Wireless

August 5, 2003
LinkXP systems transform the live feeds at Le Mans

UNITED KINGDOM -- Digital wireless camera systems were used for the first time for the live coverage of the Le Mans 24-hour race this year. Radio Camera Systems provided LinkXP systems from Link Research for all of the pit lane cameras and a live trackside feed for TV ASAI in Japan.

The cameras went out at 9am on the Saturday for the warm up and were not switched off until 4.30 on the Sunday afternoon, making Le Mans one of the toughest events to cover. However, this time the digital systems transformed the way the camera feeds could be managed.

Tony Valentino of Radio Camera Systems, who has covered Le Mans for ten years, said: "The people management aspect of Le Mans used to be real headache. Analogue cameras needed two operators pointing the antennas at the transmit end and the receive end for each camera. As it's such a long race, the operators needed to be rotated and there was always a risk that someone would lose concentration and lose the picture, or a cable would get pulled and have to be repaired. It used to be a very draining event to work on but this year it needed fewer people and it was much easier. And of course the quality of the pictures was a hundred times better."

Contact:
Link Research
Tel: +44-019-2320-0900
Email: daver@linkres.co.uk
www.linkres.co.uk