The Lighthouse LED screens are travelling all over the UK, leap-frogging one another to meet the tightly-packed match schedule. Each screen, 6.84m x 9.14m, is mounted on a bespoke-design goalpost-type structure, which is wrapped in the corporate branding of main match sponsors, NatWest or Npower.
These 16mm pitch LED displays, configured in a 4:3 aspect ratio, are the highest resolution screens ever to tour with the international cricket matches in the UK. PSL project manager Mark Gent specified them because they offer the most suitable resolution for the spectators and broadcasters. "We have long viewing distances in the grounds, so the screen has to be as big as possible, yet the 16mm pitch on this size of screen gives near PAL resolution, which is important for the broadcasters."
For each match, PSL is providing the LED display with content from a dedicated PSL OB truck. The unit, which is using SDI transmission for the first time this year, is a fully-equipped production centre, capable of accepting eight SDI and two analogue inputs, with a Snell & Wilcox eight-input vision mixer, and 16x16 router, "so we can switch anything to anywhere at the touch of a button."
The PSL production unit has unfettered access to the broadcasters' feeds, and will mix all the camera feeds with still graphics and VT. A two-man team mixes the screen content according to ECB guidelines, interspersing graphics from a laptop PC, and with VT playback of commercials. One innovation this year uses 3G phones to take pictures in the crowd and put them onto the big screen. And at one-day internationals, the PSL team sends two broadcast cameras out onto the pitch to capture the lunchtime entertainment for the big screen.
This summer, on the 'ECB tour', PSL will service the Ashes Series and two other test matches, 13 one-day internationals, two domestic league finals, and numerous other competitions.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
