Newington, VA – April 6, 2009 – Baltimore Oriolesfans will experience Oriole Park at Camden Yards in a whole new way when the 2009 baseball season starts today thanks to the debut of a new high-definition (HD) digital production system designed and built by Communications Engineering, Inc. (CEI).
The Maryland Stadium Authority, which operates Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the premiere site for sports and entertainment activities in Baltimore, brought in CEI to upgrade the existing analog facilities to a modern HD production facility. The new system, which will officially go into operation at today’s first game of the season, can originate HD programming to the stadium’s new HD LED video displays. The system will also generate two new HD channels to add custom HD content to the in-house cable system. The project resulted in a modern event-day presentation that incorporates the latest HD capabilities.
The new system includes resources to receive and record HD video and audio feeds from network television production trucks, as well as video signals from the dedicated video replay system, graphics system, cameras, satellite receivers and other external audio and video sources.
CEI was responsible for developing engineering and operational information, while producing conceptual and detailed designs for the Oriole Park control room requirements. The project included generating floor plans, signal drawings, schedules, and power requirements, as well as designing operating consoles, furniture, and interfaces to existing Oriole Park systems. The system is designed to integrate with the HD broadcast trucks at Oriole Park, as well as Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media initiatives.
CEI also performed complete integration, testing and training at Oriole Park, while providing equipment and project management services for the entire modernization process, including schedule and budget controls. The system features new routing and production switching systems, monitoring equipment, fiber transmission equipment, intercom system and HD cameras.
“This significant upgrade provides the fans with a much higher quality of video and graphics, while also giving the Maryland Stadium Authority a much more flexible and powerful digital system,” said Frank Giliotti, CEI’s vice president of Technical Services. “We’ve built broadcast and multimedia facilities for a variety of stadiums, and Oriole Park certainly now has one of the finest HD systems in the country.”
Key equipment includes Sony HDC1450 HD Triax portable cameras and control units; Canon HD lenses; a Ross Vision 3 production switcher; an Evertz routing system, with integrated VIP-X Multi-viewer and test equipment; Sony HDWM 2000-20 tape decks; an Avid Deko 3000 HD character generator; Click Effects HD Crossfire, Wohler audio monitors; and Sony video monitors.
“We’re very pleased to be bringing HD capabilities to the fans at Oriole Park, and we’ve been able to provide this latest technology while still maintaining the classic look and feel of the ballpark,” said Vince Steier, technical manager for the Maryland Stadium Authority. “We are confident that the fans will notice a dramatic difference in the video and audio this year and they will be even more excited about coming to this great facility.”
Background:
CEI, located in Newington, VA, is a leading, award-winning broadcast and multi-media systems integrator. The company also offers complete equipment service, support and training, and supplies products and services to a wide range of commercial clients and non-profit businesses. Federal agencies and government organizations can be supplied through GSA. CEI has helped to define the leading edge of systems engineering and implementation for the communications industry since the mid1980’s.
