Dream Chip – a leading provider of miniature broadcast cameras – announce the recent sale of more than fifty AtomOne mini AIR units for use onboard the full fleet of competitor vehicles in the Formula E racing series.
Garbsen, Germany — 28 August 2023
The sale further cements the centrality of Dream Chip technology in leading live sports productions, including not only motorsports, but also tennis, American football, winter sports and cycling.
The sale was brokered by Dream Chip partner Broadcast Solutions UK, and made with Timeline TV, who since 2018 have provided technical facilities and crew to Formula E both directly and via their production partner Aurora Media Worldwide and North One for their coverage of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Formula E – conceived of in 2011 and given the status of World Championship in 2020 – represents the most important electric car racing competition in the world, and is broadcast by leading broadcasters around the globe, including CBS Sports, Channel 4, CCTV-5, Eurosport, Canal+, J Sports, Ziggo Sport Totaal, SABC Sport and TV Cultura, with an estimated audience of 381 million.
Timeline TV selected the AtomOne mini AIR for integration into the fleet of 22 cars – with multiple cameras in each car – due to its miniature profile and weight, its exceptional picture quality, its robust and reliable design, and its straightforward integration with existing control workflows. With dimensions that make it little bigger than a one euro coin, and weighing just 25 grams, the Mini Air delivers 10-bit colour depth and 1080/60p/i output to a 1/2.5-inch sensor, with rolling shutter, S-Mount lens and HDR compliancy. The 85° 3.4mm lens grants producers an extensive range of creative options, providing the ability to deliver shots that immerse viewers in the action; capturing the split-second reactions of the driver, the view they have from the cockpit, or allowing for close-to-the-ground mounting to enhance the speed and excitement felt by audiences.
Speaking of the acquisition of the new fleet of AtomOne cameras, Daniel McDonnell, CEO of Timeline TV said: “In serving some of the biggest broadcasters and production companies in the world, it’s vital that we offer constant innovation – focusing on giving producers the ability to capture the intricacy, excitement and emotion of sport. In motorsports, that comes with its own unique set of challenges in relation to weight, space and safety. The AtomOne mini AIR provides the perfect solution – delivering crisp, immersive images whilst remaining entirely unobtrusive. And since it’s capable of being mounted virtually anywhere, it allows producers to achieve completely new things with camera position and perspective”.
Adding to McDonnell’s comments, Dream Chip’s Sales Director Stephane Ducobu said: “AtomOne has a readily established background in the field of motorsports, and thus we know that onboard cameras are mission critical in terms of the broadcast: not only must they be small and lightweight, but they must be reliable, robust, safe and easily integrated into a complex workflow of other cameras and production equipment. Our AtomOne mini AIR offers all of this, whilst offering no compromise when it comes to image quality. We’re both excited and proud to see our cameras mounted on the next generation of motorsports vehicles, and look forward to watching the 2023/24 series pans out”.
About Dream Chip
Dream Chip Technologies GmbH (DCT) is among the largest German design service company, with more than 100 engineers in Germany and the Netherlands. DCT is part of the Goodix Technology family. Goodix Technology (SH: 603160) is an integrated solution provider for applications based on IC design and software development offering industry-leading software and hardware semiconductor solutions for smart devices, IoT applications and automotive electronics. DCT specialise in the development of large ASICs, FPGAs, embedded software and systems, with a strong application focus on automotive vision systems. The innovative company provides vision technologies and solutions to its clients. DCT develops and manufactures the world’s smallest fully integrated professional 2K and 4K SDI cameras: the ATOM one 2k and ATOM one 4k. Both are almost as small as action cams, but with all the professional features broadcasters expect. DCT also delivers to the broadcast market high-speed cameras, real-time flicker removal and 4G/LTE video streaming solutions.
