W-DMX Performs at The Voice of Croatia

	The Voice of Croatia. Photo: HRT Croatian Radio and Television

Croatian Radio Television is setting the standard, stocking the largest amount of W-DMX devices in Croatia. The lighting department is now stocking 14 Blackbox series transceivers and receivers, used across the different TV shows and outside broadcast assignments. These wireless systems are also used on the popular show The Voice, which premiered the first season in January 2015 and currently in production for a second season.

Local distributor Georges Toutounji, CEO of Scen-The, was responsible for sale of wireless DMX: "Wireless Solution is such a global brand that it needs very little introduction. The exciting part is showing people how limitless the system is, and then seeing how they use it on their shows. We have seen a lot of young adopters and now setting the standard in wireless DMX transmission in the Croatian market. This was exactly the case with HRT."

For The Voice, a Blackbox F-1 transmits from front-of-house with a standard 3dBi omni-directional antenna to a couple of Blackbox R-512 boxes on the central truss ring that drops down during the show. The reason for choosing wireless over wired lies on the quick turnaround in the studio, and for the flexibility that it gives in the rig.

Two of the challenges with The Voice are the many outside broadcast shoots that the team has to do, and all the pre-footage and story pieces that happen in the corridors just outside the studio: "We have got five or six different locations that we commonly use as set for these recordings, but another vast number of outside locations where the production team needs to record. The use of W-DMX has helped a lot in minimizing the setup time due to its plug & play system, and meet the time-frame production give us," says Damir Smetko, head of lighting at the HRT.

Smetko is a legacy user of W-DMX and has been following the technology since G3 -- "We are very happy with the outstanding performance of Wireless Solution's range -- they help us achieving a lot more than we would have been able to with cable. One example is how we split the line in two from the R-512 -- not just that we transmit wirelessly, but we avoid using a splitter for such simple tasks."

Toutounji of Scen-Teh found it extremely important having the trust from HRT: "Damir has been a customer and a friend for over a decade. He's passionate about technology and his approval is great -- it strengthens the confidence other people can have about using data wirelessly."

The use of RDM is also very important for HRT: "We use RDM extensively with our Martin fixtures and controllers -- G4S gives the ability to get that data in real time from the moving-heads and assess their performance."

Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution Sweden, commented: "Georges has a great knowledge of the products and the industry -- he's a great partner in Croatia and we see a lot of happy customers coming back to our products and praising George's support."

Scenske Tehnologije/Scen-Teh is located in Zagreb and is the authorized distributor for Wireless Solution Sweden.