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Use
the system in a desert, on top of a mountain, anywhere ...
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The vision
of the fully wired up journalist/filmmaker able to beam back images
from any remote area of the globe is becoming a reality. FAST
Multimedia have teamed up their purple.Field laptop editing system
with a satellite communication device, FASTtransmit. Amazingly
a mini DVCam, mobile phone, laptop and two satellite dishes fit
into two shoulder bags weighing around 15 kilos.
Purple.Field is a mature editing system with a beautifully designed,
fullyfeatured version of purple editing software and fluid, intuitive
editing. It has all the editing features of FAST's higher end
models but with DV compression. Material shot on DV remains DV
throughout the editing process - hence one has an online machine
on a laptop. If it is being used as a stand alone device there
is a choice of laptops from Sony, Hewlett Packard and Gateway.
Where it is being used in conjunction with FASTtransmit, only
the Sony VAIO laptop can be used so far. All models can be linked
to a Broadcast monitor for full screen viewing and a VGA monitor
for an enlarged version of the laptop screen. The Gateway model
can be plugged into a docking station capable of containing a
dual screen graphics card so that editing functions can be spread
across two screens. The LCD screen is bright even in welllit rooms.
A basic package of 2D and 3D effects come as standard whilst Cleaner
5 allows transfers to all streaming formats at all connection
speeds. The media drive is 12.9 gigs but larger drives can be
fitted and there is an external port for fitting an extra drive.
FASTtransmit operates with an i.Link compatible DV camera or an
analogue camera via the analogue port in the DV camera. The system
was developed originally by a Livewire who adapted it to work
on the Sony VAIO laptop connected up to between one to four satellite
terminals. A minimum of two are recommended. The XSend function
on purple.Field which is used to export to many different applications
including After effects and Media Cleaner, has now been adapted
to handle FASTtransmit.
Once the material has been shot it is transferred by firewire
to the laptop, edited, encoded and exported via the XSend feature
in either MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 at a range of bit rates to the Inmarsat
satellite and thence back to the nearest land earth station where
it is funnelled into the ISDN network. Communication can also
be made via voice, email, stills or fax and the system can operate
on batteries or solar power. The Inmarsat System consists of nine
satellites in geostationary orbit 22,223 miles out in space, four
of which provide overlapping coverage of the globe apart from
the extreme polar areas. So it is possible to use the system in
a desert, on top of a mountain, anywhere in fact without the need
for the normal communication backups. Where hotels or media facilities
are available, material can be sent back via ISDN, the Internet
or an Intranet. At the demo, I was able to converse using my mobile
over the satellite link and watch as a short video clip was beamed
from the dish outside the window via the satellite and back into
the same room. The system worked perfectly.
Steve Wise, FAST UK's M.D. says, "With purple.Field we know
we have a great product, but a great product is not necessarily
a great solution. Livewire have an awful lot of experience in
broadcast newsgathering and a highly developed 'backend' which
dovetails perfectly with purple.Field they even use the same Sony
VAIO platform. We're new kids on the block in the broadcast world,
but we're learning quickly and synergies such as this are extremely
important."
The system is likely to be of particular interest to journalists
or documentary or drama filmmakers on location. A bonus for producers
is the facility to minimise purple quickly and to write up notes
on programmes.
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