Vatican TV chooses Clear-Com for HD OB van
Published: WORSHIP
ITALY: Clear-Com has supplied Vatican Television Centre – known in Italy as Centro Televisivo Vaticano (CTV), the official broadcaster of Vatican City – with a selection of Eclipse-Median digital matrix and Tempest 2400 digital wireless intercoms to help cover the official activities of Pope Benedict XVI as well as the ongoing religious events and services held at the Vatican. The extensive communication capabilities offered by the four connected Eclipse-Median, six I-Series intercom panels, two Tempest BaseStations and four Tempest BeltStations assure that CTV broadcasts have fast access to reliable, high-quality communications.
Since 1983, CTV, headquartered in Via del Pellegrino in Vatican City, has broadcast the Pope’s pastoral ministry and other activities of the Holy See. Each year, around 200 events are covered from inside the Vatican as well as during the Pope’s travels in Italy and abroad. The network’s footage is picked up via satellite by broadcasters, news agencies and editing facilities around the world. CTV has no production studios, as a majority of the broadcaster’s work is ENG. The new OB van, which has full HD capability, has become the central hub for critical operations at the network. Its four operating areas include the audio room, equipment room, primary and secondary production control with VTR and camera control.
‘The combination of the Eclipse digital matrix with V-Series panels and Tempest2400 gives CTV a tremendous amount of communications flexibility, making it much less stressful to manage the broadcasting of the Pope’s ministry,’ said Karlie Miles, director of EMEA sales, Clear-Com. ‘Our system has certainly proven to function flawlessly during critical situations. The signal transmitted from the Tempest 2400 wireless intercom system easily penetrates the thick walls of the church and can travel far distances to the van.’
The 112-port Eclipse-Medians, which interface with the I-Series intercom panels, provide the CTV team with fast audio routing, many communication paths and features for ample flexibility and exhaustive functionality. Operating in the 2.4GHz frequency band, the Tempest 2400 utilises patented Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum radio technology to withstand frequency interference and maintain high quality audio for reliable communications. It enables the employees in the CTV OB van to coordinate effectively between the OB production area and camera operators.