Delivering a ‘One-Piece’ solution for RBS Six Nations 2008

Presteigne Charter had a one-piece wireless high definition solution for this year’s coverage of the RBS Six Nations Rugby.

Presteigne Charter has been working closely with BBC Outside Broadcasts (now SIS Outside Broadcasts) for the past two years, providing radiocamera equipment and assistance for the rugby tournaments television coverage. This year’s championships again demanded HD wireless broadcasting solutions.

Last year saw the first BBC coverage of the Six Nations in high-definition, where Presteigne Charter provided up to five Link Research HD radio camera systems each weekend, complete with camera control for use on Sony HDC1500 cameras. The equipment performed well, despite the somewhat cumbersome combination of how the radio link had to be mounted onto the HDC1500 cameras.

This year however, Presteigne Charter used its Sony ‘One-piece’ solution, unveiled at IBC ’07, at the Six Nations. Presteigne’s engineering division has created a broadcasting design where the VTR section of an HDW730S is removed and replaced with a Gigawave HD Clip-On transmitter. The receiver and data card for the camera control are situated inside the body of the camera so there are no external interconnecting cables. Presteigne Charter has built four of these systems and each one has the down converter option fitted to provide a PAL signal to Steadycam operators.

Presteigne Charter now has a formula which can provide an HD video link complete with camera control, all in a package the same size and weight as a conventional camcorder.

A further two Gigawave HD Clip-On transmitters were used at each game with ‘Post Cam’. Developed by BBC Outside Broadcasts’ Special Cameras department, these units have been upgraded to incorporate HD minicams and when coupled with the Gigawave transmitters, provided fantastic high-resolution pictures from a unique angle. BBC Outside Broadcasts used their own receiver down converter and demodulator system to obtain the ASI signal required for the Gigawave rack-mounted decoders that were provided by Presteigne Charter, thus reducing the disruption to the standard truck configuration. Up to 14 HD/SD decoders can be fitted into a 3RU rack frame minimising the required rack space. Other cards available in the series are a 4ch MRC diversity receiver and 8ch ASI switch.

The RBS Six Nations Championships is the principal international rugby union tournament in the Northern Hemisphere and BBC Sport has a contract with the Six Nations organising body to exclusively broadcast the tournament in the UK until 2013.

This year’s final game of the championships, Wales v France, was watched by a peak of 6.6million UK viewers with Wales sealing a 29-12 victory, securing their second grand slam in three years.