Trio Video is using a full complement of Grass Valley™ multiformat HD production equipment from Thomson to satisfy the needs of its clients.
The Chicago-based company now operates three large HD trucks, “Phoenix,” “Rhythm,” and “Tango,” which collectively use up to 40 Grass Valley LDK 6000 mk II Worldcam HD cameras, three Kalypso™ HD Video Production Center switchers, and three Trinix™ HD video routers. The 53’ Rhythm is the latest addition, with expandable sides and an all-HD infrastructure that include Grass Valley GeckoFlex™ and Kameleon™ signal processing modules. All of this multiformat equipment works equally well whether producing shows at 24 frames per second (preferred by entertainment clients), or the more common SD and HD (720p and 1080i) formats at 30 and 60 frames per second.
Trio Video sent three of its HD production trucks to cover the sixth annual Bonnaroo Music Festival, in Manchester, TN June 14-17. The event took place over seven music stages covered by three Grass Valley Kalypso HD switchers, 26 LDK 6000 mk II Worldcam HD cameras, and more than 40 VTRs. The company provided all the HD equipment and crews for the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006, and is scheduled to provide the same expertise in 2008.
“Trio is not only supplying the equipment, we’re designing the production system and developing a blueprint to cover these major, multi-venue events,” says Peter Kimball, director of program development and production for Trio Video. “We’re doing a lot of HD production and the Grass Valley equipment has stood up extremely well on all of our live entertainment and sports projects.”
The Bonnaroo Music Festival was cited by Billboard magazine as one of the most successful and highest grossing music events of the season. Trio Video also provided their expertise using Grass Valley HD equipment for the U2-Vertigo tour, the John Mayer Trio tour, as well as Lollapalooza 2006.
Most recently, Tango, along with the B-unit support truck “Beta,” completed coverage of the three-day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, an alternative rock concert, live from Indio, CA. (April 27-29). Trio also showcased the two-day, four-stage country music festival, Stagecoach, also held in Indio (May 5-6). The productions will be seen on TV and on the web. For Trio, it meant four stages had to be covered with over 13 Grass Valley HD cameras. The 1080/23.98psf production was also seen on the AT&T “Blue Room” online service, which offers live concerts via the Internet.
“What’s become clear to us is that the market for mobile production trucks is expanding and we’re right at the front end of the trend,” says Kimball. “We have extensive production experience and are always looking to move into new areas of distribution to assist our clients in achieving their goals.”
In Indio, Tango covered all of the music on the main stage while Beta handled the webcast activities. A Kalypso HD switcher onboard covered the main stages along with several smaller Kalypso 1M/E switchers set up to support the secondary performance stages used for the Southern California rock festival. A Trinix router helped the switchers communicate with each other and combined all feeds for the main production.