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THE NEWS
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Panasonic joins Latvian HD production market
At the end of December Hannu Pro and Ansis Epners studio AVE, represented by producer Ivars Zviedris, agreed on the purchase of a DVCPRO HD camcorder – the first in Latvia. The new Panasonic AJ-HDX900 camcorder, which can record in both 720p and 1080i/p digital TV formats, delivers great capabilities in HD production of TV programs, music and video clips, corporate video and other content, virtually anywhere in the world. A progressive HD CCD, as well as 14-bit digital processing, assures outstanding image quality. A new film-like gamma curve and newly developed dynamic range stretching (DRS) function respond to high-end production needs. The camcorder provides traditional recording to tape in DVCPRO HD-LP format, as well as direct recording to an external device, for nonlinear editing, via IEEE 1394 or SDI ports. In the current Hannu Pro offer it is equipped with an excellent Fujinon HD HA13x4.5 BERM wide-angle lens featuring unique DigiPower functions: Quick Zoom, Cruise Zoom, One Shot Preset, Zoom Limiter and Zoom Speed. The total value of the delivered system exceeds EUR 40 000.
»»» Additional information about Panasonic AJ-HDX900 camcorder (.pdf)
»»» Additional information about Fujinon HD HA13x4.5 BERM wide lens (.pdf)
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Hannu Pro provides EUR 200 000 professional HD video projector,
the first in the Baltic States
In December Hannu Pro was awarded the Riga City Council tender for a powerful video projector for its Riga cinema, to support high-resolution movie projection. Thanks to close cooperation with JVC Europe and a special assistance programme to culture, a favourable EUR 50 000 price was secured for the purchase of JVC's DLA-QX1E HD video projector – rated at 7000 lumens and a 2K cinema-resolution capability. It is expected that one of the projector's first missions will be the premiere of the epochal Aigars Grauba movie The Guards of Riga in 2007. This state-of-the-art equipment now proudly takes its place as the first professional JVC HD video projector in the Baltic States.
In December Hannu Pro also won a price poll to supply a powerful multimedia projector for the Christian organization Prieka Vests, which received a brand new Panasonic PT-D5600E XGA 5000 lumen DLP video projector worth EUR 4500.
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Lattelecom upgrades network monitoring centre
At the beginning of December Hannu Pro and telecommunication provider Lattelecom agreed on the upgrade of company's monitoring centre. Under the terms of the EUR 60 000 project, a new visual control system will be developed for Lattelecom's network control department. The Panasonic TH-50PH9EK 50" plasma displays will be wall-mounted and conforming data routers/switchers will also be supplied.
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 Hannu Pro seminars and customer party
On November 10, 2006 Hannu Pro organized two notable events - the annual customer party and a seminar devoted to Grass Valley HD production technology; a perfect chance to combine a useful experience exchange with relaxation.
»»» Additional information about HD seminars is available here:
»»» Full insight into customer party developments is available here (in Latvian only): |
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Premier Riga night club sets up advanced video production studio
In December Hannu Pro and night club Studio 69 agreed on a deal valued at more than EUR 69 000 for the supply of professional video equipment for the club's production studio. Delivered equipment includes two professional JVC GY-HD 251E ProHD camcorder sets, a Grass Valley Indigo HD production video/audio mixer, a camera crane, Anton Bauer camera lights, and SWIT batteries and chargers. The newly developed studio will focus mainly on production of high quality entertainment programmes.
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Visio production house goes for new editing facility
 Well known Latvian independent production house Visio, in cooperation with Hannu Pro, has put into effect a substantial expansion project. In this contract Hannu Pro has delivered equipment worth EUR 30 000, which includes a powerful Tiburon Core Duo workstation with Avid Xpress 5.6 software, an Avid Adrenaline +HP XW84000 system for production process acceleration and a Sony HVR-Z1 HDV camcorder fully loaded with bag, tripod and SWIT batteries.
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SWIT accessories - the great alternative to traditional solutions
Highly acclaimed production accessory manufacturer SWIT, which produces affordable accessories for almost every professional video camera brand, has now brought its products to the Latvian marker through its local partner – Hannu Pro. With their high degree of compatibility and realistic pricing SWIT are a very viable alternative to traditional camera accessories. SWIT has proved its reliability in television companies in several neighbouring countries who have already chosen SWIT products. It is expected that demand for SWIT products will continue to grow in Latvia as well. In December Hannu Pro delivered SWIT equipment worth several thousand EUR. This included an HD LCD monitor, S-1080BF camera lights for Sony and Canon cameras and popular DV batteries.
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Canopus boosts product sales in Latvia
 Hannu Pro, as the Baltic States Grass Valley distributor, has significantly increased sales of Canopus video editing and encoding products in Q4 2006. In November alone, Hannu Pro delivered Canopus systems and products valued at more than EUR 12000. An ACEDVio video editing card was supplied to Rezeknes Augstskola (Rezekne Higher Education Institution); an ADVC110 digital video converter was delivered to the Balticom telecommunications operator as well as two fully loaded Canopus Edius NX HD NLE systems. TV5 received a Canopus Edius NX HD system and a Tiburon Core Duo workstation equipped with two LCD monitors and M-Audio speakers. These will be used to edit shots for the popular TV show Sirdspukite II. Video will be recorded directly in HDV to the system's hard drives via FireWire. This efficient recording and editing technology will effect considerable savings in production costs. Another Canopus Edius NX HD system was delivered to an independent video amateur to edit videos shot with a Sony HDV camcorder. Hannu Pro customers, who saw and tested Canopus Edius systems at Hannu Pro's customer party equipment presentation, commented favourably on the numerous outstanding features of the Canopus nonlinear editing system. The well designed, intuitive and user-friendly interface and great compatibility of Canopus fits it equally well for creative synergy in large production houses or TV companies as well as for uncompromised video editing at independent home studios.
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TV5 receives powerful computers for broadcast automation
 At the end of November Hannu Pro delivered to TV5 two powerful Tiburon Core Duo computers packed with BlackMagic Design Multibridge Extreme and Multibridge Pro hardware. Included was PlayBox AirBox Pro software for broadcast automation as well as PlayBox TitleBox character generator software. The total investment for this broadcast automation project was EUR 10 000.
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The State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia begins the introduction of a biometric identification system
 A tender, organized by The State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia for the best biometric identification solution for Riga international airport, closed in November. Hannu Pro team's solution, which proposed NEC's NEO face and fingerprint control system, which can be easily integrated into REIS-2002 database environment, was chosen as the best for the first phase of biometric identification system development. This first phase of the project is set to finish in May 2007 at an estimated cost of EUR 310 000. Hannu Pro's local partner - TietoEnator Alise - will provide the localization of the systems's user interfaces.
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Lattelecom finishes first phase of IP TV introduction
In November, in cooperation with general subcontractor Optibase, Hannu Pro concluded RFU tests (stability tests will be finished soon) and configuration of the most advanced IP TV system in the Baltic States for Lattelecom. The leading Latvian telecommunications company will now be able to offer 21st century interactive TV services to its clients.
The IP TV solution developed by Hannu Pro provides all of the advanced features of contemporary interactive TV - dozens of TV channels, video on demand (VOD), personal video archiving (nPVR), network time shifting (NTS), multi-language subtitles, personalized channel sets, electronic programme guide (EPG), and additional services, all of which the user can easily program on an STB (set top box) using a remote control. Thanks to the scalability of the system, additional services such as games, karaoke, and Internet access can be added in the future.
The core of Lattelecom's IP TV system is made up of Optibase MPEG4 video stream encoders, ORCA middleware, WideVine's conditional access management tools, and BitBand's technology, which supports video on demand features. Kreatel STBs will be used as decoders to interactively deliver media content to each customer. Additional equipment provided with this project includes Swedish Microwave satellite heads, Scopus satellite receivers, and Leitch routers.
»»» Additional information about the Lattelecom IPTV project is available here
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Hannu Pro develops EUR 160 000 video installation project for Siauliai Sports Arena
In October Hannu Pro finished project development for Siauliai Sports Arena to provide high quality video installations and to support mobile production of sports event reports and signal feeding the into hall's information, video club and TV networks.
In using equipment supporting SDI signals to replace analogue video equipment and signal transmission schemes, which have been used in hall installation projects until now, Siauliai Sports Arena is set to become the best equipped sports hall in Lithuania.
The overall solution is based on Grass Valley's Indigo SD digital video/audio mixer and Grass Valley's compact Turbo iDDR server, which provides simultaneous playback of two output streams and parallel recording of an input stream, supports SDI input/output and gives the best possible SD digital video quality. For capture at fixed locations JVC KY-F560E cameras with Fujinion robotic Pan/Tilt heads are used. Mobile recording involves GY-HD110 camcorders equipped with high quality Fujinon optics, Vinten tripods, and SWIT batteries. Content editing is carried out on a Canopus Edius NX HDV facility. State-of-the-art Grass Valley REV PRO tapeless storage technology and a JVC BR-HD50E VTR are used to accomplish all media storage tasks. Completing the system, JVC monitors are used for accurate signal monitoring.
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The State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia develops multimedia archive
In October the tender, to supply equipment and software for the
Central Board's
server centre and the border crossing points of the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia, was concluded. The chosen solution, provided by Hannu Pro in cooperation with Hermitage, was acknowledged as the best for media content achieving. It includes Square Box Systems Ltd. software and a powerful server system to accommodate a large number of local and remote users. Within this EUR 34 000 project Hannu Pro, together with its partners, will deliver a CatDV 5 Enterprise MAM (media asset management) system, and carry out installation and staff training.
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LNK has started broadcasts from its new studio
 With the start of the new TV season, LNK has started regular broadcasts from the largest state-of-the-art automated play-out studio in the Baltic States. This EUR 1 000 000 project, based on latest Grass Valley and Aveco products and solutions, was developed and set up by Hannu Pro
at the end of this summer. Installation and audio equipment delivery was carried out by the Lithuanian company, TVC services.
»»» Additional information about new LNK playout studio is available here
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 TVBC sets up new EUR 18 000 editing studio
At the end of September Hannu Pro provided a professional nonlinear editing solution to the TVBC company, made up of a Sony J-30 editing vtr and a fully loaded Xpress Studio HD set including Avid Mojo and Digidesign editing controller Digi 002.
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IBC 2006 has finished 
The annual IBC exhibition took place from 7-12 September, 2006, in Amsterdam. This year a team of eight professionals from Hannu Pro attended the show. As already reported, there were many interesting new developments from major media industry players such as Grass Valley, JVC and others. Hannu Pro managers gathered a great deal of information during the exhibition to prepare presentations about several promising projects. All of this information will be available at the annual Hannu Pro customers' party which, as usual, will be held at the end of the year. See you then.
»»» IBC 2006 in photo
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Industry experts are preparing for IBC 2006
To show latest developments to a wider audience, many leading electronics companies are starting preparations for Europe's largest broadcasters' show - IBC - far in advance of its annual September date in Amsterdam.
This year Grass Valley will demonstrate the industry's most comprehensive digital application offerings - products and services that support multi-authoring, multi-format, multi-distribution operations. Solutions that are helping realize any creative vision while leveraging the latest technologies - affordably and securely. To take an interactive tour of Grass Valley IBC 2006 pavilions, just click here.
JVC is also preparing interesting new product demonstrations:
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· New Studio camera GY-HD251 (new Super-Encoder MPEG-2 Chip for better picture quality, camera control and taly/intercom bi-directional communication via 26-pin multi-core cable (using CCU), HD/SD-output, HD SDI-output with embedded audio
· GY-HD200/201 the Engineering Sample
· 3-in-1 Recorder SR-DVM600
· New LCD Flatscreen Monitors (HD) from 9" to 24" for studios
· New Plasma Monitors (42" and 50")
· Playout Solution for the Presentation Market (JVC TV Tools)
· Video Asset Management System with Blu-ray based Archive solution
· NLE Support for ProHD from Avid, Canopus, Apple and Adobe/Matrox and New ProHD accessories
· Wireless Video Broadcast of HD-Material from camera to Studio/OB Van
· Large-screen projection in 1.920 x 1.080 with D-ILA Technology |
The most important new JVC products to be shown in Amsterdam were presented to the Hannu Pro team in August at special seminars organized by JVC.
See You in Amsterdam; the Hannu Pro team will attend the show in full line-up!
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Hannu Pro achieves success in sports
 This summer, on August 12, the annual Silicon Group sports games were held at the Valgums recreation complex. Numerous sports teams, representing different Silicon Group companies, competed for prizes and entertained on the night. The Hannu Pro team actively participated in sports events and the evening's performance and achieved great success both in sports and entertainment.
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A photo report of the event is available here (in Latvian).
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Hannu Pro will provide JVC equipment for the Tallinn University
Following an open tender organized by Tallinn University's Baltic Film and Media School, Hannu Pro was picked up as the supplier of production equipment worth more than EUR 40 000. At the commencement of the school year three JVC GY-HD111E camcorders fully equipped with accessories - Cammrade bags, superior batteries, chargers and lightsas well as Focus Enhancements FireStore HDD recorders, JVC BR-HD50E vtr, fully equipped Sony HVR-Z1 camcorder, Sony HVR-M15E vtr and Sennheiser audio equipment will be available for students' use.
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Thomson to supply HD news systems for France 24
 In a relatively short period Thomson has won another tender to supply a turnkey HD news production solution for a global scale TV company France 24 owned by TF1 and France Televisions groups. Last year Thomson won the Al Jazeera International tender and was awarded a multi-million dollar contract for the first worldwide full high-definition news channel.
As part of the current EUR 30 million project Thomson broadcast and technology infrastructure and services, including Grass Valley systems for video production, encoding, signal editing and routing will be provided to France 24, enabling a December 2006 launch of worldwide bilingual (English and French) news broadcasts employing a dedicated staff in excess of 170 journalists.
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Hannu Pro to deliver IRD systems for Estonian Levira
 A tender for the supply of equipment for signal reception and decoding, called by Levira, the largest Estonian wireless telecommunications operator, closed in July. Hannu Pro was awarded the contract and will deliver IRD (integrated receiver-decoder) systems valued at EUR 20 000.
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 Hannu Pro and Lattelekom are developing turnkey MPEG4 IPTV solution - the first in the Baltic States
The tender to supply a complete IPTV solution for Lattelekom, the major telecommunications operator in Latvia, closed in July and a Hannu Pro solution - prepared, developed and tested in close cooperation with Optibase for more than 6 months - was chosen as the most competitive. Project details will follow later.
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Hannu Pro and Orad offer a chance to experience virtual reality
On July 14 in the premises of Latvian national TV in Riga, Hannu Pro in cooperation with Orad arranged a presentation of virtual technology. Representatives from all leading Latvian TV companies and TV producers took part in the event. After a brief information describing Hannu Pro's latest activities, Orad's representative Uri Meydar introduced the company, with its virtual solutions for static and moving camera, to attendees. Later everyone moved to the Panorama studio, which was equipped with bluescreen and sensors to track studio camera movements, to test Orad's Cyber Set system in real studio conditions. The presentation demonstrated the incredible accuracy, simplicity and mobility of Orad's virtual studio systems.
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In July Hannu Pro commenced delivery of the latest Avid editing tools
After preparatory work carried out over more than a month, in July Hannu Pro has delivered the latest Avid production tools to several Latvian customers.
One of Hannu Pro's most loyal customers, Vides Filmu studija, has taken up an Avid Assurance contract for an annual fee of only LVL 1245 the first in Latvia. An Avid Assurance contract provides the following benefits: automatic software maintenance releases for operational enhancements, minor new features, and bug fixes (where applicable), extended hardware warranty, advanced exchange and preferred pricing on qualified Avid replacement parts, Avid Europe telephone support, and optional 24/7 telephone support.
In July two new companies joined the already extensive Latvian Avid community by choosing Avid non-linear editing tools from Hannu Pro, the local Avid partner. The new 5.5 version of Avid Xpress Pro editing software and accessories (Avid editing keyboard and Contour Shuttle controller) was supplied to ELM Media studio, and Klipu Filmu Darbnica production house took delivery of an advanced Avid editing solution: Avid Xpress Pro 5.5 software and an Avid Mojo SDI accelerator and input/output device.
As the number of Avid users in the Baltic States continues to grow, Hannu Pro is considering additional training classes and invites people who are interested in Avid training to contact Hannu Pro about desired training times and scope. Phone +371 67 452 206 for additional information.
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Hannu Pro service centre provides Grass Valley system service
At the beginning of July Hannu Pro service managers took part in a one week staff training session at the Grass Valley Thomson service and training centre in Paris. The main focus of Grass Valley training is to enhance the ability of Hannu Pro's service centre to provide local support (installation, custom configuration and maintenance) for Grass Valley customers in the Baltic States. In the middle of July the installation, configuration and testing of a Grass Valley K2 server for LNK, the Lithuanian TV company, was carried out - a first in the Baltic States. All required systems and equipment were shipped under the terms of the broadcast and production studio development project that started in March 2006.
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HDV equipment becoming increasingly popular in Latvian independent
production houses
In May and June, while working on large projects such as LNK's studio development and play-out automation, Hannu Pro also delivered HDV production equipment and accessories valued more than EUR 40 000 to several independent production houses. At the beginning of summer Memais Sovs studio received a JVC GY-HD1000E HDV camcorder equipped with WCV-82SC wide-angle lens and PAG batteries and the a JVC BR-HD50E HDV video tape recorder. Meanwhile three Sony HVR-Z1E camcorders with accessories, one HVR-A1E camera, HVR-M15 video tape recorder and audio production tools from Edirol were delivered to producer Igor Linga studio AGG, The LU Institute of Literature, Folklore and Arts (where Hannu Pro won a public tender) and AJC Orbita community.
More new customers have chosen to stay with Hannu Pro for studio gear upgrades after completing first projects. In June, after the successful development of an HDV editing facility, studio Forma Pro received a new Sony DSR-PD170P Mini DV camcorder, but the technical resources of postproduction studio N2 were augmented with 2.3 TB Infortrend fibre channel RAID and associated equipment in a EUR 20 000 deal. This upgrades the previously supplied Apple based uncompressed HD video editing facility.
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Grass Valley Indigo mixer hits the production market
 The new Grass Valley Indigo mixer offers great flexibility for working with different video formats. It provides simultaneous SD and HD video combinations from a wide variety of sources: composite, S-video, IEEE 1394, SDI, DVI (PC video) and direct input from devices like Grass Valley Turbo iDDR. It also provides up-conversion and down-conversion between HD and SD to send new SD and/or HD signals for further processing, archiving or direct broadcast via composite, S-video, IEEE 1394, SDI, and DVI (PC video) interfaces. The Indigo mixer is loaded with many useful effects commonly found in broadcast video consoles: DVE, color correction, picture in picture, keying, and 2D/3D transitions. Together with video processing Indigo also offers synchronous audio commutation and can be controlled automatically from a remote device via RS-422, USB or 100Base-T Ethernet ports.
»»» Aditional information is available from Grass Valley partners Hannu Pro, phone +371 67 452 206.
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Hannu Pro supports young video artists
 The international young artists movie festival 2Annas has concluded and prizes (Sony DCR-HC24E and Canon MV890 camcorders and four Pinnacle video editing toolsets) supplied jointly by Hannu Pro and Pinnacle have been awarded. Congratulations to the new talents who worked hard to offer a full spectrum of emotions to the audience. The full list of winners and additional information is available on the official festival website - www.2annas.lv
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Hannu Pro takes part in Grass Valley distributor seminar
 In May Hannu Pro engineers took part in the annual distributors' seminar organized by leading broadcast systems manufacturer Grass Valley Thomson in Paris. Around 300 people from Europe, the Near East and South America attended the event. During the three-day seminar, Grass Valley representatives informed participants about latest solutions and provided in-depth answers to practical questions at workshops, where attendees were able to have hands-on practice with Grass Walley products.
Among new products presented was Grass Valley's Indigo Audio/Video mixer (which will be officially launched worldwide in June), with ingest, nonlinear editing and play-list management software for news, sports, and feature production. Also demonstrated were the Aurora software suite (the first installation is at Al Jazeera) and Infinity series camera which supports recording on to REV Pro and flash media and has a feature set rarely found in any other camera: SD and HD resolution video in NTSC or PAL, DV, MPEG, J2000 format support and much more. During the workshops dealers were also able to test other Grass Valley products: K2 server, SD and HD multi-channel systems, Turbo DDR disc recorders, M-VTR, Kayak HD 3 M/E video mixer, Ignite automated news and programme playout system, Canopus MPEG2 and MPEG4 SD/HD video encoders and many more.
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Pinnacle Systems Eastern Europe representative visits Riga
 In early May the sales agent of Pinnacle Systems Eastern Europe, Simona Kalibova, visited Riga for the first time to promote Pinnacle product distribution. The visit started with a meeting with Hannu Pro, Pinnacle's Latvian partners, to plan sales strategy in the region. Both parties agreed to promote the Pinnacle PCTV product line to secure rapid leadership in this market segment. Later Simona Kalibova met the representatives of Hannu Pro partners and Pinnacle retailers: SIA DCP, SIA EET, SIA Capital and also visited potential Pinnacle retail stores in the largest Riga shopping centres: Alfa, Domina, Spice, and Mols.
At the end of this visit both parties agreed to share marketing and other activities to further promote Pinnacle products and brand. Simona Kalibova thanked to Hannu Pro staff for their active product and brand promotion among professional video editors and home video enthusiasts.
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Hannu Pro visits NAB 2006
 During May Hannu Pro professionals made their customary visit to one of the largest broadcast and multimedia exhibitions, NAB in Los Angeles. This year Hannu Pro also organized equipment presentations for Hannu Pro customers (LNK, LRTC), as well as meeting with manufacturers to discuss technical details related to upcoming projects. During the show Hannu Pro attended numerous seminars to obtain directly the most current information and develop contacts with new partners. The most important NAB news this season was the Thomson Grass Valley tapeless camcorder and recorder systems presentation. Thanks to Hannu Pro's active participation in this important exhibition, the latest Grass Valley technologies and solutions from other companies will shortly be available to Hannu Pro customers in Latvia and other Baltic States.
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Awards to Avid contest winners
Hannu Pro has presented prizes from Avid to the best video editors at the Hannu customer party contest. Sandijs Volks, Kaspars Priede and Kristaps Brize all received fully functional Avid Express DV software packages. Congratulations!
»»» For a photo report and additional information please check this link (in Latvian only)
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The annual Hannu Pro customer party was held under the Avid brand
On March 31 Hannu Pro held its annual customer party in the Dzintara bowling hall (Domina Shopping centre, Riga). To open the evening's technical segment, the Hannu Pro team presented the latest developments in multimedia and broadcast technology (including recent Grass Valley, Hannu Pro and LNK collaboration for HD-ready TV studio development) to the attendees, made up of representatives of many TV companies and broadcasters, production houses, independent studios, and telecommunication companies. Following this introduction, Ari Rissanen (AVID Finland) and ¨ystein Riise Nżss (Avid Nordic) provided a complete in-depth guide to the Avid Xpress product line, and Timo Koho (Exiformat, Finland) informed participants about solutions for interactive 3D presentations offered by his company.
As well as the bowling tournament, there was an Avid competition for the best evening news report editing. The winners received valuable prizes - Olympus digital camera, iPod Nano and the special surprise gift - three Avid Express DV software packages from Avid.
»»» For a photo report and additional information please check this link (in Latvian only)
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Hannu Pro and LNK agree on studio equipment delivery and TV automation system development.
 In March, Hannu Pro and LNK, the largest Lithuanian commercial TV company, agreed on broadcast studio development based on Grass Valley solutions and an Aveco automation system. The studio will obtain a fully tape-less workflow, and multi-channel broadcast automation, as well as future-proof support for broadcasting in HD formats. The technology behind this project is unique in many ways and will be one of the first in Europe to combine:
· legendary Grass Valley Infinity series SD/HD ENG tape-less cameras supporting recording on REV Pro or/and flash media
· outstanding unique 12-channel Grass Valley K2 video server
· latest Grass Valley Kyak 1.5 and 2.5 ME studio mixers supporting HD
· Maestro A+B Master control mixers providing great possibilities of channel development diversification
· six LDK 400 Digital Triax equipped studio cameras supporting 4:3 and 16:9 formats
· Grass Valley Concerto 64x64 SDI studio routers and Jupiter system control
· Aveco based multi-channel automation system (the first in the Baltic States) with a planned upgrade path from an initial two to six A+B programmes in the near future.
Estimated cost for the first phase of project development is close to EUR 1 million.
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Hannu Pro and Baltkom TV have agreed on streaming video server and MPEG2 encoding system development.
Under the terms of a recently signed contract and investment plan Hannu Pro will deliver a EUR 67 000 nVOD (Near Video On Demand) solution, (which includes a powerful streaming video server and MPEG2 encoding equipment) to Balkom TV, a leading cable TV company. The realization of this project will deliver a video-on-demand service to Baltkom TV subscribers, who will be able to choose programmes interactively. Principal equipment in this system is a Grass Valley MaeStream streaming video server with nVOD applications, enabling broadcasting of up to 48 programmes and more than 320 hours of movies or other video content over the Baltkom TV cable networks.
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 The first XL-H1 rolls into the Latvian market.
In March 2006, Hannu Pro delivered an XL-H1, the latest Canon XL series camcorder, to Lokomotive production house for use in creative ad and movie production. The new Canon XL-H1 camcorder features the same exceptional control over image and camcorder settings, first used in the legendary XL1 and XL2 DV camcorders, together with new HDV (high definition video) technology. Providing great flexibility and creative environment, the Canon XL-H1 is one of the best HDV camcorders available in the market today at affordable prices that start at EUR 8500.
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 LVRTC develops SDH wireless communication network.
As the 70th World Ice Hockey Championship, which will take the place in Riga from May 6 through 21, 2006, comes closer, Latvian State Radio and TV Centre, in cooperation with Hannu Pro, is carrying out the development of an SDH wireless network. April delivery of NEC's latest Pasolink NEO wireless link systems, as well as Ross Video and Videotek vido/audio monitoring equipment worth a total of EUR 122 000 is essential. The planned upgrade of existing equipment and the new installations will help in live sports programme broadcasts from the new Riga sports hall where the championship will be held.
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 Forma Pro studio extends its production capacity.
Latvian TV journalist and producer Igor Pronjin, in cooperation with the Hannu Pro team, is set to finish his Forma Pro studio expansion project by the end of February, utilising three new nonlinear editing workstations based on Apple G5 Quad 2.5 GHz PowerMacs complemented with brilliant Apple Cinema HD monitors. A DeckLink SP Component Capture card for video signal recording and the Apple Final Cut Studio for video/audio editing and special effects will also be used. Additional studio equipment delivered by Hannu Pro will include Sony Betacam BVW-75 and DVCAM DSR-11 vtrs, a Soundcraft Spirit-M8 mixer, JBL, Shure and AKG audio equipment as well as a mobile HDV (high definition video) production facility made up of a Sony HVR-Z1 HDV camcorder equipped with Vinten tripod, camRade accessories and HVR-M10E vtr. The project cost is EUR 43 000.
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Latvian higher education institutions get latest video technology
On New Years Eve Hannu Pro won two tenders, organized by the leading Latvian art and culture academies, the Latvian Academy of Arts and the Latvian Academy of Culture, to supply new video production equipment worth EUR 21 000. Most of the equipmenthad been delivered early in 2006. The Latvian Academy of Arts received a professional Sony HVR-Z1 HDV format camcorder, as well as Sony HVR-M10 and DSR-11 vtrs. Similar equipment - Sony HVR-Z1 camcorder, Sony HVR-M10 vtr and camRade carrying case was delivered to the students at the Latvian Academy of Culture at the same time.
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Hannu Pro performs additional staff training.
In February Hannu Pro staff members took part in active training programmes organized by Apple and Grass Valley Thomson in order to provide even better service to Hannu Pro customers.
 At the Grass Valley plant and System group centre in Veiterstad, Germany, Hannu Pro, as the official Grass Valley distributor in the Baltic countries, received the latest information about HD and SD production solutions, cameras/camcorders, servers, news systems, production consoles and other gear. The experience gained at the Grass Valley training centre will enable Hannu Pro customers, who actively operate in broadcast, TV production and postproduction businesses, to receive information about the latest developments as quickly as possible.
 Form February 14 to 16 Hannu Pro, as Apple's authorized broadcast solutions partner in the Baltic countries, attended XSAN Broadcast Training at the Agnosys training centre in France. A total of 9 participants from Latvia, UAE, France, Malta, Finland, Hungary and Lebanon took part in the three-day training course, which included theory issues related to server installation, planning, maintenance, and media management, as well as a practical course to produce a fully configured XSAN server equipped with 2 TB RAID.
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Hannu Pro and Grass Valley have carried out sucessful broadcast equipment demonstrations in Vilnius and Riga
At the beginning of February Hannu Pro, in cooperation with Grass Valley, organized comprehensive production technology demonstrations in Latvia and Lithuania. During these demonstrations the representatives of leading Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian TV companies and broadcast providers were introduced to the Grass Valley K2 server systems and LDK-400 broadcast camcorder equipped with the state-of-art Fujinon optics and were given the opportunity to check the functionality of the systems presented, and discover the advantages of applying Grass Valley products to provide efficient and flexible broadcast production workflow, at first hand.
»»» additional photos from the demonstrations in Riga and Vilnius are available here
»»» read also about Grass Valley success in the Academy Awards
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Hannu Pro and PBK continue cooperation for music channel upgrade
In January Hannu Pro and PBK (The First Baltic channel), one of the leading Baltic TV companies, signed a EUR 26000 contract to carry out an upgrade and integration of First Music channel's studio, which was established last year, into the PBK studio network at the Zakusala TV centre. A Hyundai 710A workstation equipped with BlackMagic Design DeckLink Extreme input/output board, PlayBox software (CaptureBox and ListBox) and a 4TB RAID system will be installed into the existing studio environment. Additional video equipment will be provided as well - a Sony DVCAM vtr DSR-DR1000P, 9" compact control monitors and audio equipment, a Leitch audio multiplexer and a TC Electronic Finalizer Express sound enhancer.
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LNT (Latvian independent television) introduces centralized video editing
Hannu Pro has started 2006 with a challenging new EUR 100 000 project - the development of a centralized video storage and editing system for LNT, a major Latvian independent TV company. In January Hannu Pro will deliver and install a state-of-art Hyundai Dual Intel Xenon 3600 server equipped with 12TB Infortrend RAID module and two powerful Hyundai Dual Intel Xenon 3600 workstations. These PC systems are equipped with three BlackMagic Design DeckLink Extreme video input output cards, PlayBox (CaptureBox, ListBox, AirBox Pro) software for media management, Adobe Premiere Pro software. Also to be supplied is a Tiger Technology MetaSAN network storage system, the first in the Baltic States. This supports ten (and more) editing facilities, providing simultaneous access to any media data in the system's storage resources for any authorised system user, utilising traditional Ethernet technology instead of expensive fibre channel SAN (storage area networking) systems. The peripheral devices of this system include: two Sony DSR-1500P DVCAM vtrs two Sony BVW-70P Betacam editing vtrs, Kramer switchers as well as audio equipment from Soundcraft, Yamaha, Shure and AKG.
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One more year - one more production studio
This January has started with the establishment of new production studio in Riga. The founder of this newly developed 3B studio is popular auto journalist Roberts Jansons, and Hannu Pro is the provider of the technical solutionfor this EUR 17 000 project. A fully equipped professional Avid Xpress Studio HD Complete video editing system, which includes editing software, Avid Mojo effects accelerator and M-Audio mixer, forms the core of the installation; additional support equipment includes Sony DSR-1500AP DVCAM and Sony PVW-2800P Betacam vtrs and Yamaha monitors. The first programmes devoted to motor sports and industry news will be broadcast by major Latvian TV companies in the next few months.
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Activities in the Apple market continue
 At the end of 2005 newly developed N2 postproduction studio, an offshoot of the noted Baltic video production company Vilks Productions, contracted with Hannu Pro on delivery of an HD video editing solution for the company, with a January deadline. Equipment delivered within this project included an Apple G5 Quad 2.5 GHz PowerMac workstation, Apple Final Cut Studio editing software and one of the first units of BlackMagic Design Multibridge Extreme video input/output board delivered to the European market to provide recording of uncompressed (4:4:4) HD video.
Similar equipment (Apple G5 PowerMac, Final Cut Studio and DeckLink Express) was delivered at the end of 2005 to the Lota Studio production house, and Gilde studio received a fully equipped Apple PowerBook 15" mobile editing workstation.
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| more news (Year 2005) »»» |
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