live news & sport


following the meetings, it has a fairly standardised plan of seven wired and three wireless cameras. Its trucks are built with expansion in mind, so they can go up to 10 wired cameras when required. But while the company does not


have a huge number of inputs, it produces three independent outputs at every meeting it covers: a clean feed of the races for external broadcasters; a closed circuit service for the course with paddock commentary, betting shows, interviews and more; and a full presentation service for a dedicated channel Racing UK. The key to achieving this in a fixed


axle vehicle (with one expanding side) is good design to ensure the staff are comfortable and can work together well. That, I believe, is the most critical part of designing a good outside broadcast vehicle for sport: put the crew where you need them to be to make good TV, then build the rest of the system around them. The centrepiece is going to be the


main production switcher. This is pretty much a standard choice, because all outside broadcast companies rely on specialist freelancers, who in turn count on the equipment being so familiar they can do complex things completely intuitively, leaving them free to focus on spotting the key action. Facing the production switcher will


be the main monitor wall. Multiviewer technology has done a lot to make this more manageable (not to mention


reducing weight, always a key issue). The IT industry offers high quality, affordable screens, too: we use the Apple Cinema Display extensively in trucks. Around this focal point you need to


decide what other functionality you require, and where the operators should logically be in relation to the director. Can monitors be shared? Who needs to be in whose eyeline? Who needs direct, face to face communication? The impression is that a major


sporting outside broadcast is an incredibly tense affair, with lots of shouting from one part of the operation to another, and the director shouting louder than anyone. Trying to ease some of this tension - or at least not adding to it - is good sense. Ensuring the air conditioning can


cope with the number of bodies in the truck is of course critical. Even better is to achieve an even temperature everywhere in the working area, silently and with no draughts. Having to talk over the sound of fans inevitably ends up in shouting. We have built a fleet of articulated


trucks for SIS LIVE in which one wall of the production area is largely glass. It was challenge for us to ensure that acoustic isolation was maintained in this environment and that there were no distracting reflections on the monitor stack. Solving them and seeing the effectiveness of this idea was very satisfying.


feature Just as the number of cameras


The impression is that a major sporting outside broadcast is an incredibly tense affair, with lots of shouting from one part of the operation to another, and the director shouting louder than anyone. Trying to ease some of this tension - or at least not adding to it - is good sense.


tends to increase, so too does the number of server channels in the replay area. Advances in IT technology and disk capacity mean that server channels can be packed into ever smaller spaces, but this is immediately counterbalanced by the need for more channels, and to iso record as many cameras as possible. Managing replays is very much


achieved by operators shouting when they think they have something good, so at the very least these areas need to be well insulated. Most large units have a completely separate truck for the server and its operators, with its own switching to present replays as just a couple of sources on the production switcher. In a sense, the fundamental


requirements of sports television are simple: make sure you cover the action, and when something important or interesting happens let the audience see it from different angles to help them understand it. That translates into having the right number of cameras, making it easy for the director and vision mixer to select them live, and recording them independently for instant replay. The successful truck designer will


understand that, and appreciate that good design comes from making sure the people are comfortably placed to achieve that, with good communications, good monitoring and good air conditioning.


www.ibeweb.com l november/december 2011 l ibe l 51


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