Gigawave deploys HD D-Cam at Eurovision

from Asia-Pacific Broadcasting

The 2007 Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast live and for the first-time in HD from Helsinki, Finland. Host broadcaster Finland’s national TV station, YLE (Yleisradio Oy), relied on five of Gigawave’s HD D-Cam digital wireless systems to achieve full coverage of the stage and green room.

Said Steve Rogers, Gigawave’s director of operations: “The HD D-Cam systems were used a lot during the event. The complex artistic effects made the HD MPEG compression really work hard, particularly with strobe-lighting and a 30mx8m LCD screen behind all the artists. I am pleased to say it did a really good job.

”System integrator Presteigne Broadcast Hire supplied YLE with the cameras, which were integrated with Sony’s HDC-1500 HD camcorders. The latter had the HD transmitter and camera control unit clipped onto the sides to give the camera operator easy access to the control panel, while the battery is mounted atop the camera body for perfect weight distribution.

The crew praised the set-up, adding that the balance meant it worked well with the steadicams. The cameras broadcast in the 2.0-2.5GHz frequency band using a 64-QAM modulation in conjunction with the Gigawave Diversity Receive Systems, which employed maximum ratio combining. This set-up gave YLE uncompromising performance and coverage, allowing the cameras unrestricted access to the action in and out of the auditorium.