Sony to add third 3D truck to Telegenic fleet – updated

With interest in 3D gripping Europe, UK OB specialist Telegenic has commissioned Sony Professional to build a third 3D vehicle to join the two dedicated trucks already in operation producing content for BSkyB’s 3D channel.

According to Malcolm Robinson, head of Live Production Solutions at Sony Professional, the new truck is going to be exactly the same as the vehicle Sony delivered last summer “with only little tweaks here and there,” indicating that truck evolution has rapidly coalesced around an efficient design for producing stereo 3D.

Exactly what Sony camera channels are to be used has yet to be locked down — P1s are a possibility over the 1500s used previously — and SVG Europe understands that there’s uncertainty about what 3D rigs will be used as well. Either way, though, this will be the first 3D truck wholly owned and operated by Telegenic; it simply manages the other two on behalf of the editorial needs of Sky 3D.

The new truck reflects continued interest in the format. All in all, Robinson reckons that Sony Professional currently has about 20 proposals out for 3D vehicles across Europe — some new builds, some levering a 3D layer on top of an existent HD one.

“Germany is buying, Italy is talking,” he says, “and we’re getting a lot of interest from the Nordic countries in the wake of the recent 3D ski-jumping and screening of Swedish opera.”

Details have also emerged about its audio spec, which is to be based on a Calrec Apollo console, the third supplied by the company to Telegenic. Full spec is as follows: 48 A/B layer faders; 1020 channels at 48khz; 128 mix busses for group and main outputs; 96 track busses/IFBs; and 48 auxiliary busses. I/O configuration, meanwhile, encompasses: 16 Hydra2 I/O boxes; 128 AES I/O; 176 mic/line I/Ps; 144 line O/Ps; 10 MADI I/O interfaces with 56/64 channels per interface; and 4x SDI de-embedders with Dolby E decoders.

Factory Completion for the desk is currently scheduled for summer.