Two of the Vitec Group companies have collaborated to bring new technology to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway for TNT’s coverage of NASCAR racing. The U.S. leader in video production equipment rentals, Bexel Broadcast Services (a member of Vitec Group since 1991), joined forces with Burbank-based Litepanels (who joined the Group in the summer of 2008), to provide another broadcast first: a broadcast booth that uses only an LED-based lighting system! The move will result in not only lower power bills but also in cooler studios, because the system, built by Litepanels and provided exclusively through Bexel, offers an efficient means to transmit light without transmitting heat.

“The LED technology we use is proprietary and can be dimmed via software control without any change in color temperature,” says Litepanels co-founder Pat Grosswendt. “Being able to variably dim the lights without shifting color is important.”

The process that led to this industry breakthrough began in April, at NAB 2009, when Bexel’s Atlanta-based Lee Estroff approached Turner Sports with the concept. Tom Cox, Turner Sports senior director of remote operations, says the decision to use the system came about after he and his colleagues saw it demonstrated at the Bexel’s NAB booth. “We saw the advantages for both the talent and power consumption,” he explains. “It overcomes the shortcomings of LED systems in the past. The old systems had light that was pretty flat, and you couldn’t change the color temperature...the advantages are just being discovered.”

From onsite in Pocono, Estroff reports, ”The TNT / NASCAR / Lite Panel booth set-up has been a tremendous success! Very well received by the Turner team - both production and technical groups, as well as the many other entities here, on-site…”

As a result of this successful lighting breakthrough, other broadcasters such as Speed Channel, CBS Sports and ESPN are showing a serious interest in using the exact set-up in future events. Watch this space - we’ll keep you posted.

MORE? Would you like to read more about this green-driven lighting innovation in action? See the full story from SVG NEWS HERE

Bexel is a member of The Vitec Group plc.