Since 2020, the outside broadcasting landscape has undergone a seismic shift, with remote production now part of the workflows for many major events.
Vivid Broadcast has been at the forefront of this shift, with its Remote Production Centre based in Woking and the launch of its latest custom-built truck, Barra OB, designed to bridge the gap between traditional broadcast infrastructure and the new demands of remote-first production.
For years, the industry relied on repurposing massive, traditional trucks for remote workflows, often designed with complex infrastructure that, in a remote setting, proved to be inefficient and restrictive.
“We were still sending out trucks that had vision mixers in them and had infrastructure for onsite teams, which just wasn’t required,” Vivid CEO Rory Springthorpe tells TVBEurope. The challenge for Vivid was to identify how to “deliver something that we’re proud of, and something that is fit for purpose.”
Some OB companies have turned to large articulated lorries to solve capacity issues, but Vivid took a different approach. They aimed to create a unit that provided the high camera count required for professional broadcasts without the physical footprint of a traditional truck. The goal was to give clients the advantages of remote production without the logistical burden of “shoehorning another truck into it,” says Springthorpe.
The journey from concept to reality took just over a year. Rather than rushing the project, the Vivid team engaged with OB builders and designers across the UK and Europe, eventually choosing Belgium-based Project Builders to design Barra OB. “We recognised there was a synergy, in terms of how they work, just the creativity, the excellence, their approach to building more than 300 OB trucks,” Springthorpe says. The build itself was completed in the UK by Spectra, maintaining a strict focus on thermal and weight efficiency.
Not only is Barra an innovative truck in terms of outside broadcasting technology, it also has a new kind of power management, with the system inspired by the maritime industry. “We’ve designed a custom system that was taking some of the learnings from super yachts, where they need high-end, reliable power, and we just applied the same kind of principles to what we’re doing with Barra.” This battery-run design allows for better energy management, reducing heat generation and ensuring the truck remains efficient without unnecessary cooling strain.
One of the most distinct features of the truck is its focus on a ‘quiet space’. In many OB vehicles, the production and sound areas can be compromised by the ambient noise of the equipment itself. Vivid chose to prioritise the human element of production.
“We wanted to really go as premium as we could, so we removed any noise from the production area, and any noise at all from sound,” Springthorpe explains. By isolating the engineering equipment in what he describes as “sealed fridges”, the team created a peaceful environment for crews working at an event. This separation serves a dual purpose: it allows the engineering equipment to remain at the precise, cool temperature it requires, while ensuring the production team can work in a warm, comfortable, and quiet environment.
Currently, Barra is equipped for 20 cameras, which Springthorpe describes as a “sweet spot” that allows for flexibility across various broadcast scenarios. While it isn’t designed to compete with the massive 40-camera units, it is perfectly suited for the scale of high-profile broadcasts like Sky’s Women’s Super League (WSL) coverage.
“It’s designed for 16 channel cameras, and then four RF, but these days that could be additional steady camera modes, or drones, or whatever.” However, if a project needs to add more cameras on site, the truck is able to scale without compromising the integrity of the match coverage.
When asked about the potential for a second Barra truck, Springthorpe explains that Vivid’s strategy is driven by the industry’s immediate needs rather than a desire to expand for the sake of it. Instead of another large truck, the company is looking at the opposite end of the spectrum: “We’re looking at creating much smaller units so that they can be run by a production or client manager on site, while all of the engineering is managed remotely,” he says.
As for the broader industry, Springthorpe believes the focus should remain on refining the remote process. “Connectivity is improving all the time, encoders are changing all the time,” he notes. The future of the industry, he argues, isn’t about a one-size-fits-all mentality, but about knowing when a truck at an event is needed and when it’s not.
