The Quicklink Merlin Backlink will be used by South African channel eNCA to cover the murder trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani, which begins in October. Due to the location of the courtroom it has become difficult for SNG trucks to be stationed close by, making it a challenge to cover the news as it breaks.
By using the Quicklink Merlin, eNCA was able to cover all of the pre-trial build-up in the Dewani case, getting the stories as they broke.
Designed for mobility and flexibility, the Quicklink Merlin Backpack can bond up to 6 x 3G/4G SIM cards as well as Wi-Fi and satellite connections. It has already been used to cover breaking news stories including the Oscar Pistorius trial where it provided upwards of 4Mb transmissions using a variety of 3G connections.
Sean Thomas, broadcast deliveries manager, eNCA commented: “We needed a fast and mobile solution to cover the live shots of Dewani’s arrival at and outside of court, in this high profile case. The Merlin backpack proved extremely useful and reliable. From boot-up to live crossing in less than five minutes, this proved the ideal solution for us.
“The Quicklink Merlin worked extremely well with our existing Quicklink playout infrastructure and we managed really good results, with up to 10Mbps upload speeds across two mobile networks. We have now ordered more Quicklink Merlin backpacks and look forward to using them in the field.”
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