ÁSZ Hungary looks to expand into new markets with OB truck upgrade
ÁSZ Hungary covers rowing regatta in Budapest with new Sony HDC-1700 cameras
Extending its fleet, Hungarian broadcast services provider ÁSZ Bt recently purchased a used OB truck and needed a new audio console for its refurbishment. The company chose a 48-fader mc²56 desk and two V__pro8 A/V toolbox units from Lawo. Founded in 1992 by MD and company owner Ferenc Ács, Budapest-based ÁSZ Bt is the second largest OB van operator in Hungary.
The addition of the 18-camera OB5 — which houses a Sound Room, Video Engineering Room, and Production Room – brings the company’s truck count to four, as it joins OB3 (supporting up to16 cameras), OB4 (with a maximum of eight cameras), and OB6 (with a maximum of six cameras).
The expanded fleet improves the company’s ability to serve domestic events and also to take on
Lawo console in its new home – the refurbished ÁSZ OB5 truck
additional projects abroad – the complexity of international events required more powerful audio mixing than offered by the existing OB vans, and ÁSZ Bt looked to Lawo after extensive market research and a competitive sales process. The equipment purchase was made through independent system integrator Rexfilm.
“In this profession it is important to develop constantly and to move with the times. That is why Ferenc Ács is constantly looking to innovate,” says Rexfilm Project Director, Gábor Csapó. “Lawo was chosen because of the company’s redundancy concept, the functionality of the mc²56 and the attractive price.”
The new OB van also features ten Sony Professional HDC-1700 fibre-optic camera systems, for state-of-the-art picture capture.
“When the purchase of the cameras was complete, the question of the sound system was addressed. After long and thorough consideration, a 48-channel (16-16-16) mc256 with one DSP board supporting 96 audio channels and offering 5.1-channel mixing was chosen to handle the audio,” Csapó says.
“ÁSZ Bt chose Lawo because – in this part of Europe, where we live and work, and even more so in the Western countries – major broadcasters that take this service very seriously mostly use Lawo consoles. It makes it easier for us to expand our services to the international market, because Lawo is widely accepted and the chances of finding a good professional, who knows the console, are higher,” explained Ferenc Ács.
“Our focus when building and equipping the OB5 was to make it qualified to work on international events,” he continued. “The reliability of the sound and intercom systems is crucial – the Lawo mc256 with three DSP panels and three Stageboxes, and additional Lawo V__pro8 processors, combined with Riedel intercom solutions, is a system that gives us great flexibility for different setups.”
The first – and very high profile – use of the OB van was for coverage of the Judo Grand Prix from the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna. Since then, ÁSZ Bt has put the truck and its audio abilities to the test in a series of minor and major productions. Among these was recording the American rock opera, ‘Rocktopia’ at the Hungarian State Opera House. For this production, OB5’s CableCam systems 3D (similar to a Spidercam) was used in conjunction with a surround mix, and delivered spectacular production. Currently, OB5 is working on further sports events and music concerts.