COLUMBUS, Ohio—Live Media Group has launched its latest mobile production unit, the MU-28, which is a SMPTE 2110-7 IP-based truck built specifically for remote REMI production.

The company said that the unit offers a high level system compatibility, seamless integration, and futureproof technology that allows the MU-28 to provide clients with a flexible, high-performance broadcast infrastructure that can be tailored to their individual needs.

“Our new production truck is a testament to how we’re delivering on our partners’ needs while pushing the flexibility of today’s broadcast technology,” said Michael Sullivan, president of Live Media. “It’s evident that this industry is continuing to evolve, and this truck focuses on that evolution being built from the ground up with REMI production in mind. This achievement reflects the skill and dedication of our team, and our commitment to delivering tailored broadcast solutions for our partners.”

Designed to support large-scale remote production while reducing setup and operating costs, MU-28 features ARISTA cloud networking infrastructure, an EVS Strada router, and a Cerebrum routing and control system. The unit can be directly integrated into client facilities, which reduces the need for additional equipment and setup time. Multiple trucks in the company’s fleet now feature the EVS Strada with Cerebrum control, which also allows MU-28 to combine its capabilities with others in the fleet on larger productions, the company explained.

“This truck is built to quickly power up and go, but it also complements the growth of remote studios becoming more prevalent,” explained Ryan Jones, senior vice president of iInternal operations at Live Media and a key leader on the MU-28 build project. “We’re recognizing the future of the industry and producing a good product to showcase that.”

That makes the MU-28 is more than just a REMI truck. It is configured as scalable hub for a variety of production needs. The truck’s layout also allows for clients to reduce other costs associated with broadcast leading to a unit that supports both large-scale remote workflows but also other support needs.

“In our conversations with our partners on this truck, we took a holistic approach on a production and challenged our team to solve not only the technical challenges but other challenges that many broadcasters face,” Sullivan continued: ”The team really delivered on these objectives, and we’re excited to have this truck join the rest of our fleet.”

Visit livemediagroup.com for more information.

PITTSBURGH—NEP Group has unveiled a new mobile unit, the Supershooter 5, a 1080p-ready and 4K-capable fully IP mobile unit. 

The Supershooter 5 is the first truck from NEP to feature its new proprietary broadcast control and monitoring system that assists with the configuration and connection of on-site and remote facilities.

“With our broadcast control system, we can really harness the power of this technology while reducing complexity and speeding up the configuration process. It is really transformative and will help us bridge the gap between existing and future technologies,” said Glen Levine, president of NEP’s U.S. Broadcast Services Group.

In addition, Andrew Jordan, NEP’s global CTO, says that the new broadcast control system will help bring NEP’s mobile units, flypacks, studios and centralized production facilities onto the same platform.

Supershooter 5 is a single-truck unit that offers a flexible support truck when additional production space is needed. It is equipped with Grass Valley’s Kayenne X-Frame switcher, a Calrec Apollo audio console, Sony HDC-3500 cameras and EVS XT VIA servers.

NEP has already put the Supershooter 5 out into the field, as it was used for The Masters golf tournament in April.

For more information, visit NEP’s website. 

MONTREAL—Grass Valley’s fingerprints are on the new OB truck from Timeline Television, UHD3, which is designed to be an all-IP, 4K UHD HDR capable unit. Featuring Grass Valley’s Orbit Dynamic System Orchestration and Kahuna 9600 IP production switcher, the U.K.-based company now has a future-proof vehicle for mobile productions, per GV.

The UHD3 is able to link up with Timeline’s existing IP 4K UHD HDR truck, UHD2, for expanded production capability, managed by the GV Orbit platform. UHD3 features the same GV IP infrastructure and Arista 100G switch as the UHD2, just on a smaller scale (UHD2 is a triple-expanding truck, UHD3 a double-expanding one).

Grass Valley also supplies UHD3 with its IQUCP25 application platforms with SDI to IP essence processing software, which enables 25GBE ST 2110 IP connectivity for HD and 4K SDI equipment. The truck’s IQAMD40MADI to IP interfacing modules connect audio to the network, while MV-821-IP multiviewers handle main production monitoring. Additional IQCUP25-MV units support peripheral multiviewer applications.

UHD3 also uses GV’s Audio Live system, which allows production staff to route any source audio to any destination, per GV. In addition, dual GV Orbit controllers handle all configuration and monitoring of the truck’s IP backbone.

The BBC had commissioned Timeline’s UHD3 for presentation coverage of UEFA Euro 2020, but that event has been postponed to 2021. The truck will initially support Barclay’s FA Women’s Super League soccer and other live entertainment programming.

Timeline says that the addition of the UHD3 will enable it to support a wider range of customer needs, including remote production.

For more information, visit www.grassvalley.com.  

SAN DIEGO—KNSD-TV and KUAN-LD, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Telemundo stations in San Diego, have deployed a self-contained mobile TV studio in a new broadcast truck outfitted to enable the stations to have a backup in the event their main broadcast studios ever need to be evacuated—something that was a real possibility during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vehicle, built by Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT) of Auburn, Mass., enables the stations to work fully independently in the field, processing, editing and distributing live raw video without even needing to rely on a skeleton crew or technology located in their studios.

A key component of the new vehicle is a full complement of technology from Dejero, including the M6E6 network aggregation tool, PathWay E encoder and WayPoint 104 receiver. Together, they give the truck the connectivity to operate autonomously from the studios if required.

“We are thrilled with our new truck and are particularly impressed with the power and flexibility of the Dejero equipment, in particular the GateWay network aggregation device,” said Mike Fouch, manager of technology at NBCUniversal Media, KNSD-TV.

Before taking delivery of the truck, the broadcaster would have needed an encoder/transmitter to access cell networks, ENG or SNG and receive a signal, but the Dejero GateWay provides the vehicle with connectivity to access the stations’ studios, if desired, via private networks, the public internet and the cloud, he explained.

“So now, the field team can be autonomous and rely less on those back at the station to manage content,” said Fouch.

Likening the vehicle to a Swiss Army Knife, the broadcaster wanted a vehicle capable of switching a newscast if the studios were inaccessible and of receiving multiple channels of cellular video data.

To overcome the challenge of getting significant bandwidth to the truck to receive assets from the field and relay them via cellular or satellite without taking on another high bandwidth service plan, the station turned to Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology, which aggregates wired and wireless IP connections from various sources simultaneously to create a virtual network of networks. The result is more reliable connection paths, expanded coverage area and greater bandwidth.

Testing the solution in an area with spotty cellular coverage, Tom Jennings, president of AMT, was confident Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology could satisfy the broadcaster’s requirement.

“Having tested the system personally in the rural hills of Montana where cell frequencies can barely be counted on to make a normal phone call, I experienced data rates upwards of 30 Mb/s constantly and without linking to a satellite,” he said.

“Overall, Smart Blending Technology has helped transform the once behemoth DSNG truck into a highly maneuverable, cost-effective platform that requires less formal training to operate. It has expanded the reach and quality of news trucks on the road,” said Jennings.

The Dejero Gateway continuously measures the availability of bandwidth on each connection in real time and dynamically distributes IP packets across the connections. Doing so makes it possible to achieve up to 100Mb/s upload and 250Mb/s download, Dejero said.

The new truck uses the Dejero Gateway-aggregated bandwidth for reliable connectivity to access the internet, cloud applications like Latakoo for ENG video and AWS WorkSpaces to access the station and private networks from locations where crews from both stations are working, the company said.

The vehicle also uses the Dejero CellSat connectivity service to blend cellular connectivity from multiple network providers with Ku-band satellite IP connectivity from Intelsat when necessary, the Dejero PathWay E adaptive bitrate encoder and the Dejero WayPoint 104 receiver to reconstruct video transported via multiple Dejero transmitters.

More information is available on the Dejero website.

DENVER—Mobile TV Group plans to roll out 47 FLEX, its third SMPTE ST 2110-based mobile unit, before the end of March, an introduction that comes on the heels of the last year’s launch of IP-based units 45 FLEX and 46 FLEX.

The infrastructures of the new dual-trailer units currently in service are based on the Grass Valley Kayenne K-Frame IP switcher, Evertz 384-port EXE2.0 IP router and an Evertz Magnum control system. The units deliver 1080p production capacity that would at least require a 3000x3000 baseband router.

Both are dual-trailer outfits with 53-foot trailers. Unit A of each expands to 16 feet, 6 inches in width, while the VMU-B unit trailers are 8 feet, 6 inches wide.

For audio, the new units rely on Artemis digital broadcast consoles from Calrec with support for audio-over-IP. To integrate Calrec’s audio solution into the IP infrastructure of the units, Mobile TV Group is using the company’s audio-over-IP I/O unit, which provides a Hydra2 AoIP interface for up to 512x512 channels using AES67 or Ravenna. That is connected directly to the Evertz router.

“Taking the units’ infrastructures into consideration, that’s amazing for ease of connectivity and use. Of course, it also helps on weight, which is a big issue on these trailers,” said Peter Wehner, Mobile TV Group director of engineering.

DUAL-FEED

Mobile TV Group currently has 41 mobile units, each with a crew of about 50 engineers, traversing the United States to cover sport and entertainment events. Fifteen of those rigs are dual-trailer setups consisting of Unit A and VMU-Unit B. The approach enables the company to employ its dual-feed production strategy that provides for both home and visiting teams to operate from two spaces with shared technical resources.

Over its 25 years in business, which the company marked in 2019, Mobile TV Group has achieved several firsts, including the first HD mobile units in North America, the first ground-up 4K UHD mobile unit and the first HDR broadcast in America, the company says.

However, the emphasis on enabling such firsts hasn’t impeded the familiarity engineered into the designs of its units. For instance, Mobile TV Group relies on industry standard tools to create an environment for clients that is comfortable and easy to use. “Our clients will hire freelance operators who may or may not have seen our mobile units before,” he says. “Being able to come in and get working straightaway is incredibly important.”

A case in point is Mobile TV Group’s use of Calrec audio consoles and technology. Seventeen of the last 18 mobile units the company has designed and built have been equipped with Calrec Artemis audio consoles, Bluefin 2 processing and integrated Hydra2 routing. While fader counts vary between 48 and 64, the consoles all have the Artemis Beam package, which offers 340 channel processing paths.

As the company’s unit designs transition from baseband to IP, clients have come to appreciate a new level of flexibility that will enable an “everything, everywhere future,” says Wehner.

“Every feed can be available everywhere,” he says. “That in turn has now become an expectation for clients who understandably don’t want any restrictions.” Before the dawn of this new age, there were restrictions on how many audio channels could be sent between units.

“Now those restrictions are going away thanks to the latest audio technologies like those provided by Calrec,” he says.

More information is available on the Calrec website. 

LONDON—Arena Television has rolled out new IP-based UHD HDR trucks, OBX and OBY, that is stocked with gear from both Barnfind and Lawo. The OB truck features Barnfind’s BarnOne and BarnMini products, as well as Lawo’s VSM control system.

Among the Barnfind products installed in Arena’s new truck is the BarnMini-07 CWDM multiplexer, which transports signals from the OBX truck to remote positions. The Barnfind products allow the operators to mix video, Ethernet and HDMI on a single platform and configure the internal router.

Lawo’s VSM is being used as the overall control system for OBX and OBY, as well as the upcoming OBZ truck. The VSM system provides bi-directional connections with plugs acting as both inputs and outputs. VSM is able to handle all routing routines as a virtual router. The system can also recall different multiviewer layouts if required.

Arena is currently using the OBX truck for English Premier League coverage, with the OBY truck being deployed for additional services. OBZ is expected to be made available in early 2017.