ATG Completes Studio Six Upgrade At Television Centre

Working in partnership with BBC Studios and Post Production, ATG Broadcast has completed a major upgrade to Studio Six at Television Centre in London. Studio Six becomes Britain's first 1080 50p HD studio and the fourth permanent HD studio at Television Centre.
"The Studio Six upgrade encompassed the detailed design, delivery and commissioning of production control, lighting and vision control areas plus vision apparatus area," details ATG Broadcast Projects Manager Dave Whitaker. "It also included the installation of dual link 1.5 gigabit/s and single link 3 gigabit/s HD video infrastructure. A key difference between TC6 and the three existing 1080 50i HD studios is the inclusion of a Sony dual-link HD vision mixer which will take optical fibre feeds from eight Sony HDC 1500 cameras. We have also provided infrastructure for 12 VTR positions capable of operation in dual-link mode. Crystal Vision signal converters and other glue equipment have been installed. Technical furniture is from Custom Consoles, including a production-control desk and monitor stack plus the vision control section of the vision and lighting control desk. The production control monitor stack incorporates LCD panels with 24 inch 3D camera previews, 42 inch 3G transmission and preview monitors."
ATG Broadcast Managing Director Graham Day added: "A crucial element of the Studio Six contract was the need to complete the entire system within a five week period which was very tight for such a large project. Operating flexibly and in two shifts, our engineering team were able to perform all the required installation, testing and commissioning during the relatively quiet month of August. The completed upgrade went fully to plan and became operational on September 6."
With the completion of this refurbishment, BBC Studios and Post Production now has four fully integrated HD studios at Television Centre. It can also deliver HD from all other studios using HD flyaway equipment, including a vision mixer, up and down conversion equipment, monitoring and a bespoke transportable bay which acts as the heart of any temporary upgrades.
"We work with a range of media and production companies, making programmes for all broadcasters, including Sky, ITV, Channel 4, Five and the BBC," commented Craig White, BBC Studios and Post Production Head of New Business and Entertainment. "With BBC One HD launching this autumn and ITV HD now fully up and running, customer demand for HD production facilities is increasing. The investment in 1080 50p enables the studio to handle all current HD broadcast formats. It also future-proofs our offering at a time when broadcast technology is progressing in many directions."
(BMcN/KMcA)