ERTU invests in huge OB fleet

`Egypt’s state broadcaster recently took delivery of a fleet of eight HD and SD OB vehicles from Sony PSMEA making it the single largest OB investment in the Middle East and Africa. BroadcastPro Middle East takes you on an exclusive tour.

 

 

(ERTU) recently invested millions of dollars in a fleet of eight High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) Outside Broadcast (OB) vehicles.

The delivery included two full-length 14-camera HD rigs, four five-camera HD Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) vans and two five-camera SD DSNG vans.

Eng. Hamdy Muneer, chairman of ERTU – Engineering says the panel vans will primarily be used for news coverage and gathering of news by the state-backed broadcaster but will also cover other live events.

“While news coverage will be priority, these vans are designed for comprehensive sports coverage and other external events as well. They have been designed for simple operation and flexibility. More importantly, they can be used as stand-alone units or combined with other vehicles to enhance larger multi-camera productions,” Eng. Muneer says.

The largest vehicles in this fleet are two 13-camera HD OB trucks wired for 14. Both OB trucks are equipped with nine HDC-1450R HD camera chains and three HDC-1450R wireless camera chains as well as one HDC- 3300 super slow motion camera. These trucks are also fitted with a Sony MVS -8000GSF Vision Mixer; an Evertz video router; four VTR positions; two microwave systems; three EVS slow motion servers; Axon digital infrastructure; a fully integrated Harris two-channel inscriber graphics system and a range of LMD and BVM L-series.

One of the highlights of the two big trucks is the HDC- 3300 super slow motion camera.

“Super slow motion capabilities are very important for sports coverage,” explains Eng. Muneer.

“Content can be captured at the highest quality with the high-end HD cameras we have purchased. The content is processed throughout the OB production chain in HD with Sony’s broadcast production switchers and professional monitoring,” he adds.

Four HD SNG vehicles are part of this fleet and wired for five cameras including three HDC-1450R HD camera chains and two HDC-1450R wireless camera chains. They are also fitted with Sony’s MVS-8000GSF vision mixer with 2M/E and 4 Ch DME.

The last of the fleet include two five-camera SD SNG vans that are equipped with three BVP-E30PH SD camera chains, two BVP-E30 wireless camera chains, and the MFS- 2000 1.5 ME vision mixer with two channel DME.

The entire fleet is equipped with a 1.8m DSNG uplink system. Additional provision for microwave links is available on all of the vans in the fleet.

Both the HD SNG and SD SNG vehicles are fitted with Evertz video routers; two VTR positions; position for two microwave systems, an Axon digital infrastructure; a fully integrated Harris Inscriber Graphics system and a range of LMD and BVM L-series displays.

All of the eight vans are fitted with an Evertz audio router; the Trilogy Orator Intercom system; a range of wireless and wired microphones as well as various outboard digital audio devices.

While the two HD OB vans are equipped with a Studer OnAir 2500 Modulo audio console that has 24 faders, both the HD and SD SNG vans are equipped with a Studer OnAir 2500 Modulo audio console that has 12 faders.

The antenna section of all the eight vehicles are fitted with the Advent NewSwift 180, 1.8m dia antenna; two Xicom XTD400K TWTA; an Advent DVE5000 MP2 encoding system; an uplink system built for 1+1 & 2+0 configuration as well as a Tandberg multi-format IRD.

“These OB vans (two SD DSNG, two rigid HD and four HD DSNG) have been designed to meet our objective of catering to the daily operational requirements of ERTU, coverage of various activities such as News, sports and productions,” says Eng. Muneer.

“In addition to that, we wanted to invest in future-proof technology while also having the flexibility in terms of space and operational areas within the vehicles,” he adds.

The fleet was delivered by Sony Professional’s teams in Dubai and the UK. The team worked closely with key third party partners such as EVS, Gigawave, Fujinon, Evertz, Axon, Studer, Trilogy and others, as well as coachbuilder ASGB (‘Smiths’) to provide the custom coach build expertise.

Ghallab Mohamed, project manager at Sony PSMEA adds that Sony’s Professional Services team provided full project management for the build of the vehicles, “to ensure the coach-build, video, audio and control system design, as well as the installation, configuration and testing to ensure it met the specific requirements of ERTU”.

One of the biggest challenges of undertaking this project according to Mohamed was the tight deadline for the delivery of the fleet.

“We had a very short delivery time to meet the customer’s requirements and event targets. It was also essential to consider the variations of weather in the UK during the different phases of project design and implementation,” says Ghallab.

“It was also important to design the vans, utilising the limited space available within the panel vans as well as ensure that ERTU’s engineering and operational needs were met. The vans have been custom designed to meet these special operational needs and daily requirements,” adds Mohamed.