Revolution in the Aragón TV studios: the story told from within

In this gallery, Carlos Martín, head of operations of Aragon TV, conveys in first person the keys to the chain's latest renovation, which includes the transformation of all the sets at its production center in Zaragoza.

In Aragon TV we just finished changing all our production control equipment and sets, which had been active since television was inaugurated in 2006. It is a project that encompasses cameras, video mixers, sound tables, monitoring, titling systems, augmented reality, virtual sets... We have given a full turn to everything that is production in our main center here, in Zaragoza.

This plan began in 2018. At that time, we already knew that we needed to renew some of our material, which was beginning to be obsolete. That year, the first market study was carried out and the structure of the document was decided, although the pandemic delayed the entire process.

We decided to divide it into 16 lots: cameras, optics, video tables, sound tables, auxiliary material... If you carry out a global project, in the end they are destined for the large integrators in the country, but if you choose to divide it, you can have greater control over each of the parts and increase attendance.

We have made all these changes on the progress, without stopping our production, within a year. (…) As I tell my people, we have changed the 16 wheels on a truck when it was going 120 on a highway without stopping and we have achieved it.

The decision was positive, and we do not regret it, since thanks to it we have obtained products of high quality and of top brands in each of the elements we needed. But we cannot deny that this has led to an important burden, not only administratively, but also installation, assembly and coordination. And the installation lot was left empty, which meant that the four people who make up the exploitation department were in charge of all the engineering, integration and installation.

We have made all these changes on the fly, without stopping our production, within a year. We rented some temporary booths that we had in the set hangar and from there we controlled the sets while we finished installing the new ones. As I tell my people, we have changed the 16 wheels on a truck when it was going 120 on a highway without stopping and we succeeded. And the truth is that, without a team as good as the one I have, this would not have been a joke.

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Renovation of studios 1 and 2

Our two main courses, of 300 and 600 square meters, have been updated with cameras LDX 92 of Grass Valley with their XCU and CPR. We have also chosen optics Fujinon and changed all CUEs to new systems Autocue. This commitment to new cameras also extends to our news set, and to our virtual set, although with peculiarities as we will see later.

Still, the biggest changes have been in our three control rooms, which have been updated with the same elements in triplicate. We have installed the Grass Valley Kahuna as a video mixer; the Artemis Light sound mixer from Calrec, provided by COEL, and the system Vengeance of Ross Video as routing central, which has been quite a discovery. Apart from routing the studio signals, it serves as a multi-screen for control monitoring. In addition, it embeds and unembeds all the audio in MADI, which means we have removed a lot of equipment.

The installation has improved to wiring level an outrage and it is a bet on the future at the level of versatility.

Another very notable aspect is that we have converted practically everything to fiber and now the only copper we pass is the reference. We have put chests Albalah copper to fiber conversion both in continuity, as well as in controls and sets. We have had to remove approximately 50 or 60 kilometers of cable and have replaced it with only two runs of 100 meters of 24-wire MPO fiber.

We have renovated the installation with fiber optics because we think that today with it you can pass any signal you want: internet, video, audio... The installation has improved a lot in terms of wiring and it is a bet to future at the level of versatility. In addition, we can now route the signals so that we can take a signal from any camera and set, and use it on any set. There is the possibility!

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The changes in the news studio and the virtual set

The reform of the news studio, from which we have already broadcast our electoral specials, was imminent, but was accelerated because practically “the roof fell in.” A beam began to creak and that made us undertake its renovation more quickly. We moved the news production to one of the two program sets and, taking advantage of the circumstance, we have carried out a comprehensive work.

The height of the set has been increased to provide better lighting with a suite of Skypanels from ARRI connected to an Art-Net network; The surface area has been increased to 335 square meters, and we have placed production control in a new room attached to the set. We have also opted for the LDX 92 from Grass Valley, but unlike in program production studios, we wanted to sensorize all the cameras with a system Mon-Sys and with heads of Vinten provided by Moncada and Lorenzo. In this way, we can send tracking information continuously and connect it to our graphics systems Brainstorm, for augmented reality, and Avid Maestro for the degree.

The scenography has also changed with a large screen 18 meters long by two meters high Alfalite composed of Data Average: It did not come out in the general tender that we mentioned before, but rather it was an additional lot.

This transversal renewal also reaches us Virtual environment, which the truth is that it was a set that was not used much. The sensorization system was very old and, although the software was Brainstorm, the same one that won the tender now, it dated back to 2007 and that was very noticeable. Now, the new system we have installed covers both InfinitySet and Aston 3D rendering. We sensorized the system with a Mo-Sys for the crane and Vinten pedestals for the other two cameras.

Other relevant changes in the update of the three sets is the installation of the Systel IP system of AEQ to ensure compatibility with Dante; the acquisition of a wireless bodypack microphone body Electro Sound, and other equipment such as CCU zero degree monitors Sony, solutions Tektronix…

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And in the future?

Over the next few years, our idea is to continue maintaining a constant renewal process to update everything that may become obsolete.

We have to move forward with these renovation projects, and look at the IP technology and what I call the “Internet Channel” to bet on a platform OTT that we will feed from our production equipment.

On our agenda is the renewal of our Avid production storage systems; build one virtualization system to be able to set up a convergent virtualization system in which to load our different software, or finish a project automatic subtitling in which we have already made progress with the collaboration of several companies.

In short, the studies have been the most notable actions undertaken in this phase of our transformation process, but we cannot sleep. We have to move forward with these projects, and look at the IP technology and what I call the “Internet Channel” to bet on a platform OTT that we will feed from our production equipment. There is still a lot of work to do.

Carlos Martin

Head of operation Aragon TV

Other articles on AEQ Chroma, Albalah, Alfalite, Aragon RTV, ARRI, Audinate, Autocue, Avid, Brainstorm, Calrec, Data Average, Electro Sound, Fuji, Grass Valley, Mon-Sys, Moncada and Lorenzo, Ross Video, Sony, Tektronix, To be seen, Vinten