Mediaset chooses Grass Valley’s LDX 135 to modernise camera fleet

Grass Valley has signed a framework agreement with Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, to replace its existing camera fleet with LDX 135 cameras.

Mediaset, which has three main television production centres – two in Milan (Segrate, Cologno Monzese) and one in Rome – sought to replace its existing cameras with a new fleet of 4K-native devices complying with the SMPTE ST 2110 standard. The broadcaster chose the LDX 135 for its technical features such as NativeIP – which enables ST 2110 to stream output directly from the camera – and the Creative Grading camera shading control panel and tablet application.

The framework agreement has already seen the installation of 30 cameras in a single month.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was installing so many cameras in such a short space of time, but Grass Valley ensured an incredibly fast turnaround in delivery from its factory in Breda to make it possible,” explained Marco Di Concetto, director broadcasting production systems, Mediaset Group.

“We wanted to replace our existing camera fleet with a high-quality camera natively equipped for modern workflows such as IP, UHD, HDR, virtual production and XR, and remote production. The LDX 135 fulfills all of these requirements and more, it represents a significant upgrade.”

Part of the LDX 100 series of NativeIP-enabled cameras, the LDX 135 offers faster turnaround and configuration times, à la carte daily options, and UHD with HDR. The high sensitivity of the camera with its three new Xenios imagers enable wider dynamic range in HDR mode, improved signal-to-noise ratio, greater depth of field, and comes with a JPEG XS high-quality low-latency video compression option.

“The framework agreement expands our existing partnership with Mediaset, and we are delighted to be working together to bring the LDX 135 to the Italian market for the first time,” said Tim Banks, CRO at Grass Valley. “The new cameras, along with the creative grading camera control solution, will instantly enhance Mediaset’s image quality in their current HD SDR production format. Additionally, the cameras’ native UHD imagers with global shutter and NativeIP technology will streamline the transition to UHD HDR, facilitate the use of IP infrastructures, and support future adoption of XR.”

The installation is being carried out by Mediaset engineers in partnership with Video Progetti, while radio frequency solutions provider Domo Broadcast Systems is supplying a wireless solution to be used with the LDX 135 RF.