SuperSport’s OB5 hits the road

South African broadcaster SuperSport has put a new outside broadcast vehicle into operation that will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, and cover cricket, league football and other sports in eastern Africa.

OB5 is a 14-camera unit that replaces an eight-camera truck used previously in the region. It is the sixth OB vehicle to built for SuperSport by UK systems integrator C2S Systems and includes equipment from two existing units.

Based on a Mercedes Axor 26T rigid chassis, OB5 has two expanding sides to provide large working areas and houses a substantial equipment roster. Sophisticated mechanics and hydraulics enable the unit’s side to be extended efficiently, controlled from a single button push.

Gear and technology includes 12 Sony BVP-E30 camera channels, two Grass Valley LDK SD super slow-motion cameras, four robotic/Mini-Cams, Sony DVS-9000 3ME vision mixer, three EVS XT2 servers for replay, four Sony DSR-1000 HDD recorders, a DSR-2000 DVCAM deck, Sony PVM-1741 OLED display monitors, a Yamaha DM2000 audio desk, Telex intercom, CTP Systems DBC-16 for camera communications, and a touch-screen controlled router designed by C2S Systems’ engineers.

Commenting on the new acquisition, Andre Venter, head of SuperSport Africa, says: “We knew this project could be challenging but C2S Systems has always been able to meet our needs, so we had every confidence and the result is a very impressive truck. The OB was covering the live cricket in Zimbabwe only hours after the C2S team had finished final commissioning on-site. When C2S Systems finalises the vehicle it will be the most powerful OB truck of it’s kind in Eastern Africa, which makes us very proud.”