Video Progetti completes upgrade of two OB vans for NEP Italy’s delivery of sports programming
Italian broadcast systems distributor and systems integrator Video Progetti has announced that it has completed the upgrade of two OB vans – VHD 24 and VHD 26 – for NEP Italy. the vans are set to be used in NEP Italy’s coverage of football.
NEP Group is an outsourced technical production partner supporting premier content producers of live sports and entertainment worldwide. NEP Italy was established in the first half of 2018 under the leadership of industry veteran Sergio Cecchini, and subsequently acquired local industry leader, Telerecord.
In the early part of 2019, NEP Italy solicited tenders for a comprehensive upgrade of two OB vans, to include the audio and intercom systems. Having just acquired a substantial quantity of Grass Valley cameras, it was imperative that the chosen supplier was intimately familiar with Grass Valley equipment. Another vital consideration was that the upgrade needed to be complete in time for the start of the Italian football season.
Based on these criteria, and his previous experience of the company’s creativity, technical expertise and professionalism, Cecchini chose Video Progetti to undertake the upgrade.
“Football is important in Italy, and 4K is vital in football coverage, so we were delighted to be asked by NEP Italy to deliver this upgrade, one of many we have performed since UltraHD became the resolution of choice for delivering sports programming,” said Carlo Struzzi, CEO of Video Progetti. “What was particularly enjoyable about this project was that NEP Italy was prepared to trust our judgement, not only on the technical aspects of the upgrade but also on the functional and aesthetic requirements.”
“Our OB vans are also popular abroad,” Struzzi added, “because of the typically Italian emphasis we put on making the environment a beautiful and pleasant space in which the team can feel comfortable and deliver their best work. In addition, Italy has a long tradition in radio and TV, meaning that we can bring both deep and broad technical knowledge as well as decades of experience to any project.”
“I have known Carlo for many years and trust him as a person and as a professional,” said Cecchini, “and I’ve worked with the Video Progetti team on a number of projects, so I knew I could rely on them to deliver the right solution within the right time frame.”
Elements of the upgrade included: ClearCom E-MADI64-HX 64-Channel MADI Interface Card, providing an Eclipse with 32, 56 or 64 channels of digital audio interconnect; Grass Valley Densité XIP-3901 agile modular SDI/IP processing platform for Densité 3+; Telestream PRISM Media Monitoring and Analysis Platform to provide visibility of network performance and problems; and Hitomi Matchbox Generator test pattern generation with advanced audio and video identing.