Pictrovision’s Remote Control System Plays Integral Role in RF Wireless’ Vancouver Games Coverage

When Bob Wilson of RF Wireless won the bid to service OBS (Olympic Broadcast Services), the host broadcaster for the 2010 Winter Games in Canada, Pictorvision’s new wireless remote control system was a big part of the package. To capture the committee’s attention Wilson worked with Pictorvision and Chris Chanda of Aerial Camera Operations to put together a turnkey system they had never seen before.

“The committee was looking for new technologies and new and innovative applications to get more exciting footage,” Wilson explains. “By offering them the new Pictorvision wireless remote control package, they could get live pictures from cameras mounted on snowmobiles as the drivers followed skiers cross country or through biathlon events. With this system, we could control camera pan and tilt, zoom and focus remotely and wirelessly, even adjust camera remote iris and color temperature.”

Because of what RF Wireless’ package of Cineflex HD camera heads and Pictorvision’s wireless remote system could do, RF Wireless quickly became the single largest wireless camera system provider to the 2010 Winter Games, servicing not only OBS but CTV, the BBC, and SRG (the Swiss feed).

“The Pictorvision wireless Cineflex kit worked great, getting us some of the most exciting footage ever captured at any sports event,” says Wilson. “It’s a system that our company, RF Wireless, will use over and over again, whenever we need to capture and deliver footage remotely.”

The OBSV Nordic Venue wireless Cineflex kit was developed in house by Pictorvision technician Jake Capistron and consists of four pairs of fiber optic and radio transmitters and receivers that allow up to four Cineflex camera systems to be operated remotely.

With this newly developed system, Pictorvision’s Cineflex Remote Control package can be used on camera cars, cranes, boats and snowmobiles – anytime the operator cannot be with the system during operation.  With a range of up to 15 miles (depending on conditions) and a frequency of 2.4 – 2.483GHz, license-free band, spread spectrum frequency hopping and error detection technology, the system achieves a very reliable, noise and interference-immune operation. The fiber optic system allows the operator to be up to 75 miles from the receiver antenna site.

The video signal can also be transmitted using any number of standard analog or digital microwave systems.  This custom Remote Control kit is available for rent exclusively with Pictorvision’s Cineflex HD camera systems.