Presteigne Broadcast Hire Selects Custom Consoles Module-R Control Room Desks

Presteigne Broadcast Hire has chosen Custom Consoles Module-R control room desks for a newly completed gallery at its southern-UK office in Crawley.

The gallery forms the core of a REMI production facility which is now available to clients on a dry hire basis with technical and, if required, creative operational support.

"We selected Module-R desks based on prior experience of their robust build quality and attractive styling as well as Custom Consoles' attention to details such as front and rear equipment access and efficient cable ducting," commented Simon Atkinson, Presteigne Broadcast Hire CTO. "The modular approach allowed us to specify exactly what we needed from a standard range of modules. This is more cost-efficient than ordering tailored-made desks and especially useful if any element of a desk needs reconfiguration or maintenance. We have also ordered two three-bay Module-R desks for an EVS suite which will be available for customers requiring dedicated slow-motion capabilities."

Presteigne's new REMI production gallery is equipped with a nine-bay-wide front desk including a three-bay-wide vision control section with a production switcher integrated into the main work surface. Left of the production switcher is a three-operator production support section, each operator having access to a dedicated 3 U high sloping-front-panel equipment pod. A nine-bay-wide four-operator desk is located to the rear with a 3 U high equipment pod above each bay. Both desks face a two-high by four-wide video monitor wall. Each desk has a Forbo Marmoleum marble-finished worktop, mid-grey side panels, silver-anodised legs and black floor-level support skids.

Premiere project for the new suite was the inaugural UIM E1 World Championship electric motorsport contest, held in Jeddah on 3 February and won by Team Brady. Video and audio was captured at the event using Presteigne-supplied equipment including 16 boat-mounted cameras, four on-shore RF cameras, one crane camera, a super-motion camera and two drones. The resultant video feeds were sent via IP to the Crawley facility where they were coordinated into a completed programme and broadcast live on UK ITV4 and ITVX. The contest was also streamed live via E1’s YouTube channel. The suite has also been booked to cover every event in the series, the Jeddah contest being followed by Venice in May, Marbella and Geneva in June, Monaco in July, Rotterdam in September and Hong Kong in November.

Custom Consoles' Module-R series comprises a range of modules offering freedom of choice in terms of desk size, configuration and facilities. Unlike one-piece control room furniture, Module-R desks can be modified or expanded at any time during their working life. Auxiliary pods of various sizes for broadcast industry standard 19 inch rack-mounting equipment can be specified at the time of installation or added later. Individual elements such as desktops can be replaced easily if required for operational or aesthetic reasons.

Module-R options include single, double or triple width base units, 15, 30, 45 or 90 degree angled corner units or curved desk sections to follow any radius. Control panels of practically any size and depth can be embedded into the desktop during initial configuration or subsequently. Space is provided for video, audio, comms and IT equipment, with easy front and rear access via removable front and rear cover panels. Power and signal cable routing is fully integrated within every Module-R desk via transverse ducts across each frame and vertical ducts through the supporting legs.

Brush-strip-protected slots running the entire width of each Module-R desktop allow easy connection of cables to and from IT accessories such as computer keyboards and tracking tools. Predrilled monitor mounts are included as standard along the rear of every bay so customers can add, remove or relocate monitors to match changes in operating procedure. The inherent modularity of Module-R desks makes relocation relatively easy if or when a control suite is relocated.

www.customconsoles.co.uk