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From HD to Mobile TV: The Whole World is Watching Thomson at the 2008 Summer Games from Beijing (7/8/2008)

Nearly 70% of the Host Broadcaster's HD Cameras at the Games are from Thomson

From capturing some of the greatest competitive sports moments of the XXIX Olympiad in crystal-clear high-definition (HD) to helping make them widely available on mobile devices, Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS), the worldwide leader in video solutions, will be represented in virtually every venue and sporting event at the world's most watched sports competition which starts August 8 in Beijing. Supporting the Games - the first Olympiad to be produced entirely in HD for broadcast rights holders by the host broadcaster - will be hundreds of Thomson Grass Valley(tm) HD and SD cameras as well as 30 outside broadcast (OB) trucks outfitted with Thomson Grass Valley HD production equipment.

Among the products at the games will be the new LDK 8300 HD 3X Super SloMo camera. Additionally, China Central Television (CCTV), China's premiere national broadcaster, will use 15 Infinity(tm) Series digital media camcorders and EDIUS(r) nonlinear editing (NLE) software to bring the Olympics into the homes of viewers in the host country. To provide expanded coverage of the Games in HD and on mobile devices, Thomson is also involved with the launch of both digital terrestrial TV in standard- and high-definition formats (SD and HD) - as well as for mobility - with its Thomson Elite 100 and Elite 1000 transmission systems.

"Thomson has been a leader in live HD sports coverage for many years, but this year's Summer Games give us a chance to really shine with both HD and mobile TV," said Jacques Dunogué, Senior Executive Vice President of the Systems Division within Thomson. "We are proud to supply the OB companies contracted by the host broadcaster nearly 70% of the HD cameras the host broadcaster will be using at the Games, and to help CCTV bring the Olympics into the homes of viewers throughout China, as well as to support coverage of the Games through mobile TV. Only Thomson can provide this breadth of end-to-end solutions to broadcasters and media companies around the world."

Bringing Home the Games to Chinese Viewers

CCTV's news production department, located in Beijing, will be providing live coverage of the Games in HD from numerous venues. CCTV will be using the Infinity's built-in JPEG 2000 codec to streamline their HD workflow and bring finished segments to air faster.

Clips captured with the Infinity during the Games will be offlined in the field on EDIUS laptops using an external USB REV PRO drive. Edit lists created from the laptops will then be transferred to EDIUS NLE workstations for online finishing. The finished program files will be delivered to CCTV's news network for storage, sharing, and management.

Equipment Spans End-To-End HD Production Chain

The Thomson Grass Valley equipment being used for the Summer Games includes:

· More than 425 Thomson Grass Valley LDK 8000 mk II WorldCam cameras supplemented with LDK 6000 cameras

· More than 100 super slo-mo cameras including 42 LDK 8300 3X HD Super SloMo cameras and more than 60 2X slo-mo camera systems - including the LDK 8000 SportCam 2X HD Super SloMo camera

· Several HD wireless camera systems

· A total of 47 Kayak(tm) HD, Kalypso(tm) HD, and XtenDD(tm) HD production switchers

· A total of 18 Trinix(tm) and Concerto(tm) Series HD routers alongside Apex audio routers

· Encore(tm) and Jupiter(tm) routing control software

· Hundreds of Thomson Grass Valley GeckoFlex(tm) signal processing modular products

hdsportsproduction.thomsongrassvalley.com  

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