Alamiya chooses Grass Valley for mass OB upgrade to cover more live sports in 4K UHD

Grass Valley is set to do a major upgrade of the entire fleet of outside broadcasting (OB) vans owned by Alamiya, a media and advertising company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to enable the firm to deliver 4K UHD productions of major sporting and live events.

The project with enable Alamiya to future proof its end to end live production infrastructure so it can keep its fleet of OBs – the largest in the Middle East – at the cutting edge of broadcast technology.

The contract win builds on Grass Valley’s longstanding relationship with Alamiya and is a testament to its collaborative approach in helping customers meet the challenges facing their businesses in today’s fast evolving mediascape.

Sultan Al Muheisen, CEO at Alamiya, explained: “We have been working closely with Grass Valley for many years, during which we have been extremely impressed with their support. The Grass Valley team is always ready to provide help and advice, while their innovative and flexible solutions, which cover everything from cameras to servers, enable us to stay ahead of our competition in the industry. We wanted to ensure that any solution we selected is the best investment for the future and Grass Valley delivered exactly what we needed.”

As broadcasters face consumer demand for more immersive, higher resolution content, the upgraded OB infrastructure will allow Riyadh-based Alamiya to provide its customers with the flexibility to meet these demands.

Alamiya has deployed hundreds of LDX 86NSeries 4K, HD, 3G Cameras, including 24 LDX 86 High Frame Rate HD, 3G, 4K UHD Cameras, the K2 Dyno S3 replay system and four Karrera K-Frame Video Production Centre switchers with three and five M/Es. Additionally, all of the related infrastructures, video routers and modular frames are based on Densité solutions.

The new Grass Valley cameras and workflow ensure that Alamiya can now help its broadcast customers deliver a compelling viewer experience from any live production of any size, regardless of the complexity.

The LDX 86N Series camera takes Alamiya’s OB operations to the cutting edge with native 4K UHD (3840×2160) and native 3G/HD (1920×1080) image capture, using three unique 3840x2160p 4KXensiumHAWK CMOS imagers with DPMUltra (dynamic pixel management) functionality, offering a great viewer experience for all of its live productions.

In addition, the LDX 86N provides the same familiar GV-eLicense upgrade path for the next level of functionality when production needs require it. Whether it is HD or 3X super slow motion today, 3G or 6X super slow motion tomorrow, or 4K UHD down the road, Alamiya will be ready to cover the top division of the football competition and other sporting events in Saudi Arabia.

“Alamiya is one of the most innovative companies in the Middle East, leading the way with event-based live production. We are delighted that Grass Valley has been chosen to help future proof its OB fleet to deliver the best quality content possible,” added Tim Banks, vice president of sales, EMEA, Grass Valley. “The LDX cameras with their superior picture performance and unmatched operational flexibility will enable Alamiya to offer their customers tailor-made solutions, enabling them to handle the most demanding and complex projects.”