Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Pumps Up Puerto Rico's Latin Urban Music Awards

Two Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers powered the visuals for multiple wraparound LED screens which formed the backdrop for this year’s televised Premios Tu Música Urbano.

The Awards, which celebrate Latin Urban music, were broadcast live from Puerto Rico capital San Juan's 18,000-capacity Choliseo, and streamed live to fans worldwide on YouTube.

Florida-based production house JMT Show Concepts was commissioned by Sora & Company, producer Soraya Sanchez, and the Telemundo TV network to create and provide all of the content visuals for the event.

"Awards shows are very intense because you have to do content, show looks and programming in such a short time – for this project, it was just six days," says Jorge Toro from JMT. "The magic of the new Boreal+ MK2 model is how fast that it is, with the 10G network connection to upload content and the ability to convert the files to FlexRes in much less time. The power of the upgraded Media Servers was a major upgrade this year and we had a blast working with the MK2 models."

The JMT team used two V4 Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers, which drove data via two 4K60 outputs from their switcher matrix to LED processors, controlling the visuals via ZooKeeper and a motorised MIDI controller. One of the standout performances on the night was by the younger generation of Latin Urban music artists, who collaborated to pay tribute to those who paved the way for them, including Ivy Queen, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderón and Wisin y Yandel.

"For this moment, we had to put a live feed on six of the TV screens across the stage layered with different effects, so each image would look different," says Toro. "Using Hippotizer, we could programme and accommodate everything we needed without losing performance, using a total of 12 layers. Hippotizer’s VideoMapper is a saviour, since we had two batches of the same screen and we could colour correct everything from there, screen by screen, based on the angle of the camera. The Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers were simply fast and reliable."

The creative for the awards was provided by Juan Garcia, with JMT delivering the video content and production, LED logistics, raster graphics and crew. They also provided timecode distribution for lighting and video world, and fiber runs for everything from FOH to the stage.

Jorge Toro served as Programmer and Crew Chief for the awards, with Mauricio Caicedo as Assistant Programmer and Media Server Tech. Edwin Rivera was Chief Animator and Content Producer, with Rosario Toro as Project Manager and LED Engineers duties delivered by Natanael Mora.