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Behind the scene at the
magnificent and challenging Opening Ceremony for the
Summer Olympic Games at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in
Beijing on August 8, 2008 was a Medialon Manager Pro
Show Control system, providing the interface and
timeline control for the image playback, in sync with
lights.
“We, at Medialon, are quite familiar with such high
demanding live shows, where failure is not an option,”
says Alex Carru, Medialon CEO. Medialon Manager Pro show
controller is made for this type of critical
applications by proposing frame accurate synchronization
based on timelines, logical programming tasks that allow
automatic redundancy, and user interface editor to
customize interfaces for show operators.
“The Beijing Olympics Medialon system was deployed by
Creative Technology, one of the most experienced staging companies which was
supported by us during the design phase,” says Benjamin
Saint-Girons, Medialon EMEA Sales Manager. The key in
this kind of events is not only the quality of the
control system but also the methodology and the
expertise of the programmers.
"This combination of right product and the right partner
came to a very powerful and secure show controller that
could manage such a massive and creative show, watched
by billions people over the world,” concludes
Saint-Girons.
Full Screen Control
Medialon Manager ran the cues for the images on the 26m
wide x 180m long LED screen on the ground in center
field. To feed such an impressive video wall, 12 DVS
Pronto uncompressed HD disk players were used among a
series of 16x16 HDSDI and 16x24 DVI matrix, Barco Encore
and Screen Pro video processors, Grass Valley Turbos,
and a Dataton Watchout video playback system.
Six HD resolution image streams for the LED screen were
sent from six synchronized DVS uncompressed HD disk
players, synchronized from Medialon via RS422. All other
routing and video processing equipments were controlled
using TCP/IP. A main timeline slaved to the master time
code recalled 12 sub-timelines in sync. This
architecture allowed the manual recall of the sub-timeline
if necessary.
Each of the sub-timelines was performing routing of
video signal, matrix switching and video playback for a
particular scene during the show (Silk Road, Footprint,
National Flag, etc.).
Cue Recall Mode
Sub Timelines also sent information such as countdown to
next cue to a bunch of custom screens designed by the
operator. In addition, all manual commands necessary to
be executed either during rehearsal or during the show
were programmed on touch screen using the built in
Medialon graphical user interface builder.
DMX input coming from the lighting desk was used during
rehearsal to dim the LED wall brightness so that
lighting could continue programming while the LED
configuration continued.
A primary and a secondary Medialon system were running
in tandem offering 100% redundancy.
"The redundancy is something our users are setting up
more and more. Shows are becoming more and more complex
and cannot be played without the help of computers, so
to say show control,” notes Alex Carru. ”Shows cost more
and more. Having two fully redundant systems running at
the same time, with one able to take over control
seamlessly is becoming essential.”
For further information, please contact
Creative Technology Asia -
Charlie Whittock
cwhittock@ctlondon.com. |
