Videohouse, Euro Media Group’s Belgian operator, has added the new OB14 to its fleet. Rather than replicate previous designs, its in-house system integrator, ProjectBuilders, unleashed what it believes is a radically new design – as can be seen in the Outside Exhibit area.
The company wanted to create an optimum, future-proofed working environment with maximum flexibility and, together with system consultant, Crosspoint, identified new concepts, particularly a separate corridor through the truck. “Outside broadcast trucks are busy, with people coming and going all the time,” explained Michiel Spaepen, project manager at ProjectBuilders. “By separating internal sections operators don’t need to pass through the main production area making it quieter and less disruptive.”
The equipment racks have externally removable sliding trays, making it easy to load gear for each job, “allowing sharing of equipment amongst the fleet, reducing stock holding,” he explained.
An IHSE (7.F33) Draco tera compact KVM switch gives staff direct access to servers and production equipment from individual workstations. Operators can easily switch between source devices, such as character generators, rasterisers, servers and slow motion devices via hotkey selection as they need to. “Maximum flexibility is achieved by allowing every operator position to be set to personal preference,” said Spaepen. “The tera delivers instant switching of sources without video or data latency; essential in live broadcast production, creating a truly flexible and efficient workflow.”
The 32-port Draco tera switch provides access from 16 individual servers and computers to 12 operator workstations over a dedicated Cat7 network with USB2.0 support. Extra pairs of KVM fibre cross-repeaters enable remote connection of peripheral sources or displays up to 10km away.
“Operators aren’t aware of the KVM switch; it simply operates in the background delivering the instantaneous connection and switching of sources they demand in a live broadcast environment; exactly as it should be,” added Gert Vandoninck of Crosspoint.
