Signiant Inc., a market leader in intelligent file transfer software, is excited to announce a global business relationship with NEP Group, the world’s leading technical production partner for premier content producers of live sports and entertainment. NEP has selected Signiant Media Shuttle to enable accelerated file-based operations across its fleet of OB trucks, Studios and Flypacks. With Media Shuttle, NEP clients can easily and quickly move media assets and associated metadata to and from the venue. The flexibility of Media Shuttle allows NEP to offer fast, secure content exchange globally to any-size production working over any IP network without requiring additional hardware on the truck.

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is responding to the increasing flexibility needs of content producers and distributors, offering customers greater choice when it comes to cloud providers, advanced remote editing and archive options with expanded support for Adobe® Premiere® Pro, Microsoft® Azure, and Spectra® BlackPearl RioBroker.

Producing the Formula 1 for TV is, besides the production challenges as such, a logistical tour de force. Production equipment needs to travel around the world preceding the racing circus and must always be on-site and ready for use at the right time.

Net Insight’s remote production workflow solution allows full production capabilities with multi-stream alignment of video and audio feeds from 30 HD cameras, alongside UHD 4K and slow-motion cameras to transport multiple streams back to the centralized production centre. NEP Connect’s Anylive® contribution network leverages Net Insight’s scalable Nimbra technology with upgradeable MAM Boards and JPEG 2000 to support 3G 1080p.

Hitomi Broadcast, manufacturer of MatchBox, the industry’s premier audio video alignment toolbox, has announced that NEP Connect has purchased a 4K MatchBox system use in NEP Connect’s MediaCity Network Operations Centre in Salford, UK.

Creative Technology, part of the NEP Group, have utilised Quicklink’s ST500 (Studio-in-a-box) for multiple professional contributions to deliver virtual events for their clients.

Throughout 2020 we have seen more and more live events being moved online to keep audiences, contributors, and crew safe. Creative Technology have utilised the Quicklink ST500 to deliver high-quality virtual events for their clients, which include consistent and low latency video and audio feeds from numerous remote contributors in a variety of locations.

Nevion, a Sony Group Company and award-winning provider of virtualized media production solutions, announced today that it has provided equipment and services to NEP to update the headend and regionalization for the Norwegian DTT network, which it provides as a service.

Densitron, the global leader in innovative Human Machine Interaction (HMI) and display technology, has announced that NEP The Netherlands is now using the Intelligent Display System (IDS) solution for a wide variety of production tasks at its broadcast centre in Hilversum.

When Guns N’ Roses’ successful ‘Not In This Lifetime’ tour switched to disguise for its North American leg, it opened up new creative possibilities to enhance the already visually spectacular rock show.

The tour wrapped last November with two shows at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. The three-year world tour played 158 concerts selling more than 5 million tickets and grossing $584 million. The ‘Not In This Lifetime’ tour that started in 2016 marked the first time that Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan played together since 1993. Screenworks-NEP Live Events was the disguise rental partner for the tour.

Jeremy Leeor, Managing Director and Dan Potter, Creative Director, at disguise studio Creative Works London, coordinated the creation, execution and delivery of the Ghostrain and traditional show walk-in opening sequence using the new disguise and Unreal integration, currently going through Beta testing.

"A lot of what we created for the Guns’ tour visuals was built similarly to the way triple-A game assets are made using highly creative and flexible 3D tools like Cinema 4D, ZBrush, 3Ds Max and Substance Painter to create high-quality assets that can then be moved into real-time render engines like Unreal Engine,” explains Dan. “This is how we’ve always done it, and it makes a lot of our content stand out for its depth, texture and richness."

He points out that, “the rendering process on any project, in a conventional sense, presents many render engine and creative compositing options, and is central to how we achieve the diverse range of visual styles in our work. With the introduction of real-time render engines, you’re shifting the focal points of stages when you are developing a look to different points in the project timeline. This can be quite liberating if you’re working on something that plays to the strengths of the look you want to achieve and using the right tools to do it."

NEP Norway announced today that Morten Aass has joined its organization, based in Oslo, as managing director, effective immediately. NEP Norway is a division of NEP Group, the leading worldwide outsourced technical production partner supporting premier content producers of live sports and entertainment.

Aass, an industry veteran, will oversee all of NEP’s Norwegian operations, client relationships, broadcast production facilities and a team of more than 100. His primary focus will be to ensure the position, continued growth and success of the Norwegian company. Aass

takes the helm at NEP Norway as Lise Heidal, former managing director, transitions to a new role as NEP’s SVP of Global Media Solutions. In addition to being the managing director of NEP Norway, Aass will also be part of NEP’s European management team.

Gearing up for a bumper year of premier live sporting events, NEP Europe has bolstered its production capability with a host of Grass Valley live IP production solutions. NEP is growing its capabilities across its OB and flypacks fleet, strengthening its position as one of the world’s leading outsourced technical production partners to premier producers of live sports and entertainment.

At the core of the expansion are nearly 60 new Grass Valley LDX 86^N cameras. The new cameras feature Grass Valley’s built-in DirectIP capability which was developed in conjunction with NEP. This unique technology allows NEP to send only the camera heads to the given location, while all other control for the cameras and the production can take place at an off-site location. With this latest purchase, NEP Europe now has over 500 native 4K Grass Valley LDX 86^N cameras in its portfolio.

Paul Henriksen, NEP Europe’s president, said: “2020 is set to be a huge year for live sporting and entertainment events around the world. We’re excited about the opportunity to help clients deliver innovative live productions that bring consumers closer to the action, wherever they are and on any device. Drawing on our long-established relationship with Grass Valley, and the close collaboration with its R&D team, allows us to leverage best-in-class solutions that are a perfect fit. Grass Valley understands our business model and is unrivaled when it comes to delivering the support that we, and our clients, demand.”

NEP Europe also purchased 30 RefleX SuperXpander Kit lens adapters, which convert handheld cameras into a studio/field production system, plus a number of LDX C86^N compact cameras and several grass valley switchers including the 6 M/E Kahuna 9600 with Maverik control panel and the Kula 3 M/E switcher. The switchers feature FormatFusion technology, innovative, built-in format conversion that seamlessly handles multiformat operations. The wider rollout of Grass Valley’s K-Frame, Kahuna and Kula switchers across NEP’s fleet allows for standardized workflows that ensure greater efficiency across the group.

Mark Hilton, Grass Valley’s vice president of live production, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with NEP once again and proud to be the clear choice when it comes to supplying live IP production solutions. As NEP readies itself for a demanding year of exciting sports and live content, we very much look forward to working alongside the company in the thick of the action.”

ES Broadcast has appointed former NEP UK & Ireland Engineering and Technical Director Rob Newton as its Head of Technology. He joins the systems integration, equipment sales and rental specialist after more than 30 years with NEP.

The appointment will see Newton work to a broad remit across all major channels of ES Broadcast’s business, in tandem with the company’s existing technology specialists. He will help drive the technical design and implementation at all stages of a project from scoping to delivery, with responsibility for identifying and designing pioneering broadcast solutions for clients from across the broadcast spectrum.

Newton’s career has seen him play a key role in introducing numerous ground-breaking technological advances to the industry, including designing the first HD outside broadcast truck to enter the UK market in 2001. He oversaw NEP UK’s move to HD for Premier League football coverage in 2004, as well as the step up to UHD in 2016 and remote production in 2019. He has also been heavily involved in the adoption of HD for productions as diverse as news channels and popular reality TV shows.

Custom Consoles announces the completion and installation of eight control desks and a large MediaWall monitor display support system for NEP Media Solutions BV. Located in the master control room at the company's studios in Hilversum's Media Park, the desks are configured in front and rear rows for use by up to six and four operators respectively.

"The desks are similar in style and colour scheme to a suite we produced in early 2018 for another NEP television studio facility," says Custom Consoles' Sales Manager Gary Fuller. "The forward desk centres on a dual-operator bridge with a total of eight forward-sloping 4U equipment pods. This is constructed as a rectangular unit with space for two operators. Left and right of the bridge are two units of identical design to the bridge but angled to match the curve of the 13.9 metre wide six-frame MediaWall. The MediaWall itself is one of the largest we have produced to date, each of the six frames accommodating four 55 inch UHD displays to create an 11-wide by two-high screen array with two additional pairs of 32 inch screens."

The organisers of the Media Production and Technology Show 2020 are delighted to announce that registration for this year’s event, which takes place 13-14 May at London Olympia, is now open.

Featuring over 180 leading exhibitors on its show floor and 220 key industry speakers at its insightful panels and discussions, the must-attend content and technology show for the UK media and broadcast industries is projected to attract over 8000+ attendees. 95% of the exhibition space for the 2020 event is already sold, highlighting the strength of its position on the tradeshow calendar as the leading tradeshow in the UK.

As part of a strategy of continuing investment to track with the latest market requirements, Finepoint Broadcast, a leading UK dry hire provider of production and OB equipment to the global marketplace, has announced the further addition of a range of Canon lenses to its hire stock portfolio.

The additions include the standard Canon CJ24, plus the Canon CJ45 and large UJ90 lenses (UHD DIGISUPER).

Finepoint Broadcast Hire Manager Clive Northen said, “Finepoint has not seen the disruptive business peaks and troughs of recent years that have been so prevalent in various broadcast sectors. To the contrary, our growth has been steady and continuous, due in part to our continual evaluation and investment in technologies, such as these Canon lenses, that provide a direct benefit to our customers.”

Finepoint Broadcast Chief Engineer Andrew Mckenzie said, “The Canon CJ24 is an acclaimed telephoto lens with a 24x broadcast zoom and a focal length of 7.5-180mm that offers 4K performance that is ideal for on-the-shoulder newsgathering. The ultra-high zoom CJ45 is packed with innovative, class-leading technology that is perfectly suited to wildlife and live-sport deployments.

And with a 90x zoom, 9-810mm focal length, and image stabilisation that's fully compatible with 2/3" 4K cameras and broadcast environments where HDTV is currently in use, the Canon UHD DIGISUPER 90 lens is perfect for expanding Finepoint Broadcast’s 4K lens range.”