First VSM system installed in NEP mobile production truck
USA-based company NEP has announced the use of VSM as the central control system for its mobile production truck SS22. SS22 is the first mobile production truck in NEP’s fleet to use VSM, and facilitates the delivery of innovative and simplified operational workflows to both engineering and production staff.
VSM handles all router control in the truck by interfacing directly to the video and audio routers. In addition, because VSM integrates directly into the existing infrastructure in the truck, it is able to assume management of already installed 3rd party control panels, making it a truly unique, entirely central, umbrella control system. The first production supported by SS22 utilising its new VSM technology was coverage of the PGA Championship golf tournament in August 2013.
As part of an initiative to bring VSM to the United States market, L-S-B partnered with NEP to install the system in SS22, one of its flagship HD production trucks. NEP’s top engineering team worked closely with L-S-B to tailor the system to their unique needs.
Jeff Joslin, vice-president of NEP Labs, headed up the project for NEP with the goal of using VSM to dramatically reduce truck setup times and offer unmatched operational simplicity through a combination of custom-configured touchscreen software panels and flexible LCD hardware panels.
Joslin explains: “Our goals are centred around improving the efficiency of configuring complex and disparate systems. To many, the idea of being able to separately RECALL configurations for various systems in the mobile unit from a previous show is the goal, but that doesn’t go far enough. VSM offers one central and efficient tool for setting up the entire, immensely complex network of systems in a mobile unit that is agile enough to meet each client’s unique needs, while translating those demands into a “ready to go” state in the fewest steps possible. Additionally, VSM had great appeal to us because the variance of vendor equipment across our entire fleet means that a universal control system eases training, support and collaboration of innovative methodologies.
“VSM is the first system that provides a rich toolset to offer these extensible interfaces for use in the ever changing, demanding mobile unit environment. With the wealth of protocols and experience that LSB has developed working with equipment manufacturers for many years, they have made a central model of control, with flexible combinatorial logic, a reality.”
NEP’s SS22 mobile production truck includes PESA routers, a GVG Kayenne Switcher, Harris Multiviewers, a Calrec Audio Console, an RTS Intercom system, Cobalt and AJA processing technology. VSM talks directly to all these components, providing a single toolbox that is able to create control user interfaces and logic, greatly simplifying many tasks.
In SS22, VSM handles all router control, interfacing directly to the PESA Audio and Video routers, as well as interacting directly with the Calrec Audio console. Because VSM is integrated directly into the truck’s existing infrastructure, it is able to talk directly to the already installed PESA panels with no need for the native controller.
George Hoover, NEP’s CTO, adds: “VSM is an amazingly powerful product with many layers of capabilities. The team from LSB work extensively with our engineers and operators to help us use VSM to its full capability. The LSB team knows and is very experienced in remote broadcasting, so their credibility was quickly obvious to our staff – these guys know their stuff and how it can be used to its fullest potential. I can’t say enough about the capabilities of the software developers as well, their ability to reliably control other manufacturers’ devices is fantastic.”