this point, my under-exercised body was starting to tire. Inside the IBC is like a maze, so I have determined not to walk anywhere without somewhere who knows where they’re going, as I would be unable to return. The IBC is still rather quiet, with very few people even in the main hallways.
Panasonic at the London Olympics
There are now less than two months until the London Olympics. Panasonic expresses our support for the Olympic movement by being a TOP Partner for the Olympic Games, but our contribution to the upcoming Games will also be represented by our products being used to transmit the events worldwide. More Panasonic products will be in used in London than at any other Olympics in history.
Especially important is that this Olympics will be the first “3D Olympics” - the first time for events to be broadcast live in 3D. In addition to providing our full line of HD equipment to facilitate transmission of images along each step from London to viewers’ homes around the world, we will also be contributing to the realization of a 3D Olympics by forming a technical 3D partnership with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS).
A lot of you may already be aware, but the official recording format of the Olympics is P2 DVCPRO series. For production this year, we have supplied 300 P2HD/DVCPRO HD recorders, 100 P2HD camcorders, 1000 monitors, and 30 3D camcorders. Additionally, in addition the DVCPRO HD series that has been long used for the Olympics, this year will also see the addition of the higher quality AVC-Intra format and a file-based workflow to Olympic production. This will mark the 10th Olympic Games for which a Panasonic recording format is the official format.
Super Hi-Vision
Yesterday I posted this photo and asked if anyone knew what it is. We received a lot of guesses to our facebook page, but nobody got it exactly right.
We like to call it a P2 Tower. It’s a Super Hi-Vision recording and playback setup.
I guess some of you are already familiar with Super Hi-Vision, or SHV. For those who aren’t, it’s a digital video format with sixteen times the pixels of HD, developed by Japan’s NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories. SMPTE refers to it as Ultra High Definition Television.
In order to support this effort, Panasonic Pro Video developed this setup, which allows for two hours of Super Hi-Vision recording with AVC-Intra compression to P2 cards. This is made possible by AVC-Intra’s ability to maintain high image quality with high compression, and the high reliability of P2 cards. During the London Olympics, this unit will be used by NHK as part of their plans to transmit SHV signals to multiple locations around the world.
The specifications of the SHV setup are:
Video Signal 7680x4320/60P
Audio Signal 22.2ch 24bit
Recording Media 17 P2 cards X 2 slots
Compression Scheme AVC-Intra100 x16
File Format MXF+XML (P2HD)
As I’ve mentioned before, Panasonic Pro Video will also be instrumental in supporting the first 3D broadcast of the Olympics in London. In addition, we will also be helping to record the excitement of the Olympics in brilliant SHV. I hope you all get a chance to see the footage from both these exciting technologies.
All the full-res photos are up on our Facebook page.
IBC - Part Two
Earlier I talked about AVC-Ultra, the major headliner for us at IBC this year.
Today I want to introduce the next of our big draws, the Olympics and 3D.
Panasonic’s support for the Olympics goes way back to 1988 in Seoul. The strengths of our digital technology were recognized there, and since Barcelona in 1992, our formats have been used as the official recording format at every Olympic games.
Just as the Olympics are a festival of sport, they are also a kind of festival for broadcasting technology. There is constant effort to ensure the delivery of the emotional moments of the Olympics to viewers around the world in the highest quality and most realistic manner possible.
To acheive that, how do we, the Panasonic broadcast engineers, prepare?
Just like Olympic athletes we must train day and night (through our work) to improve and maintain our skills and senses.
This training led us to this coming Olympics’ major advancement, 3D.
In addition to the professional 3D palm camcorder, 3D monitor, and 3D switchers that we have already released, we will be now offering the AG-3DP1, a full, broadcast-grade, shoulder-mount 3D camcorder, and a 3D recorder, the AG-HPD24.
The high zoom ratio, high definition AVC-Intra codec, multi-camera system ability, and multitude of 3D assist functions included in these products will ensure that the first 3D footage to be broadcast from the Olympics will be stunning.
With our advanced technology, Panasonic is also aiming for a gold medal at the London Olympics.
