Hollyoaks Gets eMerging HD Makeover

eMerging, the UK distributors for Merging Technology's products, has completed a lengthy high-definition upgrade project at Lime Pictures, Liverpool.
Lime, who produce Channel 4's successful soap 'Hollyoaks' virtually continuously 52 weeks a year, began a thorough overhaul of their video and audio production and editing facilties in 2007 to enable the show to be produced, edited and broadcast in high definition.
The completed upgrade has involved eMerging in the design, construction and installation of six new audio dubbing suites at Lime, each with Merging Pyramix audio post-production DAWs, VCube HD high-definition video playback systems, and Merging Ramses control surfaces.
Alongside the equipment from emerging, Lime also purchased new HD Sony HDC-1500 cameras, built a new Central Apparatus Room (CAR) with a 102-Terabyte Data Direct video production SAN, and added six new-build HD video editing suites based around Apple's Final Cut Pro.
Under the guidance of its now-retired former Head of Technology Graham Deaves, Lime Pictures installed one of the first centralised video production servers in the UK in 2001, and one of the aims of Lime's Group Head of Production Jamie Hall was to retain the server-based approach to production when the systems were eventually upgraded to HD.
When UK broadcaster Sky began pushing Channel 4 for more HD content for its satellite services, money became available to upgrade the Hollyoaks production systems to high definition, and Jamie Hall chose to make this part of an extensive reorganisation at Lime, introducing tapeless operation (with the exception of material filmed on location, which is still ingested from XDCAM) and bringing formerly scattered video and audio editing and dubbing suites and staff together on one completely reconstructed corridor at Lime's headquarters.
This approach also allowed the new audio and video systems to be constructed while the older SD systems were still in operation, which was logistically important given Hollyoaks' continuous production process.
The decision to upgrade the audio post-production systems to Pyramix had already been decided by this time. In 2006, before the far-reaching HD upgrade, Lime's Head of Dub Chris Lovgreen had begun talks with eMerging's Paul Mortimer about the replacement of Lime's old AMS AudioFile audio editing and dubbing systems with Merging Pyramix DAWs.
"We looked at all the other systems, but pretty quickly, the consensus was that Pyramix was the way to go," commented Lovgreen.
"This was a flagship project for us, involving all of Merging Technologies' major products in a state-of-the-art high-definition installation" commented eMerging co-founder Richard Bowen.
"We're proud to have been involved in such a forward-thinking installation, and are confident that the audio and video systems we've helped to install at Lime will be the mainstay of Hollyoaks production for many years to come."
(BMcC)