ZDF goes jumping at Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The Four Hills Tournament is the premier event in the ski-jumping world; a series of four World Cup events held over the New Year period in Germany and Austria. As Reinhard Penzel reports for www.live-production.tv, the New Year’s Day event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen sees ZDF pull out all the stops to catch the athletes as they fly down the hill.

All the jumps of the 50 competitors in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were covered in all details by the host broadcaster ZDF, which has hired one of TopVision’s HD OBVans for the second event of this year’s Four Hills Tournament.

Cineflex gyro stabilized cameras on a helicopter and on the CamCat cable camera system were only two of a whole bunch of specialized cameras which covered the New Year’s Jumping Event. Wireless cameras, crane cameras, Sony Super SloMo cameras, HD1200 finger cameras from LMP integrated in the inrun track and behind the take take-off board, a Polecam and the Hi-Motion Ultra SloMo camera delivered images of the athletes at every moment in their preparations before, during and after the jump.

The wireless transmission of the camera signal from the helicopter to the HD OBVan was achieved with the CT2440 ARINC transmitter from BMS in combination with the VLA 1903 LP receiving antenna. BMS equipment also guaranteed a continuous signal from the cabin lift carrying the athletes up the ski jumping hill. Finally BMS delivered the so called “TeleTubies”-Rucksack receivers to give the ZDF presenters and moderators access to the TV signal everywhere within the stadium.

Also engaged in the wireless transmission was HD wireless. Three Sony HDC-1500 cameras were equipped with LinkHD adapters and delivered signals from the athletes waiting to receive their points from the jury, or on their way up to their next jump. Also supported was a Sony HDC-P1. HD wireless equipped the camera body with a wireless transmitter and named it UltraLite Cam dedicated for the use with Steadicams.

A total of 29 cameras covered the event on the Olympic Hill while three more were installed the purpose built ZDF studio. The camera signals were all controlled in the extended shading area of the TopVision HD OBVan and mixed on a Sony MVS-8000 vision switcher. The Audio was mixed on a Stagetec Aurus.

The TV signal was also distributed to a 52m² Mitsubishi LED screen in the stadium to also show the spectators the various SloMo and Ultra SloMo sequences. However the audio was a separate program/mix for the stadium carried out by TC Showtechnik with a Soundcraft SI Compact console and distributed via Electro-Voice XLC monitors.