Metro Broadcast provides live commercial HD broadcast from Alexandra Palace

Metro Broadcast, BowTie TV and ntl have achieved a UK first by transmitting a live, commercial, 4:2:2 MPEG-encoded High Definition transmission in Dolby 5.1 surround sound from Alexandra Palace, the birthplace of television transmission.
NHK, the Japanese broadcaster chose Metro to project-manage the first European transmission of ‘Nodojiman’, which, literally translated, means ‘throat show-off’.
This hugely popular amateur singing contest has been broadcast to millions of viewers in Japan every Sunday for 50 years. The Alexandra Palace transmission is only the ninth originating outside of Japan.
Metro’s Technical Director Barry Noakes contracted ntl to provide two SNG uplinks for the live show, one for the HD transmission and one for the standard definition backup. OB specialist BowTie TV was brought in to supply trucks with a total of six HD cameras.
In addition to the HD transmission, Metro filled the Alexandra Palace Grand Hall with 4,400 seats, a stage with set including a seven-piece band, lighting and audio, plus a PA system. Live video and audio relays were also routed to various judging and viewing rooms.
Noakes said: “Two weeks before - again for NHK – Metro, ntl and BowTie TV successfully transmitted a two-hour, ten-minute HD broadcast from the Hampton Court Flower Show. We hope the success of both events will spark off a robust commercial HD transmission market and further the argument for HD in Europe.”
(GB)