China Formula 1 Uplinking by Multi-Link Holland
3 Chinese uplink dishes for the EBU transmissions in Shanghai, China
The Dutch satellite uplink company Multi-Link Holland is responsible for all Formula 1 EBU (European Broadcasting Union) transmissions. This company travels the world since 2004 for the Formula 1. You can regonice them easily by their green uplink dishes. Since 2004 they produce satellite uplinks at the Formula 1 for many broadcasters, RTL Netherlands, RTL+ Germany, ORF Austria, Sky Italia, Ferrari TV, ViaSat Sweden and more. They will give us an inside look through the whole season in what they must achieve on every location they land with their equipment, starting this weekend in Melbourne Australia and ending 25 november in Brazil. At this last race in Brazil we will do a special report about this company on the Interlagos circuit.
2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix:
"We are in China now", Gerben Vissers of Multi-Link Holland explains.
"China is totaly different from the first 2 locations we transmitted from this season, Australia and Malaysia. In China, foreign companies like us cannot transmit themselves ! The transmitting of this event has to be done by a Chinese company. We were forced to hire 3 Chinese Uplinks. The problem is that these Chinese Uplinks do not have Mpeg 4 HD 4.2.2 encoders and NS3 modulators."
One of the 3 Chinese uplink-trucks in Shanghai , China
Gerben: "Than there is the communication with our Chinese colleagues, this is the most difficult part. We have 3 Chinese Trucks for the Uplinks. In these trucks there are working 12 Chinese technicians .... Just one of them speaks a little bit english , so imagine the communication with them. We have to use our hands and feet to get our things done"
Inside the Chinese uplink-trucks in Shanghai , China
Gerben: "We just use their Dishes and HPA's. The encoding we do our selfs from our own cabin on the TV compound. In the morning we ask them to start the transmission, and at the end of our working day we just ask them to stop transmitting. This is working smooth till now."
All signals Multi-Link Holland transmits for the EBU are checked by the Chinese government. The signals from their mobile MCR are first transported to a CCTV MCR of a Chinese government department. The reason of this is that the Chinese government wants to have the possibility in stopping the transmission of this event when they think this is needed for Chinese national security reasons.
The local mobile EBU F1 MCR from Multi-Link Holland in Shanghai , China
More photo's available on our Broadcast Brazil Facebook page, you can find them here. Like us if you want ;)
Next week Bahrain, this will be at least an 'interesting' locations because of the political situation in this country. The 3 Gigaset dishes are already on transport, so at least Multi-Link we be able to use their own equipment over there.
mentioned:
Multi-Link Holland
EBU
Mpeg
Gigasat