New IP-capable outside broadcast vehicles launched by OB giant

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NEP UK has unveiled two new IP-capable outside broadcast trucks, Venus and Ceres.

The vehicles will be used at major events, sports fixtures and other large scale productions.

“We needed to replace two of our older vehicles, which gave us the perfect opportunity to invest in our first future-resistant IP capable trucks,” said Rob Newton, engineering and technical director, NEP UK.

The system infrastructure is identical in both vehicles. Each system is built around Grass Valley (formerly SAM) IQ UCP 25GbE Gateway cards, which provide two-way links between IP-based equipment and the existing baseband technology that is still needed to accommodate clients using SDI feeds. The trucks can also offer dual level UHD and HDI-SDI simultaneously.

Venus and Ceres are also equipped with Phabrix’s HDR and IP-enabled test and measurement solutions to accommodate clients using SDI or IP feeds. NEP also invested in four Rx2000 units, with each Rx providing up to four channels of 2K/3G/HD/SD-SDI video/audio analysis and monitoring.

Other equipment installed in each vehicle includes Grass Valley Kayenne Video Production Centers and Kahuna vision mixers, Calrec sound desks, Telex Talkback system, Arista 7504 IP switches and Axon Cerebrum control systems.

NEP said the other major differentiator for these vehicles is a significant reduction in cabling. The system requires far less fibre optic cable compared to the miles of coaxial cable previously required.

The new equipment does require greater cooling, so the truck provides greater air conditioning and all equipment can be cooled separately in operational areas.

Venus and Ceres can also expand their capacity and facilities via modular connection with multiple IP flypacks. “This is the first time we’ve been able to effectively make our trucks larger - the only limit is the number of ports available on the switch,” said Newton. “We can put the truck in any location and connect multiple IP systems, be they our flypacks, our trucks or our media hubs, creating fully scalable and large broadcast system - the kind that you would only previously find in a fixed studio set up.”

Venus recently completed its first job and both trucks will be supporting several major live events over the summer.

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