SAM Kahuna switcher and Imagine IP3 router to feature in new OBS TV 4K truck

NEP Worldwide Network companies have been busy over the winter commissioning replacements for the six trucks that were lost in the devastating NEP Visions garage fire in Bracknell early November. Among the trucks that were lost was one from NEP group company OBS TV, which — as luck would have it — was there for the very first time.

During SVG Europe’s visit to the UCI 2016 Track World Cycling Championship in London last week, OBS TV Managing Director Alan Burns said, “we had one of our trucks being prepped for a job in the Visions garage in Bracknell at that time. It was parked up the day before the fire – and had never been there before, ever! It went in the day before, and never came out,” he said.

A replacement truck (to be called Spirit) is being built now, and the OBS TV team is taking some new directions in terms of big-ticket technology components. “We have always been Sony for vision mixers. In the new truck, I’ve gone to Snell [SAM] for the Kahuna 4k,” he said.

“We’re very excited about the new Snell mixer and its 4k and conversion capability, so we’ve gone with that. We’ve never bought another vision mixer other than Sony in 12 years. But we feel Snell really do have an edge at the moment. Quite a lot of freelancers are now familiar [with Kahuna], and Snell has been very proactive about training the visions mixers.

“And in that truck we’re also going with the Imagine [Platinum] IP3 router and [Lawo] VSM control system,” Burns continued. “Traditionally we were Evertz for routers, running the native Magnum control system. We’ve gone for VSM, which we feel is a very strong product that is mature. Within the NEP family, Mediatec in Sweden and Outside Broadcast in Belgium have VSM, as does NEP Netherlands. So there’s a commonality of users and expertise coming to bear on these things across the group.

“The sound desk in the new truck will be Calrec, with RTS Telex talkback. Our cameras will be Sony 4300s. There’s a new CCU coming on them now, so you don’t need a separate BPU. Lenses is a trickier question,” said Burns, “and I haven’t made a lenses decision yet. That’s an NAB discussion.

“I think with the 4k revolution,” Burns added, “some of the traditional broadcast suppliers have been caught a little bit behind. We’re seeing a new bouquet of manufacturers who have enhanced 4k and come up with smarter ways of working.”