PPDS is excited to announce its range of premium HD Philips Q-Line and X-Line videowall displays were recently selected as the centerpieces for major installations inside two of Switzerland’s busiest TV studios, bringing extensive new benefits to viewers, presenters and guests alike during live broadcasts.
The installation, which includes 27 displays in total across the two venues, is part of an upgrade for the leading Swiss TV channel, La Télé, famed for providing a wide range of live studio topical guest debates and discussions, as well as games shows and family entertainment programs
The significant upgrade provides each studio with extensive new benefits and capabilities, transforming the way sets are designed and set-up, with turnaround times kept to an absolute minimum.
Background
On air since 2009, La Télé is a popular and fast-growing French-speaking HD TV channel, broadcasting daily to the 8.57 million residents of Switzerland, as well as those watching internationally online.
One of 13 licensed TV stations in the country, La Télé has built its reputation – both nationally and internationally – for broadcasting a broad variety of topical, regional programming, with strong emphasis on political, economic, societal, sporting and cultural news, as well as family entertainment, such as games shows.
Available on the Swisscom TV, Citycable, UPC Cablecom and Net +network, the bulk of the action takes place inside the station’s two separate studios an hour apart in the stunning mountainous district of Vaud and the medieval city of Fribourg.
With daily live shows, these studios are a hive of activity, providing an open space for people to express themselves and exchange views to inform and entertain their audience.
Challenge
With an ever-growing audience and an ever-expanding list of TV programs – and the number of sets – the station’s studio needs and demands have intensified.
What’s more, with daily back-to-back recording sessions and both studios a constant hive of activity, La Télé required a new, high-quality, highly-flexible and futureproof display/signage solution to not only provide stunning visual performance to both viewers and studio guests, but also enable the versatility to securely create and recreate unique and innovative set-designs for each show as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
With a tight agenda and studio set requirements often varying greatly between programs – ranging from presentations, multi-guest debates and gameshows – potential delays or even a catastrophic failure is simply not an option in order to maintain the best possible experience and ensure viewers don’t switch off or go elsewhere.
Solution
To meet the unique requirements for this exciting and complex project, La Télé turned to renowned, some might call ‘celebrity’ TV production designer and architect, Franck Fellemann, and Informatique NEXAN SA, a leading, experienced local IT and solutions company, specializing in providing a pool of dedicated business services, including cloud hosting and security.
With extensive knowledge of the market and having worked with a plethora of organizations over the past decade, NEXAN SA partnered with Philips Professional Display Solutions to install, in total, 27 HD, fully-connected displays, providing the centerpieces for each studio.
To ensure the highest quality viewing experience, as well as extensive, flexible and remote back-end-management control and content creation and curation capabilities, 24 x 49” Philips X-Line Videowalls paired with three 86” Q-Line displays were strategically installed across each studio.
Securely connected to the station’s network, all screens can be managed automatically or manually via a custom control system to display newsfeeds, branded set scenery, gameshow questions, and other unique elements without the need of an extra person in the control room.
National videowall integration specialist, Martix Resolution SA, was also called upon for the adjustments and calibration of the displays, ensuring optimum viewing performance.
Mediasupport of D.Kunz, another locally-based company specializing in production, sales, operation and maintenance of hardware and software for the production of multimedia content for television, radio and the internet, created a custom software, driven by the Newsroom Computer System (NRCS) in order to drive each display independently. A turnkey design approach was led by the studio’s internal team to cover both current and future needs of the station.
The results since installation have surpassed expectations, with the new solutions resulting in faster set changes, better flexibility and greater cost efficiency for the station.
Davide Longo, Sales Manager Switzerland, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to support La Télé in this both exciting and challenging project, providing a truly transformational solution across its two busy TV studios. It’s another example of how far PPDS has come over a relatively short period, with our displays increasingly becoming the brand of choice for many of Europe’s leading integration specialists and end-users alike for projects like this that demand quality and reliability.”
François Vittoz, IT Director, La Télé, commented: “Our Philips displays enabled us to have two truly versatile studios capable of instant visual transformations in the most efficient way possible.”
Overview of Benefits
- Versatile design: Strategically placed displays enable an instant studio makeover with the ability to drastically change the ambience using custom imagery and info streams to complement each program.
- Central control: The CMND system allows the calibration of the screens. Content updates from a central point is managed by a dedicated software created on an open source Caspar CG platform.
- Future-proof: New features can be easily added to meet evolving requirements, ensuring the latest technology is always available without extra hardware costs.
- Remote upgrades: Software can be efficiently updated remotely by La Télé so that each display runs smoothly with the latest UI and stability features.
Fast facts
- Client: La PPDPP
- Location: Vaud and Fribourg, Switzerland
- Project: Two new studio solutions for La Télé
- Products: Philips X-Line BDL4988XC (24 units) and Q-Line 86BDL3050Q (3 units)
- Partners: Media Support, D.Kunz Informatique NEXAN SA and Matrix Resolution SA
