Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre Goes HD
SCEC bucks the trend and establishes state-of-the art in-house video production facilities.
23 June 2025
Text / Tim Stackpool
In a bold upgrading of facilities, the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour has recently completed a year-long project to beef-up its video production capabilities. The centre piece of this nearly half million dollar project is a 20 terabyte (20,000GB) storage area network (SAN) supporting newly-updated, high-definition-capable video edit suites. Each of the three edit suites is built around an eight-core Mac Pro system loaded with 12GB of RAM, running Final Cut Pro. Adding to these new broadcast standard suites is a networked Hamlet VidScope monitoring system, to ensure that all media files and completed works meet recognised broadcast standards.
Known as Centre Video Production (CVP) this facility provides video support services to many of the centre’s clients. The facility’s newly-appointed Business Development Executive Benjamin Smith, believes the upgrade makes CVP a world class production shop. “As all areas of the market start to move toward high-definition delivery, we really needed to jump out of the gate early to be sure our systems were solid and reliable, not to mention that CVP is by far the most advanced production facility attached to a convention and exhibition centre in Australia,” said Mr Smith.
SERIOUS HD TOOLS
Along with the 20TB 16-bay SANman RAID array and associated MetaSAN LAN gateway, the facility also includes a Grass Valley Concerto router (32×32 HD + 32×32 SD). The Concerto brings with it the capability of bidirectional conversions between analogue video and SDI, standards conversion between NTSC and PAL formats as well as aspect ratio conversion. A Panasonic AG-HVX202EN P2/DV camera for location recording is complemented with Sony HDV/DV HVR M25-P and M25-V decks together with the existing legacy format equipment that includes digital Betacam and SP recorders. The workflow is based on Apple Final Cut Studio 2 and components of Adobe’s Production Suite.
A telling addition to the facility is the inclusion of a Tangent CP200 colour grading system with a CP200-BK colour grading surface and a CP200-TS transport/selection panel. With that capability, CVP is certainly targeting higher-end corporate advertising work and industrial video production. “Just one example would be the fantastic corporate video for Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority where we sent up a chopper with an HD camera. We would not have been able to cut or deal with any of the footage before the upgrade. But we only just completely finished the install and upgraded all suites to Mac OSX Leopard and have the SAN talking to all the suites. There are no other suites with this kind of equipment that are available for walk-in dry hire,” Smith said.
Def Touch: One of the three newly refurbished and upgraded edit suites.
Rack Attack: Legacy formats continue to be supported in CVP’s HD world. Here the new Hamlet VidScope system sits nestled in amongst the existing tape replay and monitoring gear in the equipment room
A CHOICE OF WET OR DRY
And it’s the dry hire opportunity that sets the CVP facility apart, as there are very few comprehensive HD suites in Australia available in this way. While the centre has plenty of expertise to call upon, the new suites are available for hire 24 hours a day to external operators. The facility also represents one of only a few extensive HD suites remaining within the city fringe. Since the departure of Foxtel from the vicinity, many other supportive industries have also moved away, leaving CVP in position to fill the new void both for corporate and broadcast clients.
In terms of integration, the router installation and HD monitoring system was completed by respected broadcast engineer Kevin Mooy from Kevram and Associates. Andy Worth from Digistor oversaw the SAN and edit suite completion. CVP’s Production Manager Daniel Daley assisted with the entire specification and subsequently now makes the entire place fly.
Daley considered both analogue and digital challenges when building the new suites. He said, “The Grass Valley Concerto Router, for instance, was chosen due to the fact that all the networks had proven them to be solid and reliable. When the SAN was first installed we still had one Liquid Silver Suite in operation, so we needed a solution that could work across both Mac and PC platforms. At that point the MetaSAN was the only option. In terms of the actual editing software to be used, Final Cut was the best choice for us. Its value for money, along with its features and benefits, made our decision easy.”
Given its location within the centre, the facility can now provide clients with a range of HD services, including higher quality video conferencing, event recording, event highlight videos, live satellite broadcasting, editing for webcasts and podcasts, TV programming and commercials. In combination with other CVP services, it can also offer full production of promotional videos, including scripting, directing and post-production. The obvious advantage of the suite’s dual-fibre connectivity is the speed in which it handles large HD files. Notably, with all suites on the one SAN, it’s possible for one suite to be ingesting material, another undertaking the editing, while a third might be finishing high-resolution graphics.
Notwithstanding the improvements made to the editing facilities, the Convention & Exhibition Centre now needs to continue with a further stage of development within their HD realm. Currently, presenting HD material inside any of the many on-site venues requires the outsourcing of live HD production facilities. CVP’s live multi-camera fly-away production kit remains standard definition, but plans are in place for a similar HD upgrade. Given the rising demand for high-definition projection and displays of live events and IMAG, that upgrade may be implemented sooner rather than later.
STAYING OUT FRONT
So, with the acceptance of significant outsourcing within the live presentation industry, why did the centre choose to make such a significant capital investment? ”To make sure that we stay ahead of the competition,” explains Benjamin Smith. “The work that CVP has done with internal bid videos to secure international events has already been well-worth the upgrade. Not to mention the fact that having a one-stop-shop with the best gear in town is sure to make our clients think twice about bringing in external companies. The centre is one of the best venues in the world, and it makes sense that our production facilities are just as world-class.”
Producers and clients of the entire centre for exhibition and conference purposes will no doubt enjoy the benefits of this newly upgraded facility. Along with the obvious technological improvements, there is an injection of in-house enthusiasm that naturally comes with such an undertaking. As demonstrated at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 (when it hosted a variety of sporting events), the site proved itself more versatile than merely being a venue for business discussions and events. CVP’s horizons now extend beyond the obvious conference users. Given HD support and connectivity now available from CVP, television producers locally and internationally can now consider the exhibition halls as sporting venues and the conference venues as giant studios.
In all, the suites look good and are ergonomically laid out, with both parking and catering aplenty. These aspects, along with the sensible installation of industry recognised equipment, should make the facility a practical and convenient tool for both the audiovisual and broadcast industries.
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