Token Creek Mobile Television Inc. will take delivery of its first HD production truck on June 25 for its various sports productions. The new 53-foot facility (dubbed “Varsity”) will be used for the company’s HD sports coverage of college football and professional baseball, basketball and hockey for ABC, ESPN, and Fox SportsNet.
The mobile unit’s technical infrastructure will house a Grass Valley Kalypso HD video production switcher (Token Creek’s third such purchase), Chyron HyperX graphics, and video feed capability for a dozen HD LDK 8000 multiformat cameras, according to the companies. Most of Token Creek’s productions involve the ESPN channels, which had signed off on the bulk of equipment purchases for the HD truck.
Token Creek, based near Madison, Wis., said it will use a native output of 1080p 60 with the LDK 8000, which will enable it to extract 1080i or 720p from the same camera, and still enable some “future protection” when it said it decides to begin producing in 1080p.
