HP Pavilion at San Jose Goes HD With TV Magic

May 5, 2008

Source: TV Magic

Broadcast systems integrator TV Magic today announced the completion of a state-of-the-art high definition live sports control room at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, home to the NHL's San Jose Sharks and a variety of sports and entertainment events throughout the year. This effort was undertaken as part of a capital improvement project overseen by performing arts/media facilities planning and design consultant Auerbach Pollock Friedlander.

The TV Magic installation encompassed the relocation of the arena's existing A/V control room, scoring video system, and coaches' video review equipment. The newly upgraded facility is designed to support live broadcast, production, and post-production in state-of-the-art high definition quality. It also includes the first ever high definition in-house multichannel cable system for targeted advertising throughout the HP Pavilion.

"During our evaluation of suitable partners for this critical upgrade, TV Magic's engineering experience and cost-effective approach to high-dollar projects positioned the company ahead of the competition," said Greg Carrolan, technical director of the HP Pavilion at San Jose. "TV Magic demonstrated a strong track record in engineering advanced HD solutions and in working closely with both vendors and clients to find the best solution for a facility. Working within our new HD control room, we've realized greater productivity and a smoother workflow, and the improvement in the quality of images we now provide to our fans is immeasurable."

The new control room has been operational since the start of the Sharks' 2007/2008 regular season, providing a contribution-grade HD feed to the arena's large-screen video displays and monolithic, four-sided center hung HD video scoreboard. These improved signals are also made available to external cable networks and over-the-air broadcasters. Acquisition equipment includes Grass Valley™ HD sports production cameras with Fujinon® lenses and Sony™ robotic point-of-view cameras. The arena's new TV production truck interface supports all North American HD, SD, and analog video and audio formats.

In the control room, a virtual monitor wall combining TVLogic® displays with Evertz® MVP processing offers flexible viewing of sources depending on the requirements of each user and event. Production equipment includes a Grass Valley HD production switcher, a two-seat multichannel EVS™ instant replay system, a two-channel Chyron HD graphics system, and Final Cut Pro® HD editing. Three channels of high definition commercial insertion provide uniquely branded HD program channels to areas within the building to showcase HD television sets manufactured by arena sponsor HP.

"The TV Magic management and engineering team brought a strong television operations viewpoint to their process," said Kenneth Fause, principal at Auerbach Pollock Friedlander. "TV Magic's defined approach to detailed equipment selection, system engineering, and inevitable value engineering process strove to extract the maximum visible production value from the available funding. The HP Pavilion staff uses the new HDTV tools to produce an entertaining and informative media experience for the fans. The HD pictures on the large-screen video display and on the television sets throughout the building look stunning."

"It was a true pleasure to work with the entire arena technical staff and the knowledgeable team from Auerbach Pollock Friedlander who fully partnered to make this HD upgrade a success," said Frank Geraty, general manager and vice president of TV Magic. "Through this installation, the quality of HP Pavilion event video has increased dramatically, adding not only to the fan experience, but also to the arena's ability to create and support HD television broadcasts."



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