Revolution in the Aragón TV studios: the story told from the inside

In this rostrum, Carlos Martín, head of exploitation of Aragon TV, transfers in the first person the keys to the last renewal of the chain, which includes the transformation of all the sets of its Zaragoza Production Center.

In Aragon TV We just finished changing our entire completion control equipment and sets, which had been active since television was inaugurated in 2006. It is a project that covers the cameras, video mixers, sound tables, monitoring, titration systems, augmented reality, virtual sets ... we have given it a Whole return to everything that is the production in our main center here, from Zaragoza.

This plan began in 2018. At that time, we already knew that we needed to renew part of our material, which was beginning to be obsolete. That year the first market study was done and it was decided how the structure of the sheet was going to be, although the pandemic delayed the entire process.

We decided to divide it into 16 lots: cameras, optics, video tables, sound tables, auxiliary material ... If you take a global project, in the end they are destined for the great integrators of the country, but if you choose to divide it, you can have greater control over each of the parts and increase the concurrence.

We have made all these changes on the march, without stopping our production, within one year. (…) As I tell my people, we have changed the 16 wheels to a truck when I went to 120 on a highway without stopping And we have achieved it.

The Decision was positive, and we do not regret it, since thanks to this we have obtained very quality products and very first brands in each of the elements we needed. But we cannot deny that this has brought an important administrative burden, but of Installation, assembly and coordination. And it is that the lot of the installation was deserted, which made the four people that make up the exploitation department we have been in charge of all engineering, integration and installation.

We have made all these changes on the march, without stopping our production, within one year. We rented some temporary booths that we had in the Hangar de Decorado and from there we made control of the sets while we finished installing the new ones. As I tell my people, we have changed the 16 wheels to a truck when I went to 120 on a highway without stopping and we have achieved it. And the truth is that, without a team as good as the one I have, this would not have come out of joke.

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Renewal of studies 1 and 2

Our two main sets, 300 and 600 square meters, have been updated with cameras LDX 92 of Grass Valley with its XCU and RCP. We have also chosen optics Fujinon and changed all the new systems of Autocue. This commitment to new cameras also extends to our dispute set, and to our virtual set, although with peculiarities as we will see later.

Even so, the greatest changes have been in our three control rooms, which have been updated with the same elements in triplicate. We have installed the Grass Valley Kahuna as video mixer; Artemis Light sound mixer of Calrec, provided by coel, and the system Ultrix of Ross Video how routing central, which has been a discovery. Apart from making the study signals, it serves as a multipant to do control monitoring. In addition, we are rammed and the entire audio in Madi, which has taken away a lot of equipment.

The installation has improved to wiring level a barbarity and it is a Bet on the future at the level of versatility.

Another very prominent aspect is that we have gone practically everything to fiber and now the only copper that we pass is the reference. We have put chests Albalá of copper conversion to fiber both in continuity, as in controls and sets. We have had to take approximately 50 or 60 kilometers of cable and have replaced it with only two runs of 100 meters of 24 -wire fiber.

We have made that renewal of the installation with optical fiber because we think that today with it you can pass the signal that you want: Internet, video, audio ... The installation has improved at wiring level a barbarity and is a future commitment at the level of versatility. In addition, we can already enrute the signals so that we can take a signal of any camera and set, and use it on any set. There is the possibility!

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The changes in the news study and the virtual set

The information reform of informative, from which we have already issued our special electoral, was imminent, but was accelerated because "the roof fell." A beam began to creak and that made us undertake its renewal. We moved the production of the news to one of the two program sets and, taking advantage of the circumstance, we have done an integral work.

The height of the set has been increased to be able to illuminate better with a Skypanel suite ARRI connected to an Art -net network; The surface has been increased to 335 square meters, and we have put the control of performing in a new room attached to the set. We have also opted for the LDX 92 of Grass Valley, but unlike in programs production studies, we wanted to sensor all cameras with a system Mo-Sys and with heads of Vinten provided by Moncada and Lorenzo. In this way, we can send tracking information continuously and connect it to our graphics systems Brainstorm, for augmented reality, and Avid Maestro For the degree.

The Sceography It has also changed with a large 18 -meter length screen by two tall of Alfalite integrated by Average Data: It did not come out in the general tender that we commented before, but it was an additional lot.

This transverse renewal It also reaches our Virtual environment, that the truth is that it was a set that was not used much. The sensorization system was very old and, although the software was Brainstorm, the same one that has won the tender now, dated from 2007 and that was very noticeable. Now, the new system that we have installed covers both rendering with Infinityset and Aston 3D. We sensor the system with a crane MO-Sys and pedestals vinn for the other two cameras.

Other relevant changes of the three set update is the installation of the Systel IP system of AEQ To ensure compatibility with Dante; the acquisition of a microphony body of wireless petacas of Electro Sound, and other teams such as zero grade monitors of CCU Sony, solutions of Tektronix…

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And in the future?

During the next few years, our idea is to continue maintaining a constant renewal process to update everything that can be obsolete.

We have to move forward with these renewal projects, and look at the IP technology And what I call the "Internet Channel" to bet on a Plataforma there that we will feed from our production equipment.

In our agenda is the renewal of our production storage AVID systems; build a virtualization system To be able to assemble a convergent virtualization system in which to load our different software, or to finish off a project of Automatic subtitling in which we have already advanced with the collaboration of several companies.

In short, studies have been the most outstanding actions undertaken in this phase of our transformation process, but we cannot sleep. We have to move forward with these projects, and look at the IP technology And what I call the "Internet Channel" to bet on a Plataforma there that we will feed from our production equipment. There is a lot of work to do.

Carlos Martín

Head of Exploitation of Aragon TV

Other articles about AEQ Kroma, Albalá, Alfalite, Aragon RTV, ARRI, Audinate, Autocue, Avid, Brainstorm, Calrec, Average Data, Electro Sound, Fuji, Grass Valley, Mo-Sys, Moncada and Lorenzo, Ross Video, Sony, Tektronix, Videndum, Vinten