Heli for live broadcasting.

[DucktileMedia]

I was asked today if I wanted to get involved with some super cross events. The guy was more interested in shooting live footage. I know this would never work for numerous reasons, safety being a major one. But the idea of having a Heli that was wired for live hd video feed and power. Does anyone see any reasons a Heli would be more prone to failure if it ran for a 30 minute duration? The other challenge is cord management. I have a friend that works for fox sports and he said there are 2 guys per camera that manage the cords. They don't like the quality of hd wireless so they have to manage hundreds of feet of sometimes muddy cable the whole length of the field. Crazy. But I bet there is a market for this. It might also be a loop hole in the FAA bs we all have to deal with. Any thoughts?

 

[Bowley]

Into the realms of tether management. would need a good lifter to handle a tether at any altitude greater than a boom could achieve. reckon dynamic flight would be impractical your payload would change with altitude changes. the tether would have to hang straight down or you would get variable force vectors acting, might as well just use an aerostat and a 360 gimbal with good zoom.
I'm sceptical. would love to see it done though. If it were to be done you would have to suspend the fixed part the tether from high point and fly the catenary.

 

[Lanzar]

You cant wire the kopter. This is why they invented HD uncompresed links range from 5k to 15k euro.
We use it and work with it and it is 300m radius latency free and no problems.

I was asked today if I wanted to get involved with some super cross events. The guy was more interested in shooting live footage. I know this would never work for numerous reasons, safety being a major one. But the idea of having a Heli that was wired for live hd video feed and power. Does anyone see any reasons a Heli would be more prone to failure if it ran for a 30 minute duration? The other challenge is cord management. I have a friend that works for fox sports and he said there are 2 guys per camera that manage the cords. They don't like the quality of hd wireless so they have to manage hundreds of feet of sometimes muddy cable the whole length of the field. Crazy. But I bet there is a market for this. It might also be a loop hole in the FAA bs we all have to deal with. Any thoughts?

 

[PondMedic]

I use a Paralynx Arrow wireless HD transmitter/receiver to do "broadcast" type aerial video. It's an amazing little device if you can keep it within 350 LOS.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Maybe the broadcast truck is farther away than that as my friend from Fox Sports told me they weren't happy with HDwireless they tried. But perhaps that is with slow motion cams that have ultra high bandwidth. I really dont know the first thing about it. All I know is that I wouldnt feel comfortable flying in an arena with thousands of people so forget it. All it takes is one thing to go wrong and we all pay the price.

 

[jhardway]

Ya it all depends on the system, I am a television guy and have been for years. Its all about money on production determines the result. Motocross does not have a lot of bucks behind it so most likely there where not happy because of a few reasons, one being a good configuration to make sure the wireless data stream coming back was up not to par.

There is so much that goes into it. In the USA sailing is not always the best sport for ratings but what I can tell you. whom I am working with, ACTV (america's cup television) we have the most technological advanced production compound I have seen years. We have something like 25 wireless hd camera's coming back, at times like 2 miles away during a broadcast.The quality is through the roof. We have kid around sometimes saying you could almost blindly call a show and no matter what you do it will look good, because of how good the equipment is. I believe if the proper money was behind the equipment you could get a great look.

Like you though I would not be crazy flying over a live crowds.

best wishes

Maybe the broadcast truck is farther away than that as my friend from Fox Sports told me they weren't happy with HDwireless they tried. But perhaps that is with slow motion cams that have ultra high bandwidth. I really dont know the first thing about it. All I know is that I wouldnt feel comfortable flying in an arena with thousands of people so forget it. All it takes is one thing to go wrong and we all pay the price.

 

[DucktileMedia]

Actually, my friend who works for Fox Sports was referring to the NFL. But who knows what the real reasons were. I think I'll shy away before it too turns into a no drone zone.