The Industry Votes BlackTrax at Eurovision 2013 the WinnerOn Saturday, May 31, at Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City, Bruce Freeman, chairman of CAST BlackTrax, accepted a 2014 Excellence in Live Design Award in the Live for Broadcast category for the use of BlackTrax at Eurovision 2013. The award, voted on by industry professionals and administered by Live Design, recognizes Excellence in design for projects completed between January and December 2013. In his acceptance speech, Freeman said, "it is indeed an honor to accept such a prestigious award which, by the popular vote of industry professionals, attests to the growing popularity of BlackTrax. I am accepting this award on behalf of everyone at CAST BlackTrax and particularly the really brainy people on the BlackTrax team led by my business partner Gil Densham." "Looking behind me at the photos of sequences at Eurovision, can you imagine the repeatability issues? Is it even possible to pre-cue for unpredictable timing and target data, especially given the creative and artistic demands for these sequences? Surely, using a conventional approach was risky -- particularly for a live broadcast of such significance. The game changer, BlackTrax streamed realtime precise target coordinates for the automated lighting and multimedia thus replacing a rigid pre-cued sequence and saving a lot of cuing/tweaking and rehearsal time." "Especially as I stand here before the elite professionals of live theatre entertainment, I'd like you to know that from the date of those pictures, BlackTrax has logged hundreds and hundreds of hours delivering exactly as promised for live events, special events, and special entertainment like Cirque du Soleil and the Feld's Marvel Show, as well as a mega church. What's more, whether you rent or buy it, BlackTrax streams the precise target coordinates for any or all audio, lighting, multimedia, and video cam downstream technologies that connect to it." "Do users like BlackTrax? A number of our customers are buying additional BTSolutions, in part because of the fast payback, but mostly to unleash creativity and artistry." "What more needs to be said -- BlackTrax works and existing customers are buying more; and since this Excellence Award is by popular vote, then we can assume that the good words are getting around the Industry." "As we at BlackTrax declare: Let the revolution begin!" The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The show is the most-watched non-sporting event in the world, with television and internet viewing audience figures in recent years between 200 and 600 million internationally. In May of 2013, the contest was held at Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden. Eurovision used the BlackTrax Solution to achieve stunning special effects during the live-to-air broadcasts. BlackTrax provided realtime tracking for two major performances at the event, showing phenomenal effects like following BMX riders, rollerbladers, and dancers with video effects and tracking flying performers high above the stage. Watch the video: http://youtu.be/c36O8R2mohw. Lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson said, "BlackTrax provided us with this very cool effect with Loreen where we tracked flying dancers in realtime with floor lights. The only way of doing this without BlackTrax would have been with extra followspots, which we could not have in that position since they would have been seen by the cameras." Watch the video at http://plasa.me/fwf2n. The company says the overall performance of BlackTrax in the demanding environment of the Eurovision arena was deemed to have been exceptional. Despite more than 70 Wi-Fi devices in the venue with an enormous level of RF noise, none of this interfered with BlackTrax. Technical director Ola Melzig said of BlackTrax, "BlackTrax worked great and allowed us to do some very unique effects. Since this was the first time that BlackTrax was used on a show of this scale, there have been questions as to whether or not everything worked as planned and I can confirm that it absolutely did. I've never done a Eurovision where we didn't push at least one product to the edge of what it can do and I've never been disappointed with the end result. BlackTrax delivered beyond our expectations and gave us that opportunity to do things that no one had been able to do before, plus we did it in live broadcast." Awarded both the rare PLASA Gold Innovation in 2013 and the NAB Game-Changer Award in 2012, BlackTrax is the realtime tracking technology solution that delivers precise streaming 3D and 6D positional target coordinates to downstream controllers of automated/robotic technologies already used extensively in the event and entertainment production industries, and houses of worship. Using proprietary IR and RF, BlackTrax streams -- all at the same time, in realtime -- dynamic streaming positional data with up to six degrees of freedom (x, y, z, plus roll, pitch, and yaw) to four downstream technologies: 3D and spatial audio, automated lighting, multimedia servers, and robotic cameras. The FCC and CE certified, and patented BTBeacon comprises a gyroscope, accelerometer, and tiny wireless radio, as well as the proprietary firmware to control the diode (Tracking Point). BT is predominantly a visual-based system -- the BTCams track each BTBeacon's IR LED only inside the space; go outside and it is out of sight so tracking stops. It is essential each Tracking Point is always clearly exposed to at least two BTCams for accurate triangulation. The BTBeacon has one purpose -- to declare its location/orientation in the Space in two ways. Firstly, it powers and pulses a unique signature so the Tracking Point is tagged and tracked X,Y, Z by the BTCams. Secondly, each BTBeacon has a tiny radio to transmit yaw, pitch, and roll, as well as redundant X,Y, Z (in the event of short-term occlusion). More than 180 Tracking Points (connected to up to 70 BTBeacons) can be tracked at any one time in the space. Each BTBeacon can power/manage up to three Trackables. The user might use a single or multiple Tracking Points on a Trackable (each person on stage) depending on the need (multimedia usually has heavy demands for accurate projection). Offstage (out of sight) Trackables do not conflict with those in the space. 
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