Australia’s Sky Racing uses Grass Valley HD OB vans

Sky Racing, which broadcasts multi-channel racing in Australia and worldwide, has awarded Grass Valley a contract to design and build three, new, outside broadcast (OB) vans equipped for HDTV.

The mobile production vehicles are designed to handle the rough terrain and hot weather conditions of the country’s state of Queensland to help televise some of the 83,000 races that Sky Racing covers each year.

The deal, which includes system training and a multi-year Service Level Agreement, is the largest OB truck design and systems integration order to date for Grass Valley, and includes a HD live production equipment and systems that will be installed on each mobile unit.

Construction of the three OB vans, with an option for a fourth, is now underway in Melbourne. The order was placed in Sept. 2011, and the three trucks will be deployed in Queensland by the beginning of 2012. They each will feature Grass Valley HD live production technologies, including 19 LDK 4000 HD cameras, Kayak HD digital production switchers, multiple K2 Dyno Replay Systems, a Concerto Series video router and a series of products from the GeckoFlex family of signal processing modules. Yamaha digital audio consoles and an Apantac multiviewer system are also being installed.