Colorado Studios, a manufacturer and systems integrator of multiformat mobile units, has reached an agreement to buy truckloads of Grass Valley broadcast equipment from Thomson for its live sports and entertainment production clients.
Grass Valley products heading for two new high-definition mobile trucks include 20 LDK 6000 mk II HD cameras, two HD video production switchers-one XtenDD HD switcher and one Kalypso HD Video Production Center-several Concerto Series multi-format video routers using Grass Valley Jupiter control software, and a complement of Grass Valley Gecko modular components. The new trucks offer both standard-definition and HD production capabilities.
Thomson said the deal further strengthens is position the growing markets of HD television and live events production.
"We chose the Grass Valley equipment because it has the capability to produce multiformat shows, which provides our clients with great versatility," said Phil Garvin, president and GM at Colorado Studios and co-founder and COO of HDNet. "This price-performance means producers can use the trucks we build to do affordable SD and/or HD regional productions cost-effectively, which is something they could not do before because of the prohibitive cost."
Most of the Grass Valley cameras, switchers, and routers purchased by Colorado Studios are being installed in two new HD mobile production trucks. One, 7HDX, is already completed and on the road for Western Mobile TV, which televises Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks and the NHL's Anaheim Mighty Ducks, among other clients. A second rig, 8HDX, is currently under construction. In addition, two of the LDK 6000 mk II cameras will be used for existing trucks dedicated to servicing the all-HD network, HDNet.
Based in Denver, Colorado Studios has designed and built a wide variety of digital SD and HD mobile production trucks in the past 10 years, which now cover both the home and away games of the NBA's Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks; the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and Dallas Stars; and Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, and Houston Astros. These games appear primarily on FOX Sports Net, HDNet, and ESPN.
