Argosy, supplier of HD broadcast, cables and studio infrastructure products, is celebrating the first anniversary of the installation of its high-definition infrastructure products at Lime Pictures, one of the UK's largest independent producers.

The build and install process began in early January 2008 with a strict delivery schedule for transmission of the first programme in HD, by Channel 4, on 2 June. The Argosy products were integral to this process and formed a major part of the complete overhaul by Lime Pictures of its production and editing facilities.

Hollyoaks is the first British serial drama to be produced in high definition. As a result this brand new facility enabled Lime Pictures to deliver one of Channel 4's best-known and popular dramas using the latest HD technology.

The Argosy equipment including an array of racks, plinths, mains distribution units, video patch panels, audio jack fields, and HD IMAGE cables (including single and multi-mode infrastructure cables and SMPTE 311M camera cables) and connectors provide the complete infrastructure backbone requirements for the new Central Apparatus Room (CAR) and throughout the eight editing suites, seven audio dubbing suites, and studio facilities at Lime Pictures.

"Early last year we decided to rebuild our production and editing facilities from the ground up and this enabled us to be very specific about the HD products we wanted to install," said Andy Murray, head of technology at Lime Pictures. "The implementation of the new CAR was significant and to that end we wanted to choose the best infrastructure products available to us at that time. We selected the Argosy products for a number of reasons - first and foremost the breadth and quality of their product offering is substantial. However, we also felt that Argosy understood our business drivers and workflow requirements. We were also very conscious of the fact that 3Gb/s technology was gathering momentum and wanted to future proof our infrastructure as much as possible against these technological advancements. These factors, alongside our ongoing positive experience of working with Argosy over many years, are what prove 12 months on, that we made the right decision. Argosy's ability to deliver products, in some cases at very short notice, proved to be a great asset and one we utilised on many occasions."

Bob Clark, director at Argosy, said: "We are delighted to have supplied the infrastructure products for the build out of Lime Pictures' CAR installation last June. Our equipment is as pivotal to the whole operation today as it was when it was installed, and we are pleased to have supported the ongoing success achieved by Lime Pictures as they transitioned their business to HD. We have always been keen to supply the best in class products, while at the same time offering a level of client intimacy that enables us to support customer's ongoing needs - the importance of this is clearly evident at Lime Pictures today."

The Lime Pictures server-based approach to production was built around a CAR with a 102-Terabyte Data Direct video production SAN. The editing suites were based on Apple Final Cut Pro while the audio dubbing suites each had Merging Technology's Pyramix audio post-production DAWs, VCube HD high-definition video playback systems together with Merging's Ramses control surfaces - all connected via Argosy HD IMAGE cable.

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