High End TV, a major provider of mobile broadcast and recording services, has installed a Lawo mc²56 MkIII console in its flagship mobile production truck, Symphony.

Designed for high-end concert and event as well as cinematic production, Symphony delivers an uncompromising audio workflows using Lawo;s technology

High End TV specializes in producing live concerts, where premium sound quality and reliable performance are critical. The company noted that it’s previous audio console had reached its limits. After an extensive search for a solution that could meet growing production demands, Lawo’s mc²56 MkIII was selected as the ideal choice.

“We needed a console that could handle high input counts, deliver pristine audio at 96kHz, and provide seamless integration with our existing infrastructure,” says David Habegger, A1 and system integrator at High End TV. “Lawo not only met those criteria but exceeded our expectations with its workflow efficiency and networked audio capabilities.”

The mc²56 MkIII console, equipped with a UHD core, delivers up to 256 processing channels and full support for 96kHz operation. Its comprehensive routing capabilities, seamless IP integration, and redundant multitrack recording make it an invaluable asset for High End TV’s productions.

“With the mc²56 MkIII, we have the flexibility to handle anything from a small acoustic set to a large-scale, multi-band festival – all with the same system,” adds Habegger. “And because it’s IP-native, we can expand our setup easily and integrate additional sources with minimal effort.”

A major factor in choosing Lawo was the ability to integrate effortlessly with the rest of Symphony's audio infrastructure, the companies said. The truck is equipped with A__stage64 stageboxes and a Power Core Rev3 AP Gateway, ensuring high-quality analog and Dante connectivity.

“The ability to move signals across our network without running massive amounts of copper was a game-changer,” says Adam Mills, engineer-in-charge at High End TV. “With Lawo’s HOME platform, we get a streamlined, intuitive interface for configuring and managing the system—something we didn’t have before.”

HOME, Lawo’s IP management ecosystem, also allows for simplified device discovery and control, significantly reducing setup time and complexity. “The ability to route, monitor, and manage all our audio sources in real time is incredibly powerful,” Mills adds.

Lawo’s seamless Waves integration was another key factor in High End TV’s decision. The truck’s Waves LiveBox server is fully controlled from the mc²56 MkIII surface, allowing engineers to access advanced plug-in processing directly from the console.

“With Waves integrated natively into the console, we’re able to fine-tune every mix with high-end processing tools, without needing additional hardware or workarounds,” Habegger explains. “That’s a huge advantage, especially when working on time-sensitive live productions.”

The combination of 96kHz operation and Genelec 5.1 surround monitoring ensures that every mix translates accurately, whether it’s for a live audience, broadcast, or recording.

“This setup gives us confidence that what we hear in the truck is exactly what’s being captured,” says Mills. “When you’re mixing at this level, every nuance matters, and Lawo helps us deliver the best possible results.”

Beyond its audio performance, the mc²56 MkIII console was chosen for its build quality and durability – a crucial factor for a mobile production truck that travels extensively, the companies reported.

“We first encountered Lawo consoles at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, and we were immediately impressed by the build quality,” recalls Habegger. “The buttons, knobs, and faders are solid. This console is designed to last, even when it’s bouncing down the road from show to show.”

Moreover, Lawo’s modular DSP architecture allows engineers to reallocate processing resources as needed, ensuring that the system can adapt to different production requirements.

“Having the ability to scale up when needed, without overhauling the entire system, gives us a future-proof solution,” says Mills. “Lawo has become a standard in high-end entertainment production, and we now understand why.”

Since its commissioning in November, Symphony has been used on major productions, including the T-Mobile SEC Opening Show and the Mayday T-Pop Concert. “Every element of this truck was designed to be best-in-class, from cameras to lenses, from switchers to speakers,” says Habegger. “Lawo sits right at the heart of it all, giving us the audio performance we need to deliver flawless productions, every time.”

Based in Nashville, Tenn., High End TV provides cutting-edge mobile production services for concerts, festivals, and broadcast events. With a reputation for quality and innovation, the company specializes in high-end video and audio production, offering 4K HDR and 35mm cinematic workflows with best-in-class equipment. More information is available at www.highendtv.com.

PITTSBURGH—NEP Group has announced that award-winning TFC broadcast orchestration platform, which is used in NEP facilities supporting the biggest productions around the world, is now available as a service to be used in any broadcast facility across the industry.

TFC serves as an all-in-one platform tying together hardware and software from multiple vendors into one interface, simplifying control, automating tasks and standardizing workflows.

“Today, TFC is integrated across our NEP facilities worldwide, including our broadcast compounds and NEP Production Hubs. It’s become a solution our customers trust and depend on to deliver the biggest events to their audiences. We’ve learned so much over the years, and now we’re very excited to take this next step in the technology’s evolution by making TFC available as a scalable service partnership,” said Soames Treffry, President, NEP Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

"TFC can now be used by any broadcaster, rightsholder, league, federation, or sports and entertainment producer,” Treffry added. “The platform is also technology agnostic, giving customers the power of choice when it comes to choosing multiple vendors to support a particular show, and the service is always backed by our 24/7 global engineering support.

The TFC platform was originally built by NEP engineers to solve their own challenges around simplifying IP in a broadcast environment, and over the past few years it has become the company’s trusted IP 2110 management system. The platform’s proven track record includes supporting some of the industry’s biggest events and premier broadcasters including the Super Bowl, the PGA TOUR, The Masters Tournament, 2024’s global sporting event in Paris, Seven Network Australia, the World Cup and many other major productions across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

NEP stressed that TFC is an all-in-one platform, offering key functions that solve challenges and create opportunities for engineering and production teams, including: broadcast control, software- defined networking (SDN), real-time monitoring, and unmatched 24/7, 365 global tech support.

As a broadcast control platform, TFC ties together multi-vendor hardware and software, simplifying what is commonly a complex IP 2110 management process requiring deep IP expertise. TFC simplifies this workflow by providing a user-friendly, intuitive touch-screen experience for any operator.

As a purpose-built SDN, TFC is designed exclusively for broadcast environments, with no extra configuration required, and with real-time monitoring and alerts, engineering teams are able to stay ahead of challenges with the platform providing instant alerts and updates on network health, uptime, latency and device status.

More specifically, NEP noted that its TFC platform is for customers experiencing challenges managing IP, those who don’t have in-house network engineering expertise, or customers migrating from traditional baseband environments to using IP, software and cloud production. TFC’s security layer is also a key component and therefore a solution for any highly visible media platform or critical project.

“TFC has completely changed the way engineering and production teams are able to manage many different layers of hardware and software on a major show site or in a production facility,” said Michael Raimondo, vice president of broadcast technology for the PGA TOUR. “The platform takes something very complex in our industry and simplifies it for our operators, allowing our producers and creators to focus on their number one goal of delivering amazing content to our viewers and fans,”

With its scalability, TFC can support any major sporting event, rightsholder, sports league or federation, entertainment production, news facility, national broadcaster or major television producer or streamer, and it is available today as a licensed software solution, NEP reported.

TFC is part of NEP Group’s full range of global media services, which includes industry-leading mobile units, specialty capture solutions, equipment rentals, connectivity, studios and more. Visit nepgroup.com to learn more about NEP’s global production ecosystem.

BURLINGTON, Ont.—TVN Live Production, a division of TVN Group Holding, will be showcasing its latest Outside Broadcast vehicle at IBC 2024 and onboard is an Evertz NEXX processing and routing platform that is one of the largest the company says it has ever built.

TVN-OB8 is fully UHD/HDR-capable and equipped with cutting-edge broadcast technology and corresponding back-up systems. With two galleries and 32 UHD cameras, OB8 was built for the UEFA EURO 2024 football championship where it captured games taking place in Berlin, including the closing ceremony at the finale in Berlin.

Based in Germany, TVN approached Evertz at the 2023 NAB Show and asked if the company could build a large-scale 704 x 704 12G-SDI UHD routing platform, which was significantly larger than any router available on the market at the time. This needed to be ready, installed and fully operational in time for the UEFA EURO 2024 championships, which kicked off in June 2024.

The final go-ahead for the project wasn’t signed off until the end of 2023, but Evertz was able to deliver a fully operational large-format router in time for TVN’s deadline.

“With its distributed floating backplane technology for hybrid audio/video routing, frame syncing, multiviewers and conversion, Evertz’ NEXX routing platform was a very compelling option,” says Christoph Moll, TVN Live Production’s Technical Manager for Outside Broadcast. “In fact, at NAB 2023 it was the only solution that seemed close enough to be delivered in time for the EURO 2024 championship. The company’s engineering team and product managers were convinced that they could make it happen, and we are delighted to say that they did.”

For such a large and complex routing challenge, an IP solution using SMPTE ST 2110 would be the primary choice for the UHD routing core. However, TVN insisted that their router be SDI-based, as the OB van’s use is aimed at large events where it is necessary to exchange a high number of SDI signals from 1080i to UHD 12G directly at the OB van patch panel with other broadcasters. In addition, SDI is faster than IP and is therefore perfect for the instant playback of live content on large LED screens at festivals without any visual delay. Also, switching between the live camera signals on an SDI basis is still the most efficient and convenient solution for the technician when shading on the reference monitor according to Evertz.

As the NEXX processing and routing platform offered optional SMPTE ST 2110 gateway capabilities, the choice of a NEXX router has made it easy for TVN to transition to IP in the future because all they need to do is change out the modules, giving customers the perfect hybrid solution that allows them to be future-proofed.

Designed to provide broadcast facilities, OB trucks, venues and stadia with the building blocks for 3G/12G-SDI, Evertz NEXX next generation processing and routing solution has a compact modular frame with a main interface/backplane. The router supports SD/HD/3G/6G/12G data rates, thus providing a clear pathway to transition to SMPTE ST 2110 and adopt more remote services as part of their workflow.

For TVN Live Production’s OB8, Evertz built a NEXX router with 704 x 704 12G-SDI I/O, 16 x 3G and 8 x UHD HDR conversion paths, and 48 standard and 14 advanced UHD multiviewer heads in 17 RU. This compact routing and processing platform also includes flexible modules for conversion, processing, and non-SDI interfaces.

“This was a massive engineering challenge because nothing of this size had ever been done before,” says Sebastian Ruchti, Sales Engineer for Evertz in Germany. “What we built was certainly a first for the broadcast industry – the largest 12G UHD single link router anyone had ever made.”

“The density of the router Evertz has built for us is phenomenal,” Christoph Moll adds. “It’s 960 x 960 UHD with Frame syncs, Embedders/De-Embedders, Multiviewers and Up/Down/Cross Conversion – and all in a non-blocking architecture, which makes it very reliable and easy to use.”

Moll also highlights the help the Evertz engineering team provided during this critical project, especially during the final days of commissioning prior to the start of EURO 2024.

“They listened to my concerns and got fixes and new features developed very quickly and in a highly professional manner,” he says. “The router was the core component of this project and a cutting-edge development. Having direct access to Evertz’ engineering team was very valuable for us, and we continue to feedback ideas for improvements that they are happy to work on.”

TVN Live Production’s OB8 will be showcased at IBC 2024 in the Outside Broadcast Area (0.A17). Evertz will also be highlighting the latest addition to its NEXX router platform at IBC 2024 and these can be seen on booth 2.B51.

RASTATT, Germany—ARET will unveil its new Outside Broadcast (OB) trailer for Alamiya Media with seamless integration of Lawo IP technology, a UHD-HDR workflow at 12G and AES67 audio networking in the outdoor exhibit area during IBC 2023, Sept. 15-18, at RAI Amsterdam.

“The Alamiya OB trailer represents a landmark in the OB van market for its quality of construction, the innovative design and for the technology installed,” said ARET CEO Umberto Asti. “We have combined the power of the Ross 12G SDI Hyperconverged solution with the flexibility and excellence of Lawo IP-based audio solutions. On top of everything, the workflow is controlled by the most powerful and reliable broadcast control system in the market: Lawo VSM [Virtual Studio Manager].”

Lawo’s VSM broadcast control system, serving as the nerve center of the Alamiya OB truck, enables powerful, flexible IP-based control capabilities. Its seamless integration with a wide array of broadcast equipment, including video routers, audio consoles and intercoms, makes it well-suited for efficient management of resources, Lawo said. 

VSM also keeps evolving as more lighthouse projects require increasingly refined control and flexibility options. With its intuitive touch-enabled interface, Lawo’s VSM provides producers with fast and accurate control over remote, distributed and facility-wide resources and OB production trucks for streamlined operations, it said.

The new trailer’s audio control room is equipped with Lawo's mc²56 audio production console. The Lawo mc²56 features compact size, flexibility and versatile design for applications as diverse as broadcast trucks and studios, live performance and recording, Lawo said.

It is optimized for today’s IP-video production environments, designed for networking in complex production infrastructures and offers full native support for SMPTE ST 2110, AES67/RAVENNA, DANTE via a Power Core gateway, MADI and Ember+. Local I/Os include 16 Lawo-grade mic/line inputs, 16 line outputs, eight AES3 inputs and outputs, eight GPI/Os and a local MADI port (SFP), it said.

Significantly reducing physical footprint and power requirements, Lawo’s A__UHD Core audio engine for mc² audio production consoles provide intuitive home functionality. This software-defined IP DSP engine offers up to 1,024 DSP channels that can be shared among several mc² consoles for flexible resource pooling, it said.

“This is just the beginning of our customer’s experience since after IBC, the OB truck will be shipped to destination and our customer will be able to enjoy our daily care for the whole life of the OB trailer. All from the ARET team are proud of this new delivery.”

See the vehicle at IBC 2023 outdoor exhibit 0.A07.

More information is available on the Lawo and ARET websites.

HAMILTON, Ontario—Mobile production company Game Creek Video says it has deployed software from IT network integrator Providius to provide network telemetry and real-time IP media analysis in more than a dozen of its new IP-mobile production units. 

Providius’ NVRT software delivers vital network awareness and visibility plus real-time IP media analysis for Game Creek trucks equipped with an Arista network infrastructure using ST 2110. Game Creek also uses Providius’ BMG (Broadcast Media Guard) platform to acquire, decode, and analyze various IP media flows, including ST 2110-20/30/40, ST 2022-7, and PTP. .

Game Creek Video says it has increased its use of IP, with over 30% of its units now operating on an Arista network core, giving the OB company the added flexibility of networking as well as reduced vehicle weight. Providius’s NVRT software merges streaming network telemetry from the Arista infrastructure and flow metrics from the broadcast control system, delivering a comprehensive view of the infrastructure and providing real-time topology maps, network port-specific packet details, and multicast media tracing in one user dashboard. 

Providius says this simplifies monitoring for the operations team, who can quickly assess the health of their networks without extensive training, and drill down to locate any trouble spots. BMG can actively monitor any IP media on the network, and generate notifications, thereby alerting operations to any potential issues that may impact live production in real-time, according to the company.

"Providius has been an invaluable partner in helping us tackle the complexities of IP media and IT infrastructure on our ST 2110-based trucks. Their NVRT software significantly reduces the time it takes to assess network/PTP-related issues and improves the availability of our IP infrastructure. We use the BMG to identify any packet-level disruptions to our ST 2110 workflows and it provides us with the necessary feedback so we can take corrective action.  We’re happy with the ongoing partnership and look forward to continuing our collaboration." - Keith Martin, Director of Technology at Game Creek Video.

“We love working with the Game Creek team, their state-of-the-art mobile units are the go-to choice of the top broadcasters in our industry. We value our continued partnership and are committed to developing the best possible products to support their mission." - Jamie Horner, VP of Product Development & Marketing.

SEATTLE—The death of the ENG van market has been predicted, by this writer and others, for at least 10 years. The thinking has been that portable bonded cellular liveshot equipment would make live trucks unnecessary.

A look around the marketplace shows several news truck builders busy as ever, though most of their vehicles are not the behemoths of the past.

STILL NEED A WORKSPACE

“The death of ENG vans hasn’t happened,” said Tom Jennings, president of Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT) in Auburn, Mass. “The ENG vans have evolved from what they were a few years ago. They’ve gotten smaller, and lighter, and they’re primarily SUV based.”

A live truck does more than just carry equipment, according to Stephen Williamson, director of sales at Frontline Communications in Clearwater, Fla. “You still need a workspace. If you’re on a story all day, you need a workspace out of the weather. There’s still quite a demand for live trucks.”

Jennings said microwave-equipped news trucks are on the decline. “Even as the IP microwave systems have started to proliferate, television stations and networks are looking at microwave and the high cost of infrastructure, high cost of maintaining that infrastructure,” he said. “Although cellular bonding costs are high, they’re not as high as maintaining an entire infrastructure of microwave.”

One of AMT’s recent news vans was built for Savannah, Ga.’s ABC affiliate, WJCL-TV. “The truck is a small format, K150 van that’s minimal,” said Jennings. “It’s got racks that are MVP Power System, and it’s got a TVU cellular bonding system in it. And that’s the entire truck. There are maybe five pieces of equipment in it, in the entire truck.”

Bonded cellular connectivity doesn’t work everywhere so KA and KU satellite systems, with small dishes can fill in those gaps.

Another new AMT truck with both cellular and satellite connectivity was built on a Ford Explorer for KECI in one of America’s smallest television markets, Billings, Mont.

“Montana is one of those areas where there is no infrastructure and there is very limited microwave,” said Jennings. “There’s almost no cellular, probably less than 50 percent of the state. So this truck combined a cellular bonding system with a KA band satellite dish and electronics. When they had the wildfires this past summer, this truck could go places that no other station in the market could go, and they’re getting unbelievable coverage up there and unbelievable connectivity.”

CALL IN THE MONSTER

As the recent hurricanes and resultant flooding have illustrated, sometimes it takes more than a standard live truck to do the job. Call in the Monster Truck.

Frontline built just that for Houston’s KTRK on an F250 crew cab pickup truck, including a three-inch lift kit and a customer modular body on the bed.

“We wanted the truck bed to serve as a mount for the IP over KU antenna system,” said Williamson. “It also serves as a storage area for a full length, 500-pound capacity slide out tray. That provides great storage for cable reels, cameras and grip gear that they need to use. We also installed a roof rack to hold the, support the bonded cell antennas and the LED lighting for exterior illumination.” A Dejero EnGo system provides cellular connectivity.

There are two cameras in the front passenger seat: one aimed out the front of the truck, and one aimed at the passenger seat, according to Jeff Steel, engineering manager for Frontline. “That allows the news crew to do reports while the truck is being driven,” he said. “There’s a handheld controller in the front seat that allows them to switch between the two cameras. So that they know which camera is on-air, there are two monitors also in the front seat.”

Steel pointed to a lesson learned by some of those covering the Las Vegas mass shooting, when truck-mounted cellular live gear was not easily removed from news trucks. “That story went very mobile and some of the trucks were locked in a parking lot. They had a need to get out of there but weren’t able to do that.” The EnGo system on KTRK’s truck can be quickly removed and deployed on the back of a portable video camera for run-and-gun coverage.

ENG vehicles can also be engineered to be more than liveshot platforms. More and more stations are adding state of the art weather equipment like WHIO-TV in Dayton Ohio, which recently launched its Storm Tracker 7.

The weather gear includes a weather station to read current conditions, live Doppler Radar access for storm tracking in the field, access to multiple forecast data models and weather display graphics. It feathers six cameras for a 360-degree view of live, real time, driving conditions, and connectivity from a satellite dish and LiveU. For an eye in the sky, the vehicle provides a drone launch pad.

“Our Storm Center 7 meteorologists have their own live Doppler Radar allowing them to give information minutes faster than others, said Cox Media Group Ohio Market Vice President Rob Rohr said. “With the launch of our new Storm Tracker 7, we can be in the field forecasting and tracking the weather to get even more information about how to keep you and your family prepared and out of harm’s way.”

Not all those who used to build live news trucks for TV station are still in the business. Fred Gerling, president of Gerling and Associates in Sunbury Ohio, said that building remote broadcast trucks for the television business laid the foundation for its current business of building vehicles for local marketing, mobile medical, and mobile command.

“The reason we’ve been so successful there is because we cut our teeth and learned how to do this industry on television trucks,” he said. “Believe me, that is the most difficult clientele that there is to take care of.”

TV news vehicles don’t necessarily end up on the scrap metal pile.

“There does seem to be a place for microwave and uplinks in certain applications, outside the news business,” said Mark Chapman, owner of used equipment dealer Allied Broadcast Group. “There are needs where the satellite frequencies and the microwave frequencies serve and work better, be it in certain weather situations, or in certain geographies, or if there is not a good cell service to tap into. We’ve got people from out of the country who call us about some of these vehicles. We have a client in the Caribbean who bought two uplink trucks from us last year.”

NASHVILLE, TN.—TNDV has redesigned and upgraded its Destination live multi-camera HD production truck to offer sports and entertainment producers an agile, compact mobile production solution in a 40-foot form factor.

“While there are plenty of full-sized HD production trucks on the road today, there aren’t many that can fit backstage or in the alley behind the venue,” said TNDV President and owner Nic Dugger. “By offering the same firepower in a much smaller footprint, Destination definitely fills that void in this specialized, niche market.”

The truck, originally called Blackjack, had been owned by three different companies before being acquired by TNDV, moved to Atlanta and parked outside the Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena) for four years where it was used to produce the home games of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

Once done with that coverage, the vehicle was redesigned, upgraded and rebranded. Destination was re-engineered with a robust infrastructure to handle a high density of video and audio feeds, said Dugger.

The redesigned Destination has expanding sides that broaden the production vehicle from nine to 11.5 feet. The interior is divided into a main video production area, an audio suite and an isolated video production space to allow producers and editors to work on content without disrupting live shows.

The main production space is equipped with a Ross Carbonite 3 M/E production switcher, which faces a large multiviewer. Digital video effects and live broadcast graphics options include two Ross xPression dual-channel CG systems, and either a Chyron Duet Hyper X3 or Pinnacle Deko 3000 dual-channel live graphics system.

A bank of AJA Video Ki Pro digital disc recorders are provided to record programs. Sony 1800 HDCam and Panasonic AJ-HD1200A VTRs are available as options. The production area also offers a six-channel EVS HD XT[2] slo-mo system for live sports production.

Destination carries Hitachi SK-HD 1200 portable HD studio/field production cameras that are capable of low-noise 1080p image capture with support for high dynamic range (HDR).

Audio support includes a Soundcraft Si Impact 32-facer digital audio mixer with a Soundcraft stagebox. A large Imagine Communications Platinum router handles video signal distribution, including multiviewer support.

More information is available on the TNDV website.