As part of a major upgrade and expansion project carried out over the summer, High Wire post production has added a new High Definition suite to its facilities and equipped it with an Avid DS V10 multi-stream editing system – the first of its kind to be installed in Ireland.
The install, which took place just eight weeks after the Avid DS V10 was unveiled in Los Angeles, allows High Wire to conform visual effects for broadcast programming in SD, HD, 2K and 4K resolutions. The new system gives High Wire a set of tools and applications that are perfectly suited to its high-end workload for broadcasters, ad agencies and corporate clients.
Established in 1997, High Wire is renowned for delivering creative television services in a focused, convivial and collaborative atmosphere. Managing director Mark Quinn, who has over 25 years experience in television, says: “We’ve been very busy over the summer, bringing both our building and equipment infrastructure up to the latest aesthetic and technical specifications. As well as installing the new HD suite, we have also invested in a TerraBlock 24D shared storage central server from Facilis – another first for Ireland. TerraBlock’s fibre channel interconnection allows us to capture and digitise in a central location so that material can be accessed by any editor in any of our 6 suites. This gives us total editing flexibility because we can easily move projects from one suite to another.”
The combination of Avid DS V10 and TerraBlock, both of which were supplied by Tyrell, means that High Wire has effectively done away with traditional low-res off line editing.
“This investment in new technology allows us to work right up to HD resolution in off line so that producers and directors can view images at the best picture quality while cutting,” Quinn adds. “We now have all the tools we need to speed up the post production process for customers by enabling their projects to be managed entirely in the High Definition domain.”
After 11 years in Dublin city centre, High Wire felt it was time to revamp its client areas with new furniture and bright new decor. Its six edit suites have also been brought bang up to date with new hardware and software, much of which was supplied by BPS UK Ltd.
“All our Avid systems are now running the latest version of Media Composer software and the latest computer hardware,” Quinn says. “The fact that our new DS V10 integrates with our other Avid systems via TerraBlock means that we can share files between any of them. This capability means that our editors can work collaboratively and take advantage of material that has already been ingested into our shared storage system, thus significantly improving on-air consistency.”
High Wire has established many ongoing business relationships with major broadcasters and production companies in Ireland and abroad since its inception over a decade ago. The most notable of these is with Frontier Films in the production of RTÉ’s popular travel programmes ‘No Frontiers’, which is currently in its 11th series. High Wire has been involved in the programme since its third series and is now very much a collaborator rather than just an editor.
Other key clients include Coco Television, Adare Productions, Good Company Productions, Athena Media and Rumble Films, to name but a few.
The company specialises in Curious Mapping Software, used for animated television maps and globes, and is also the only Dublin facility house that offers a full translation and subtitling service.
www.highwire.ie
