ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING

The studios are used by both Astro and Arena to produce a wide range of shows including singing and dancing competitions, live music performances, game shows, talk shows and sports highlights. The state-of-the-art HD digital broadcast facilities will be the first of this type in Malaysia for market leader Astro.

The project will include upgrading four studio floors, three production control rooms and a central equipment area. Gearhouse said the project would be carried out in two phases.

Phase One will be the technical upgrade and refurbishment of studios 1 and 2, incorporating their associated production control rooms and audio control room areas. Phase Two will involve the technical upgrade and refurbishment to studios 3, 4, 5/6, 7 and their associated control rooms.

In addition to the core contact, Gearhouse is providing Astro consultancy and project management services including timeline management; location and design requirements; awarding supplier contracts; design of the production control rooms and lighting systems for studios 1 and 2; managing upgrade and renovation works to the studio-floor spaces; broadcast systems design; and looking at Astro’s current and future production requirements so that its new systems meet all its future needs.

Central to Astro’s broadcast requirements is a new broadcast system designed around the ability for part of the system to be taken off-site and used in a flyaway mode.

Another requirement is that the production control room will be able to control any studio floor space and interface with Astro’s pool of OB trucks. One more in the list is flexibility in sharing of central resources such as camera channels, replay service, Vizrt graphic engines and an interface with Astro’s playout centre for live productions. Other additional production needs are designed around a tapeless workflow, which allows rushes recorded in the studio to be transferred directly to Astro’s post-production facility.

In order to provide a fully integrated bespoke solution, Gearhouse’s project managers and systems engineers needed to gain a full understanding of Astro’s production requirements, including how every department operated.

A significant period of time was spent on-site observing how productions were made and meeting with individual areas and heads of departments, for example, the sound team and directors, to ascertain their exact production requirements.  

As to the equipment choices for the project, Gearhouse Broadcast selected Snell routers and glue products, Harris Quads and Yamaha PM5D 64-channel analogue consoles.  

The Snell range of routers are known for its quality and reliability. Coupled with extremely flexible control operations, they cater for all sizes and operations from simple edit suites to outside broadcast trucks. Snell will also be able to provide Astro and Gearhouse Broadcast with 24-hour customer support within Asia, thus ensuring rapid diagnosis and resolution of any issues that might arise.

Eamonn Dowdall, business development director at Gearhouse Broadcast, said: “We were awarded the contract by Astro based on our proven track record for delivering broadcast solutions for major international studio facilities.

“We are highly skilled in the provision of broadcast infrastructure installations and, in particular, the area of studio systems integration, having carried out numerous installations for studios and venues such as the Qatar State Mosque and Al Jazeera studios in Qatar.”

 

 

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