TVU Networks enhances RTVE coverage of Dakar Rally 2019 with remote mobile solutions

Spanish public broadcaster, RTVE, has deployed TVU Networks’ TVU Nano Router and TVU Anywhere to contribute SDI video over wireless networks from the remote and difficult conditions of the Dakar Rally in Latin America, live to the RTVE studio in Barcelona.

The quality and reliability of the TVU Nano Router and TVU Anywhere has enabled RTVE to broadcast smartphone-captured video live in its coverage of the rally.

The Dakar Rally is a renowned off-road rally endurance race that has been going on for more than 40 years. The IP-streamed videos, which were aired live on RTVE flagship channels La 1 and Teledeporte, were shot on smartphones, transmitted over local mobile networks, and delivered as HD-SDI output feeds to RTVE’s studio. It achieved thanks to the ability of the TVU Anywhere app to aggregate mobile data from the smartphone and the compact TVU Nano Router, used as an additional hotspot enabled by three SIMs.

“It’s exciting that our incredibly compact solutions enabled RTVE to capture footage of the Dakar Rally on smartphone and air the video live and in full-screen for the first time on its flagship La 1 channel,” said, David Jorba, managing director for Europe, at TVU Networks. “It’s our mission to increase the quality of live video and the scalability and mobility of the live streaming solutions, while stripping out complexity and reducing cost for our customers, independently of the way the content is captured and transported. The TVU Anywhere and TVU Nano Router solution certainly delivered this for RTVE and we look forward to our cutting-edge solutions continuing to make a difference for all broadcasters and operators producing live events.”

TVU Nano Router is designed to be the smallest possible hardware solution for the high quality contribution of video over WiFi, Ethernet and cellular networks. TVU Anywhere is an app for capturing and streaming live video from anywhere, delivering picture quality usually reserved for more expensive professional video equipment. TVU Anywhere also features remote pan-and-zoom allowing an operator in a studio to control the camera remotely without intervention from the user in the field.

“Just getting video back from the incredibly hostile environment of the Latin American deserts where the Dakar Rally takes place is a big achievement. However, the combination of the TVU Anywhere mobile application and the TVU Nano Router provided such high quality video coverage of the rally. This year the reliability, quality and low latency of the TVU solution enabled us to go full-screen and live with HD SDI output from a smartphone,” said a spokesperson from RTVE.