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Baltic broadcast market leader

THE NEWS   Latest Hannu Pro news:   Splius invests in Conax conditional access system   In December 2007 the Hannu Pro Vilnius team in cooperation with Conax engineers commissioned a Conax CAS7 conditional access system for one of the major Lithuanian cable TV operators, Splius (Telerena). The total number of Splius subscribers has already reached 100 000. The CAS7 conditional access system is the most advanced Conax solution for pay TV services. The core components of CAS7 are: CAS7 SAS Server which manages the generation of authorizations and the status of Conax smart cards; CAS7 EMM Injector, which manages entitlement management message (EMM) play-out queues and feeds EMMs to the head end; CAS7 ECM Generator - encryption and scrambled services packaging manager; Hardware Security Module for key storage and management and the Conax smart card, performing decryption to determine granting of access. A CAS7 system allows an operator to offer a wide variety of different programme packages to subscribers while maintaining full protection against unauthorized use of media.   Lattelecom improves and expands IP TV services   On New Years Eve Hannu Pro finished yet another Lattelecom IP TV system expansion project. The aim of this project was improvement of SAT signal reception and the addition of more TV channels. With the realization of this EUR 50 000 project, three new channels (The Music Channel, Vremja Blizkoe I Dalekoe and Dom Kino) will soon be available to Lattelecom IP TV subscribers. Equipment supplied includes an Evertz transmitter, and receiver; Grass Valley SDI splitters; Optibase encoders, and two new antennas for satellite reception. Hannu Pro engineers carried out installation, signal tests and equipment configuration.   Levira receives OB Van with HD support, most advanced in Baltic States   In December Hannu Pro, in cooperation with Alfacam supplied Levira, the Estonian State broadcasting company, with the most advanced OB van in the Baltic States. The van, named OB19, can handle up to 12 broadcast cameras, supports HD formats, and is ideal for sports and entertainment broadcasts. OB19 is equipped with nine Thomson GV LDK-6000 HD broadcast cameras, one LDK-6200 HD Super SloMo camera, which provides especially smooth slow motion video - important for sports events broadcasts - two video mixers (HD and SD) and a 48 channel audio mixer. With the purchase of the Alfacam OB van, Levira has become the owner of the first Thomson GV HD broadcast cameras in the Baltic States. This project sets a new milestone in the development of Baltic broadcasting services and facilitates the transition to HD broadcasting.    »»» in pictures: OB19 in Levira technical premises   Latvian Association of Telecommunications presents 2007 awards   On December 12, 2007 in its annual ceremony, the Latvian Association of Telecommunications (LTA) presented awards to the best talents of the Latvian telecommunications industry for their enthusiasm, innovative ideas and contribution to the development of the telecommunications sector in Latvia. During the ceremony LTA president Peteris Smidre emphasized the substantial breakthough achieved in the introduction of Digital TV in Latvia. Mr P. Smidre also acknowledged progress in the development of Internet TV; the Minister for Special Assignments for Electronic Government Affairs, Ina Gudele, emphasized achievements in broadband internet network development. Ten LTA awards presented to the laureates are tangible acknowledgements of their contribution to telecommunications development in Latvia. This year's laureates are:     · Ivars Ilgazs (Baltkom) who received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to digital TV development in Latvia (the award was presented to his family)   · Ervins Kampans (LMT) for mobile TV (DVB-H) introduction in Latvia   · Gints Kirsteins (Lattelecom) for IP TV introduction in Latvia and digital services tests   · Armands Vitols (Baltkom) for achieved results and long-term work on the introduction of digital cable broadcasting in Latvia   · Janis Zips (Hannu Digital) for professionalism and operative support of digital terrestrial broadcast tests   · LNT chairman Andrejs Ekis for professionalism and personal contribution to digital TV development   · Gintars Kavacis (Hannu Pro) for contribution in providing digital broadcast equipment   · Aleksands Cernisovs (LVRTC) for operative digital terrestrial broadcast equipment installation   · journalist Juris Kaza (Leta) for promotion of digital communications and technology   · Arnolds Vitols (RTU) for training of new technicians and knowledge of digital broadcasting   It is pleasing to note that most of the successes of 2007, including IP TV and DVB-T projects, has been achieved in cooperation with Hannu Pro.   Congratulations to all the laureates from the Hannu Pro team!   Hannu Pro customers evening - from shooting to premiere in 3 hours!   On November 30, 2007 Hannu Pro organized its annual customers' party with the theme - From shooting to premiere in 3 hours!, supported by an extensive seminar programme. Seminar participants were introduced to current Thomson GV, Panasonic, and Fujinon production tools; Vizrt virtual TV graphics and channel branding systems; Lite Panels, Cartoni, Beyerdynamic and Sound Devices accessories, as well as NEC, Actus Imago, and Riedel solutions. During the customers' evening entertainment activities, several Hannu Pro customers took part in a short scripted video movie production. The premiere of the movie at the close of the evening was very well received.    »»» additional information about Hannu Pro customers' day activities is available here (updated with video)   Thomson GV video editing solutions prove popular in Latvian schools   In November Hannu Pro signed six contracts to supply Thomson GV Edius nonlinear video editing systems (Edius Pro, Edius Neo, Edius DVX and Edius NX) to Latvian schools. Thomson GV offers favourable purchase conditions (academic licenses) for educational institutions. This special education support programme helps to reduce the costs of the software by up to 50%. Until the end of December, new Edius products will be supplied to: Faculty of Biology of the University of Latvia, Communication Study Department of the University of Latvia, The Institute of Literature and Folklore of the University of Latvia, Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Janis Rozentals Riga Art College, The House of Technical Creativity Annas 2.   Hannu Pro presents P2 tape-less technology in Riga   On November 14, 2007 Hannu Pro, in cooperation with Panasonic, organized a P2 series camera presentation and tape-less technology seminar. Panasonic representatives Yukisha Matsushita, Takahashi Uchida and Kari Korhonen introduced the attendees to the latest P2 series camera, the AG- HPX500 HD and explained its features. In the final part of the seminar, all participants were invited to test the tape-less production workflow including editing on Thomson GV Edius workstations. The manufacturer's representatives also kindly answered all questions. With the introduction of digital broadcasting in Latvia, tape-less production solutions are now the topic of the day, assuming particular importance in news programme production.    »»» additional information about P2 seminar is available here   Hannu Pro proves its potential and wins more tenders   In November Hannu Pro succeeded in several equipment purchase tenders and price polls organized by state organizations:   According to LTV (Latvian State TV) tender results, Hannu Pro will supply three Sound Devices 302 series compact production field mixers for audio signal flow control in outdoor productions as well as conforming accessories - chargers and Camrade bags. Hannu Pro the Sound Devices authorized representative in Latvia and Lithuania - is able to provide the best purchase terms for Sound Devices mobile recording equipment in the local market.   In another successful tender an Edius SP editing system - based on a powerful Intel Xeon 8 core workstation with two 20" monitors - was supplied to Tevijas Sargs. Tevijas Sargs also received additional studio equipment comprising JVC video and Genelec audio monitors. Project costs are EUR 11 000.   Following a favourable result in a price poll, Hannu Pro will deliver a JVC GY-HD210E ProHD camcorder and Edius nonlinear editing system to the Institute of Literature and Folklore of the University of Latvia. The project costs are EUR 16 700.   Another nonlinear editing system based on an Intel 8 core workstation (valued at EUR 11 000 was delivered to the production house ELM Media. The project also includes a video projector.   Hannu Pro takes part in K2 training programme   A massive TV equipment modernization process, which involves the introduction of tape-less TV and news programme production systems, is currently taking place in all Baltic States. This increases the demand for adequate server systems capable of meeting market requirements. To provide even better support for the numerous Hannu Pro customers (LNK, PBK and others), Hannu Pro service engineers and product managers visited the Thomson GV training centre in Weiterstadt (Germany) at the beginning of November. They augmented their existing expertise with specialized training in Thomson GV K2 server (L10, L20, L30, L40), K2 FTP Client and RAID system configuration, operation and administration. Recent K2 servers provide data rates up to 500MB/s. By combining several systems, new industry data rate records can be achieved. The single FTP Client data rate reaches 300MB/s and with additional FTP Client systems total transfer rates can be adjusted as necessary. With numerous advanced features the K2 system is today's most popular solution for broadcast, news and TV programme production. In the one and half year following the launch of the new K2 server, Thomson GV has sold nearly 2000 systems.    »»» check additional photos here   Lattelecom introduces state-of-the-art IPTV monitoring system   At the beginning of November Hannu Pro completed system component delivery and installation for the largest Latvian telecommunications provider, Lattelecom. The project is valued at EUR 61 000. The Observer IPTV monitoring system provides fully automated channel monitoring, 24/7, without involving staff and delivers an accurate, constantly updated view of the health of every channel on the video distribution network. The Observer RPM actively scans the entire channel lineup, detecting faults and issuing alerts with attached video. Manual mode allows centrally located technicians to troubleshoot and interact with remote set-top boxes. This permits proactive responses to faults, instead of waiting passively for customer complaints; additionally it eliminates unnecessary service trips to remote locations. Currently, the system supports a range of alarm conditions: loss of video signal (sync), black screen, frozen screen, low audio, missing captions/subtitles. All of these alerts have configurable thresholds to prevent false positive alarms.   Hannu Pro provides the solution for TV5's new reality show production   In October Hannu Pro finished the work on equipment delivery for the new TV5 reality show Hello Jurmala. This is technically one of the most extensive projects for TV entertainment programme production this year in Latvia and it involves the use of state-of-the-art professional tape-less cameras, powerful Thomson GV non-liner editing systems and other equipment. The value of the project exceeds EUR 150 000.    »»» additional information about the project is available here   Hannu Pro performs DVB-T signal tests   In October Hannu Pro in cooperation with Electronic Communications Office of Latvia and LVRTC (Latvian State Radio and TV centre), performed two independent digital terrestrial broadcast signal tests. The electromagnetic field intensity was measured according to CEPT recommendations in predefined locations in the 100 km radius area around Riga. The results of the signal tests showed that in the 80 km area around Riga the intensity of electromagnetic field generated by the 5kW DVB-T transmitters, which are located in TV tower in Zakusala, in frequency channels 43, 44, 45, 48, 59, and 66, does not fall below 50 dBµV/m in most cases, which provides good digital TV reception conditions in the central region of Latvia. Latvian TV watchers in the DVB-T coverage area now can receive following digital TV channels in the test mode: Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5 Test 6 LTV 1 TV 7 LNT TV5 MKi RTVi Test 7 Test 8 Test 9 Test 16 Test 17 Test 19 Nase Kino Teleklub TV 21 Eurosport 1 Kanals 7 Eurosport 2 In order to watch digital broadcasts, the TV set has to have digital decoder (usually TVs with built in decoder have an option/switch labelled 'Digital' on the remote control). TVs without built in decoder need additional DVB-T receiver/decoder (priced around 70-120 LVL). The analogue TV antenna upgrade is not required to receive digital signal.    »»» additional information about DVB-T introduction in Latvia is available here   Hannu Pro arranges customer visit to Eurocam Media Center   At the beginning of October Hannu Pro arranged an exchange of experience visit for its customers to Alfacam, the world's largest HD service and production facility located in the Eurocam Media Center in Belgium, which is also the home of MTV Benelux. During their Eurocam Media Center visit, Hannu Pro representatives and the customers were introduced to live production workflow, received detailed information about the use of Thomson GV HD/SD equipment and obtained valuable experience in OB system development.    »»» additional information about Hannu Pro Alfacam visit is available here   Lithuanian TEO chooses Thomson GV IPTV solution from Hannu Pro   During the summer Hannu Pro won a tender to supply an IPTV solution to Lithuania's largest telecommunications operator TEO (previously Littelekomas). The agreement between the companies involves long-term cooperation with substantial investments. Hannu Pro will deliver a system based on the Thomson GV Sapphire platform, providing a full spectrum of IPTV services: VOD (video on demand), nPVR (network personal video recorder) and nTS (network time shifting). At the end of October Hannu Pro will supply EUR 160 000 worth of equipment to fit out the TEO point of presence (PoP) in Vilnius (the first phase of the project); during the next few years other TEO facilities in the next four largest Lithuania cities will be equipped as well. The Lithuanian telecommunications operator will also receive a Sapphire Cluster manager, which allows easy integration with 3rd party middleware, STBs (set top boxes) and other applications. TEO's VOD system with its five fully equipped IPTV POPs capable of serving more than 120 000 IPTV subscribers will then be the most comprehensive in the Baltic States. During this year the number of subscribers to TEO's IPTV services has already reached 20 000. The choice of the Sapphire VOD platform was a strategic decision for TEO, permitting further IPTV services development. The Thomson Sapphire VOD platform won the prestigious CS&I (Cable & Satellite International) at the IBC 2007 as the best on-demand solution in the industry, acknowledging the high performance and stability of the system. Chained with SmartVision, it is the most popular IPTV solution throughout Europe, with the largest number of subscribers.    »»» Read more about Thomson GV at IBC 2007 here   Hannu Pro succeeds in Estonia as well   Hannu Pro continues to win deals in Estonia with the current tender to supply broadcast cameras to ETV, the Estonian national TV company. Based on tender results, the Hannu Pro solution based on Thomson GV technologies was chosen as the most competitive. Thomson GV LDK-400 14Bit SD broadcast cameras with Digital Triax interface provide industry leading image and signal quality in 4:3 and 16:9 formats and are very attractively priced. Three new studio cameras, valued at more than EUR 100 000, will be delivered to ETV in November and will be mainly used in Estonian National TV news programme production. In October, based on a previous international tender, Hannu Pro supplied ETV with three high quality Fujinon HD lenses valued at EUR 53 000.   Hannu Pro continues cooperation with Bretini studio   In October Hannu Pro completed equipment upgrades for Bretini studio. Together with the equipment supplied within the first phase of the studio development project (Apple workstations and notebooks, HVR-M15E vtr and accessories), Hannu Pro has delivered one additional Apple workstation with Final Cut Studio nonlinear video editing software, Blackmagic Design I/O board and Infortrend RAID system, as well as professional JVC GY-HD201E camcorder equipped with Anton Bauer accessories. Bretini will also receive a Sony Betacam vtr. Total investment for the project exceeds EUR 30 000.   Lielais Kristaps - the winners!   The 30th National Film Festival "Lielais Kristaps" has finished and all prizes have been awarded. The winners are: animation film "Lote from the Village of Inventors" /Heiki Ernits, Janno Poldma - Joonisfilm, Rija/, short film "Fire" /Laila Pakalnina/, feature film "Vogelfrei" /Janis Kalejs, Gatis Smits, Janis Putnins, Anna Viduleja - Angels Studio/, animation film "Lost in Snow" /Vladimir Leschiov - Jet Media/, documentary "Version LNO" /Davis Simanis jr. - Lokomotive/, short feature film "Disgust" /Aik Karapetjan - Latvian Academy of culture/, animation film "I Danced I Played" /Roze Stiebra - Dauka/, short feature film "Water" /Laila Pakalnina - Hargla Company/, animation documentary "Little Bird's Diary" /Edmunds Jansons - Studija Centrums/, documentary "My Husband Andrei Sakharov" /Inara Kalmane - Studija Devini/, short documentary "Teodors" /Laila Pakalnina - Vides Filmu Studija/ and short documentary "Simply pop" /Andis Miziss - Vides Filmu Studija/. Hannu Pro warmly congratulates all the winners and is pleased to see many Hannu Pro customers among them. Good luck in your next projects! Additional information about the festival is available at the National Film centre of Latvia.     Hannu Pro proudly sponsors Latvian National film festival   Hannu Pro, within its culture support programme, continues to sponsor creative developments in Latvia. This year, the Latvian National film festival Lielais Kristaps, held in Riga form 28.09 till 07.10, was supported as well. The festival celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. 100 Latvian made movies, documentaries and animation films, produced in last two years' were registered for the festival and the jury chose 23 of them for nomination in eight different categories. Hannu Pro will present gratuity prizes to the winners. Additional information about the festival is available at the National Film centre of Latvia.   Hannu Digital brings digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T) to life in Latvia.   On September 20, 2007 Hannu Digital, a Hannu Pro company, took the next step towards the introduction of digital TV broadcasts in Latvia - six 5kW DVB-T Thomson/Thales transmitters started broadcasting digital signals with nominal power covering Riga city and most of the region. TV viewers, who already own digital TV receivers, will now be able to enjoy TV programmes in full digital quality. The new transmitters are broadcasting in fixed frequencies (channels 43/44/45/48/59/66 in Riga), which will be used for digital broadcasts in future. Utilising new actual power transmitters will assist in carrying out accurate signal measurements and tests in order to plan the future development of the Latvian digital terrestrial network. Each of six recently installed transmitters is capable of delivering total data rates up to 25-31 Mbps, which provides up to five TV channels at 4 Mbps in MPEG-2 or up to 10 TV channels at 2 Mbps in MPEG-4 format, together with up to seven digital radio programmes and service information. In addition to the installed transmitters the Teleste head-end, which was also installed, will provide support for up to 150 TV channels in MPEG-2 format. The technical project of digital terrestrial broadcasting in Latvia was developed by Kempmayer Media Latvia in 2003, but due to political difficulties all the equipment was locked in customs warehouses. In the May, 2007 the solution for the digital broadcast problem was found - Hannu Pro purchased 100% of Kempmayer Media Latvia shares and acquired all of the equipment. It was finally possible to bring digital terrestrial broadcasting to life in Latvia.   According to the recommendations of EU the digital switchover in Latvia has to be accomplished by the end of 2012. Latvia's neighbouring countries have made substantial progress in the switchover process - Finland already has discontinued analogue TV broadcasts, and Lithuania (LRTC and TEO) and Estonia (Levira) started digital broadcasts last year. All Baltic countries are working actively on the introduction of DVB-H mobile TV.   »»» Additional information about the DVB-T introduction in Latvia is available here   Latvia gets ready for active DVB-T and DVB-H broadcasting tests   To support faster and successful introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting in Latvia, with latest market developments in mind, Hannu Pro supplied EUR 50 000 worth of equipment for LVRTC (Latvian State TV and radio broadcast centre) to perform DVB-T and advanced DVB-H tests. Supplied integrated Thomson GV equipment included a ViBE Mobile (MPEG-4 AVC Mobile TV) encoder, Emerald MPEG TS player/recorder, as well as an Opal DVB-H encapsulator to prepare the signal for broadcasting.   Hannu Pro visits IBC 2007 (updated)   A new record number of participants and visitors attended this year's International Broadcasters Convention IBC 2007. During the past few years the number of solutions and products offered by manufactures has been dramatically expanded, which has thrown up compatibility issues. Therefore those players, who can offer complete solutions, covering the full production, management and delivery cycle, have an additional advantage in the today's media technology market. One of the leading players in global media technology business, offering complete turnkey solutions for media production and management, as well as terrestrial, cable and mobile transmission, is Thomson Grass Valley. To emphasize its comprehensive approach to the needs of the media market Thomson Grass Valley has also changed the identity and now will brand its broadcast products under Thomson GV trademark. This year, the Hannu Pro team attended the show in full line-up - eight executive project managers from all three Baltic offices (Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian) and endeavoured to integrate the information about numerous offerings. During the show Hannu Pro managers had numerous meetings with representatives of Thomson GV, Fujinon, VizRT, JVC, Panasonic, Cartoni and other manufacturers to discuss further collaboration and to obtain comprehensive information about their latest developments. It was also pleasing to see that The IBC Daily newspaper covered the Autocue QBox delivery to Latvian TV5 made by Autocue's Baltic partner - Hannu Pro. Complete reports about new products and solutions offered by Thomson GV and other manufacturers are available directly from Hannu Pro project managers. Additionally, everyone will be able to get acquainted with the hottest market developments during the annual Hannu Pro customer party, which will take place at the end of November. Just ask your questions and we will answer!    »»» A small photo insight in IBC 2007 is available here »»» Read more about Thomson GV at IBC 2007 here   LNT continues to invest in progressive technology   In August Hannu Pro and the largest Latvian independent TV company LNT agreed on massive TV and broadcast equipment upgrade project. Under the terms of the agreement, within the first project phase Hannu Pro will supply EUR 255 000 worth of equipment to LNT including Autocue prompter systems, Thomson Grass Valley Indigo video mixer and Turbo iDDR disc recorder 2+1 server with integrated REV Pro drive, three fully equipped Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 ENG cameras for the news department and three Sony BVP-E30 broadcast cameras equipped with high quality Fujinon lenses. These are fully compatible with the company's existing OB studio, but can be used in a smaller, stand alone, studio lineup. Other equipment includes Cartoni tripods, SWIT, Camrade and Anchor accessories.   For the reality show production Hannu Pro will also supply Panasonic P2 series AG-HPX500 and AG-HVX200 video cameras supporting HD and SD formats, both equipped with Fujinon lenses, PAG batteries and Cartoni tripods, as well as Sennheiser audio systems and three powerful Thomson Grass Valley EDIUS Broadcast turnkey nonlinear video editing (NLE) systems, which support all available formats and offer fast P2 media processing. To meet future-proof tapeless production technology requirements a Thomson Grass Valley REV Pro system will be introduced. Balcar lights and ADB control systems will be delivered and installed as well.   Hannu Pro and PBK agree on new TV channel development   Hannu Pro and PBK, one of the leading Baltic TV companies, which broadcasts to all three Baltic countries, in August agreed on new channel development to broadcast REN TV programmes in Estonia. The broadcasts will be carried from PBK's Riga facility in Zakusala via SAT communication systems. The cost of the project is EUR 210 000 and it will form the base for the introduction of an automated playout system in the future. The solution is based on the state-of-the-art Grass Valley technology: K2 server system for media ingest and playout supporting 4 bidirectional channels, which is teamed with high capacity Infortrend RAID serving as media archive, the Indigo video/audio mixer and three specially assembled Hannu Pro workstations - K2 server AppCenter control facilities, allowing full remote control of K2 system, playout/record scheduling and media management via FTP on K2 and RAID systems. Studio equipment also includes Sony video recorders: J-30 SDI and DSR-DR100AP, Harris DPS Velocity Q3D 5220 video input/output editing system, JVC, LG and Acer monitors, Soundcraft console and JBL monitors, as well as DK Technologies metering equipment. Finally Thomson Grass Valley GeckoFlex and Acapella units will provide signal processing and commutation.   The second Levira conference successfully concluded   The 2nd Digital Broadcasting conference, organized by the Estonian state broadcasting company Levira and sponsored by Hannu Pro and Thomson Grass Valley, spanned August 23-24. It brought together more than 250 delegates from more than 30 countries. At the beginning of the conference all participants were invited to a Hannu Pro reception and dinner in Kadriorgas Palace. The first conference day was devoted to analogue-to-digital broadcasting transition issues across Europe and to MPEG-4 AVC SD/HD technology and development perspectives. It was concluded that there is no single switchover solution; switchover is multiplatform (DVB-T, SAT, cable TV), but the recently developed Thomson Grass Valley Mustang ViBE MPEG-4 SDun technology can provide essential break-through in HD content encoding. On the second conference day Mobile and IP TV issues were discussed. The speakers on the panel expressed the view that Mobile TV technologies are mature enough to start commercial development, but the content is still the determinant factor. The operators have to offer high quality content for which subscribers are willing to pay. During the conference there was an outdoor exhibition, where industry leaders including Thomson Grass Valley showed their broadcasting solutions for DVBT, Mobile TV / DVBH and IPTV.    »»» A photo insight into the conference is available here Hannu Pro - representing Thomson Grass Valley - a principal sponsor of the 2nd Digital Broadcasting Conference in Tallinn (updated)   Levira Ltd (Estonia State TV and Radio Brodcast Center) is organising the 2nd Digital Broadcasting Conference in Tallinn, Estonia on August 23rd-24th 2007. The conference will be held in Tallinn TV-Tower's Conference Centre and is dedicated to different digital TV issues such as MPEG-4 AVC, HD, Mobile-TV etc. Opinion and business leaders of the broadcasting industry from Baltic States and Scandinavia, Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and SNG are invited to the conference. Conference is free. This is a unique, intimate venue for top decision makers and influencers to have prolonged discussions with fellow specialists in the field of digital broadcasting. The main aim of the exhibition is to promote technical exchanges and business contacts. Outstanding speaker list includes representatives from Thomson/Grass Valley (Mr. Are Olafsen, UK, will speak to the Future of MPEG4 compression in SD/HD and Mr. Ludovic Pertuisel, France, will present Mobile-TV Working Business Models), Funke Digital-TV (Mr. Stan Baayens, General Manager, Netherlands), BMCOforum (Prof. Dr. Claus Sattler Executive Director, Germany), TDF (Mr. Bernard Pauchon, Vice President, France), HD-Union (Russia), MFD (Germany) and many others.   Hannu Pro finishes LNT studio development   At the end of July Hannu Pro deeded to the customer - LNT (Latvian Independent Television) its new production studio, located in the TV company's premises in Elijas street in Riga. The project's value is of the order of EUR 250 000. Hannu Pro, as the general contractor, secured the coordination of the construction works and the adaptation of the 300 m² large hall to studio needs, and delivered and installed all required equipment.    »»» Additional information about LNT studio project is available here   First events in recently finished Siauliai Sports Arena   In June all projected equipment and system installation works in Siauliai Sports Arena were finished. In conformity with the contract, Hannu Pro developed the state-of-art all digital video production facility to instantly reflect ongoing events and produce live coverage of sports games and other shows, which can be fed into different media distribution networks. During the first live events, which took the place recently in the arena, everyone was able to appreciate the advantages of digital video signal implementation.   The solution in general is based on the Grass Valley's digital video/audio mixer Indigo SD 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 quality of an SD digital video. For capture at fixed locations JVC KY-F560E cameras with Fujinon robotic Pan/Tilt heads are used, but for mobile recording GY-HD110 camcorders equipped with high quality Fujinon optics, Vinten tripods, and SWIT batteries are utilised. Content editing is carried out on a Canopus Edius NX HDV facility. State-of-the-art Grass Valley REV PRO tape-less storage technology and JVC BR-HD50E VTR are used to accomplish all media storage tasks. Finally, JVC monitors for accurate signal monitoring are included in this project as well. The project's value is EUR 160 000.   Hannu Pro finishes second Studio 69 development phase   In July Hannu Pro finished equipment deliveries for the second, (EUR 97 000) phase of Studio 69, which is owned by Niks Ltd, a production facility development. Thanks to foresighted investments Studio 69 has become one of the most advanced production studios in Latvia, focused on entertainment programme production and providing a full production cycle from HD image acquisition to HD editing and postproduction. Now the technical resources of the studio have been upgraded with two powerful Apple editing workstations, yet another JVC HDV camcorder GY-HD251 equipped with Fujinon HTS18X4.2BRM-M48 lens and accessories from ABC Products, JVC tape recorder, Grass Valley Turbo-R 1+2 channel digital disc recorder, professional monitors from JVC and ABC products, Kino Flo and Arri light systems and the professional Canon photo units EOS-1Ds Mark II. Within the second phase of the project the Grass Valley Indigo mixer delivered in the spring was upgraded with an additional HD card and now supports HD video signal processing.    »»» Additional information about the first phase of the project is available here   TV Dzintare introduces 21st century broadcasting technology (updated)   Hannu Pro and TV company TV Dzintare signed a broadcast studio modernization contract at the end of the March; by July all equipment had been delivered and systems installed. The EUR 57 000 contract, for digital broadcast systems supporting HD formats, established Liepaja based TV Dzintare as leader of Latvian regional TV companies. The transition to digital standards involves the latest Grass Valley technology: Indigo 1-HR studio mixer and a Turbo-R disc-recorder/mini-server supporting two independent video output streams. Additional equipment supplied included JVC BR-HD50E and Sony HVR-M15E DV/HDV tape recorders; two fully equipped FireStore 40GB HDD recorders; Vinten tripods; Anton Bauer camera lights; Sennheiser wireless and AKG microphones; SWIT batteries; Camrade bags; and JVC GY-DV510 camcorders, as well as a Sony DSR-170 DV camera and a powerful mobile Intel Dual Core editing workstation with large capacity LACIE RAID storage system.   Hannu Pro - the best tribe   Hannu Pro was successful at the annual Silicon Group Silicon Group sports games, which again were held at the Valgums recreation facility. With the motto Hakuna Mattata, the games were filled with many happy moments of exciting and non-traditional forms of competition. Hannu Pro fielded two teams and their brilliant performance yielded them the most skilled tribe title.    »»» Photo report of the event is available here (In Latvian)   Hannu Pro organises another successful HD roadshow   During 12-14 June Hannu Pro, in conjunction with Grass Valley and Fujinon, organized in-depth HD workshops in all Baltic countries. During the workshops the LDK-8000, the most advanced broadcast HD camera available in the market today, was presented to representatives and engineers from all Baltic leading television and production companies. Everyone was able to check the influence of conforming Fujinon HD lenses on the final image quality. Attendees were also able to operate all the equipment provided and to question the Grass Valley representatives (Mr. F. Mougenot and Mr. P. Dememe) and the Fujinon representative, Ms. K. Söll. The Hannu Pro roadshow revealed the great interest in Grass Valley's HD technology and marked a substantial milestone in the introduction of HD broadcast technology in the Baltics, as well as providing a great opportunity for those involved to test the most advanced TV image acquisition device in-house.     New Grass Valley LDK-8000 broadcast camera attracts industry attention   Grass Valley is to supply 125 high definition LDK-8000 HD cameras to the Belgium based equipment rental and production company Alfacam, one of leading broadcast service providers in Europe. While Alfacam's LDK-8000 cameras are on their way to the Pan Am Games in Brazil and the 2008 Olympic Games in Benjing, Hannu Pro offers everyone the opportunity of testing this technical wonder during the Baltic HD video technology roadshow, which will take the place on June 12 (Tallinn, Estonia), June 13 (Riga, Latvia) and June 14 (Vilnius, Lithuania).   The LDK-8000 Worldcam is the best broadcast camera available. Equipped with 9.2 megapixel HD-DPM CCDs and natively supporting almost every video format on the market, from SD to 1080p HD. It also supports instant switching from 720p to 1080i. 14-bit A/D sampling and 22-bit digital signal processing provide a wide dynamic range and the highest available image quality. The camera offers advanced and convenient zoom and focus controls and, thanks to the modular design, the ability to change lenses and different output adapters (Triax, Fiber Optic, HD or SD wireless).   Hannu Pro buys 100% Kempmayer Media Latvia shares for the nominal value of EUR 2.46 million   In May Hannu Pro signed a contract with Kempmayer Media Latvia shareholders to acquire 100% of KML shares after which the company name was changed to Hannu Digital. Taking into account growing activity in the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in the Baltic States, Hannu Pro sees good prospects for Hannu Digital equipment applications in the Baltic region and nearby countries. With the take-over Hannu Pro will be able to offer regional digital broadcasting service developers a powerful integrated digital terrestrial (DVB-T) broadcast package including Thales (Thomson Grass Valley) 5kW Ultimate DVB-T UHF transmitters, Teleste head-end systems, antenna combiners and other equipment. Hannu Pro has been an official Thomson Grass Valley distributor in the Baltic States since 2005 and has a depth of knowledge and experience in the development of Grass Valley TV and broadcast solutions. Gaining full control over the Thales (Thomson Grass Valley) digital broadcast equipment owned by Hannu Digital is a move that will strategically benefit the company in the future.   LVRTC expands data network capacity   At the end of May Hannu Pro and LVRTC (Latvian State Radio and TV centre) signed a substantial contract for further development of the SDH data network. The cost of this network expansion project will reach EUR 1.4 million. Equipment upgrades based on solutions developed by NEC will be carried out across all major national terrestrial radio and TV transmission centres, where data transfer speeds will increase from 155MBps to 310MBps to preserve full 3+1 redundancy. The increase of data transfer throughput is LVRTC's investment in the upcoming transition to DVB-T broadcasting.   Hannu Pro to supply Fujinon lenses to Estonian state TV   At the end of May, Hannu Pro won a tender organized by Estonian State TV (ETV) for the rights to supply HD-ENG lenses for news and programme production. ETV will receive three superb Fujinon HA22x7.3BERD-S4D lens packages and H-ELF-107UV UV filters valued almost EUR 64 000. Fujinon HA22x7.3BERD high performance lenses are designed to conform to the highest HD image acquisition needs.   JVC presents its latest developments to European dealers   At the end of May Hannu Pro, representing the Baltic States, attended the JVC European dealer meeting in Amsterdam. More than 50 dealers from 20 European countries took part in the event. One of the most important developments presented to the dealers was a studio kit for the popular GY-HD251 HD camcorder. The attendees were introduced to the extensive RM-HD250 CCU 26p control panel features including additional SD/HD SDI video output support and to the new remote control unit RM-LP25 (available in July), as well as the new JVC HD LDC professional high performance monitor line up (DT-V24L1, DT-V20L1, DT-V17L2D, DT-V9L1D) for excellent video signal reproduction. Other equipment included the new HD D-ILA technology high definition DLA-HD1 video projector and solutions for video distribution over a local network. During the presentations the participants were able to evaluate the advantages of the progressive high definition (720p) format in HD video distribution as this format is most compatible with the high compression ratios near 19Mbps while still preserving reasonable quality (1 hour takes 9GB disk space).   LNT opts for Grass Valley broadcast camera   In May, Hannu Pro delivered a Grass Valley LDK-300 broadcast camera package with digital triax equipment (the base station and the control panel), as well as a high quality Fujinon A13x6.3BRM-SD lens to LNT (Latvian Independent Television). The camera is equipped with a special viewfinder and convenient lens operation controls, which are helpful in shooting from unusual angles and makes it well suited for entertainment programme production. The deal is worth EUR 42 000.   Latvian News and Music channels introduce Internet streaming   In May Hannu Pro completed delivery of equipment to Latvian Independent Television (LNT) to provide Internet streaming of Latvian News channel (LZK) and Latvian Music channel (LMK) in the popular Latvian internet news portal TVNET. The Hannu Pro Intel Core2 Duo server, equipped with two Ospray 210 capture cards and Windows Media Encoder software, drives the whole encoding and streaming process. The introduction of LZK and LMK streaming continues the broadcasting diversification process started in April by LNT in cooperation with Hannu Pro when the computer and commutation equipment was supplied to Valmiera TV regional network to provide a two channel feed into the local broadcast studio and cable network.   Hannu Pro receives acknowledgement from Grass Valley   Grass Valley has acknowledged the contribution made by Hannu Pro in Thomson Grass Valley brand awareness and product distribution in the Baltic region. After summing up last year's financial results, in May Hannu Pro received the Thomson Grass Valley 2006 Award in recognition of Best Sales Progression.   Thomson Grass Valley presents essential new solutions at NAB 2007   In April Hannu Pro visited the annual NAB show, in Las Vegas. Thomson Grass Valley introduced several new exciting products during the event and announced latest developments, which will now be incorporated in its product line-up.    »»» Read more about NAB 2007 news here   Hannu Pro continues to support creative activities   An international young-talent-short film festival (2ANNAS) will take place in Riga from 16 through 25 May. Hannu Pro is the proud general sponsor of this year's festival. The main aim of the festival is to promote new worldwide and European non-commercial film production in Latvia and encourage the development of Baltic motion picture art. To achieve the latter, the festival this year will offer a separate Baltic short film production programme. 2ANNAS will bring together participants from the Baltic region and many other European countries. The main festival screens will be in cinemas K.Suns and Riga, but special night screenings will be held at the Riga Zoo. Other festival activities will take place in the Vermans Garden and in the Latvian Photo Museum as well. An international jury will award prizes, donated by Hannu Pro and Relaks Tour, to three Baltic films, while one film will receive a special prize awarded by MTV Baltic.   NEC biometric system to be being introduced at Riga international airport   The State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia is continuing with preparatory work for the introduction of a biometric face recognition system at Riga international airport (RIX). Based on the results of a 2006 tender the State Border Guard opted for the solution offered by NEC and Hannu Pro. In April, shortly after all required premises reconstruction was complete, representatives of NEC, Hannu Pro, the State Border Guard and a local partner company, TietoEnator Alise, which will provide system localization, met to discuss the further steps needed for successful introduction of the system. At the meeting, NEC representatives from Japan, Germany and Sweden laid out their proposals to ensure successful implementation and also offered other NEC security solutions already implemented elsewhere.   LNT carries out massive installation of new production studio lighting   In April LNT and Hannu Pro started fitting out LNT's new TV show production studio with advanced lighting equipment. The 300 square meter space, located in the LNT building in Riga, was modified for the studio's specific requirements to obtain optimum production conditions and an effective lighting set-up. The entire studio lighting system is based on Balcar fluorescent energy-saving lights with 50 light elements and an automated ADB light control system. This provides dynamic changes of lighting conditions in the whole studio or in a specific location during the show production process. This project, which has given LNT one of the most advanced studio lighting systems in Latvia, is worth EUR 250 000.   TV5 receives the first European state-of-art QNxt network prompter system   At the beginning of April, Hannu Pro delivered the latest Autocue teleprompter for TV5. The EUR 30 000 network prompting system, recently presented at NAB 2007, unlike previous developments - which were closed systems - offers great flexibility in managing and playing scripts either locally or from a central PC. Communication is via a traditional or wireless IP network. Scripts can also be uploaded via USB or Bluetooth. The core of this highly redundant system is QMaster software on the central PC and one or more networked compact, car-radio sized QBox units, which can operate independently and can be located virtually anywhere in studio, giving the freedom of choosing the best shooting angles, as well as super high quality presenter displays. Thanks to the decentralized system architecture, while the active script and assistance information is being played live, other scripts can still be changed or edited.   Lattelecom finishes the first phase of its IPTV introduction and continues further system development   At the beginning of April, with the delivery of 3000 Set Top Box units for Lattelecom's IPTV system, the first phase of interactive TV development has finished, and the operator has completed the preparation to the launch of IPTV broadcasts. Total investment in the first phase was EUR 1 600 000, including taxes.