SBS Takes Leader 4K Test Instruments for New UHD Truck

BINGEN AM RHEIN, GERMANY— German integrator Broadcast Solutions GmbH, provided three Leader LV5490 4K test instruments for a new outside broadcast production truck built at its headquarters in Bingen am Rhein, Leader said. The project was commissioned by South Korean’s national television and radio network, SBS, which is based in Seoul. The 12G-SDI single-link production vehicle—SBS UHD1—employs the two-sample interleave UHD standard and accommodates up to 12 4K/UHD cameras. It also offers 3G-SDI quad link monitoring gateways.

South Korea was a very early adopter of UHD TV,” said Broadcast Solutions chief technology officer, Rainer Kampe. “This new truck, UHD1, is based on the Alphaline variant of our Streamline OB vehicle family. It is designed for use by up to 17 operating staff. Alphaline comes with special workplace design, room concept and reduced length in order to cope with the special conditions of South Korean roads.

“SBS specified Leader LV5490 and LV5381 UHD instruments for camera control suite where they will be used during pre-shoot alignment of video sources. They are located on a sloping panel near the centre of the CCU desk. The LV5490 signal monitors were chosen for their accuracy and versatility, plus their compactness, which is obviously a significant factor in any OB system design and are used for high end analysis of the 12G single link UHD and 3G quad link UHD layer) plus three LV 5381 for operational monitoring.”

UHD1 is 11.35 meters long and 2.55 meters wide during transit, expanding to 3.75 meters, and weighing in at 27 tons. On-board equipment includes 12 Ikegami UHK-430 cameras, Ikegami 3 mix/effects vision switcher, Evertz routers, Studer Vista X audio mixer, Tascam audio storage and Riedel intercoms.


Occupying a half-rack-width by 4U high housing, the Leader LV5490 offers 4K, UHD, 3G, HD and SD test and measurement features in a compact portable unit. Waveform, vector, five-bar and picture display can all be viewed at the same time on the LV5490’s 9 inch LCD monitor. The monitor is full 1920x1080 HD resolution with a wide viewing angle and high colour reproduction. A 1920 x 1080 HD DVI and HD-SDI rasterized output is also provided to feed a larger monitor. Simultaneous viewing of up to four SDI inputs is possible, including overlays. The size and location of individual channels can be adjusted on the display using a USB mouse so the user is not limited to fixed-size quadrants.

Leader’s Cinelite II toolset also comes as a standard feature, allowing easy assessment of relative exposure and overall luminance during production. A focus assist option allows highly accurate on-set adjustment of camera focus to match the 4K format’s ability to handle very precise image detail.

The LV5490 can also be controlled remotely using standard KVM tools. Additional options for the LV5490 include eye pattern with jitter measurements, digital audio I/O, Dolby decode, focus assist, CIE color chart and 12G-SDI.