Russian production company ANO Sports Broadcasting (Panorama) has bought seven new Digital Satellite Newsgathering vehicles, which it has equipped with Yamaha DM1000 digital mixing consoles and Axon modular processors, writes David Fox.
The vans are based on the Mercedes Sprinter and have been supplied by German broadcast specialist and truck builder, Broadcast Solutions. They are designed to become an important link in the global broadcasting of the 2014 Winter Olympics, being held in the Russian city of Sochi and the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort. They will also be used for the World Summer University Games in Kazan in 2013.
The DM1000 fits well into the confined space of an OB van, and can cope with being driven over rough terrain and the extremes of temperature it faces on the road, especially during the depths of a Russian winter.
Each van is equipped with a DM1000VCM with MY16-AE AES/EBU interface cards alongside high specification video and monitoring equipment plus “some decent winter-proofing for the Russian climate,” said Broadcast Solutions’ project manager, Wladislaw Grabowski.
“ANO will use them mainly for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, but also for other sports and events as uplink vehicles. They will also to be used for digital satellite news gathering when required,” he added.
The DM1000VCM was selected as the most suitable mixer for this application because no other digital console with such a compact (42×63.5cm) footprint can accommodate 48 inputs or do a full surround sound mix.
“The DM1000 is the standard console for outside broadcast,” said Arthur Koll, broadcast sales engineer at Yamaha Music Europe. “The input microphone preamps are of a very high class and, thanks to the MY series interface cards, you can integrate it with a wide range of broadcast standards.”
Axon extends Synapse for ANO
Axon’s Synapse modular processing equipment is being used for a broad range of applications in the OB vehicles, including up-conversion, down-conversion and cross conversion of 3G signals.
They will support the distribution of video and audio signals throughout the vehicles as well as the embedding and de-embedding of audio. Axon technology will also control the synchronizing, legalizing and keying operations, while its SynView will be the standard multi-viewing platform.
Axon has developed two new Synapse modules for this project. The first is an adaptation of its GQW220 3Gbps, HD, SD-SDI to QWXGA converter to provide advanced 4:3 masking capabilities, while the GDL200 is a new dual standard legalizer for digital signals with full framesync capabilities.
Synapse’s internal bus structure reduces the need for external cabling, which reduced the technical demands on each vehicle. It also helped that Axon opened a Russian office this year, which will enable it to provide technical and operational support.
The vans are also equipped with Sony XDCAM camcorders, Riedel comms, Tektronix monitoring and Ericsson Voyager II encoders, with uplinks via a 1.8m antenna.
Broadcast Solutions will also be building four 16-camera OB trucks for ANO, for delivery next Summer, while Sony is building 12 OB vans, including five 10-camera vehicles, four 16-camera units and three 24-camera OB trucks.
www.axon.tv
www.broadcast-solutions.de
www.panoramahd.ru/en
www.yamaha.com
