The multi-million pound retailer QVC made its first broadcast from its new purpose-built Media and Commerce Centre in Chiswick, London on 7 June. The company has invested £33.6m in the move from its previous base in Battersea. Six hundred Staff made their last broadcast from the Battersea building at 2am and then had a quick turnaround to be on time with the first broadcast in Chiswick at 9am.
QVC UK is the largest TV shopping channel in Britain, and broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with 17 hours of live programming each day from two studios.
UK company Light Emissions were chosen by LED design consultancy LED Poison to supply a dynamic video visual product for this unique install, while LED Poison also provided and installed all LED lighting and visual elements for both studios.
Managing director of LED Poison, Simon Deary, comments: "The area in which the Light Emissions Art screen is used, is designed into a very unique shape. Through months of research only one product was both suitable for the type of installation and reliability requirements of the installation."
Deary continues, "We looked at nearly 12 LED screens and chose Light Emissions above all others for its British manufacturing quality, robust product structure and that we could use the tiles in many different orientations without affecting the colour of the screen."
The design and build quality was absolutely critical as there are 17 hours of live programming a day, 365 days a year.
Light Emissions installed its architectural specification Art screen curving around a novel performance area, a first for QVC worldwide. Peter Ed, managing director of Light Emissions said, "There were three main reasons for choosing our Art system. The first was that Art is 100% video based, not requiring mapping into a lighting protocol. This makes sense, especially in a television studio!
"The second reason is that we have advanced the use of diffuser screens, avoiding the pixelated look that has dominated our entertainment programs and stage shows for so long. Thirdly, Art can be configured in any possible way, solving seemingly impossible layout and screen groupings."
The scenic layout is indeed quite unlike anything seen before, with complexly formed screen elements in five separate clusters, two being on moveable trucks, but still retaining pixel perfect relationships between the clusters.
The Art low resolution LED video display works well installed into television sets, as the ArtBoard tiles are sturdy enough to be fitted inside a wall or set for years, or can be extensively handled between sets. The physical design of the ArtBoard allow both mounting from the front or the rear, with a novel layout allowing spacers to pass through the plane of the ArtBoards to support a diffuser in front of the ArtBoards.
"The diffuser design makes a big difference", notes Peter Ed, "Selecting a diffuser with the right properties will completely transform the perception of the screen, especially on camera. Gone is the edgy, pixelated look, in comes a smooth and colour rich graphic experience."
Providing media content is a Green Hippo Critter, mounted next to the Art video processor unit, the Brain, in a 19 inch rack in the studio. The Critter media playback is controlled by DMX from the ETC Congo main lighting control system.
Operationally, the Art system can be in camera at any time, and is left on 100% of the time. With a power consumption of only 900W, when on full, and less than 50W when dark, it provides a full gamut of rich colours at 1600 cd/m2, bright enough to stand out against the very high level of studio lighting required to show QVCs products off to their best.
Additionally, a valuable feature is that the Art system does not use any PC hardware or software, so, if the system is powered down temporarily, it will instantly reboot within 10 seconds without needing operator intervention. "This is really important for any operator with such a heavy usage," adds Simon Deary, "Having technicians to hand practically 24/7 for immediate intervention is just not an option. For this type of application, this screen is brilliant."
"We are very pleased with this installation, where QVC and LED Poison have invested in a low resolution LED video solution designed and built to the highest architectural quality to enable years of trouble free and simple operation," concludes Peter Ed.
