MAGNA SYSTEMS HELPS AVE WITH OB
Supplies key products for new state of the art OB truck
SYDNEY, 17 February 2017 – When Sydney-based independent multi media television production company AVE wanted to build a new high end OB truck they turned to their technology partner Magna Systems and Engineering for help and guidance.
AVE Broadcast Engineer Les Bishop explained, “AVE is a leading production house producing over 250 hours of television content annually for the free to air and pay TV networks both local and international. We specialise in the production of sport, lifestyle and music programmes, offering a one stop shop. With that in mind we decided to bolster our OB fleet and build a new truck that could do work for pay TV channels like Fox Sports and broadcast work for all the commercial channels, so we contacted Magna Systems with a list of requirements.”
With Bishop in charge of truck design and project management he turned to Magna’s Barry Pegg and Lucas Bohm for help with cameras, fibre infrastructure and intercoms.
Bishop continued, “We commissioned Sony to build the truck body so we knew the quality was going to be good. After discussions with the Magna team we chose Ikegami HDK-55 cameras, Bluebell Shax fibre and RTS comms.”
The Ikegami HDK-55 camera is a high performance full digital HDTV camera with superb picture quality and system versatility for studio and field production. Featuring a newly developed FPGA with advanced full digital process ASIC, video processing technology to maximise the benefit of 16-bits and 2/3-inch 2.3 Mega pixel AIT CCDs (1080i/59.94Hz,50Hz) it is an ideal camera for OBs.
The Shax System from Bluebell has been designed to allow SD-SDI and HD-SDI broadcast cameras fitted with Standard SMPTE 304M hybrid connectors to be deployed using ordinary single mode optical fibre. This system allows the user to replace the fibre/copper hybrid cable between the camera and the CCU with standard fibre cable. Both ends of this system are enclosed in a compact, lightweight, ruggedised aluminium enclosure, ideally suited to Outside Broadcast and Fly Away applications where the camera can be powered locally.
The RTS Zeus III is a 32-channel intercom matrix where each channel can be used to connect to a keypanel or 4W audio (audio IN/OUT). By using either the dedicated DB-9 trunk connector with standard RS485 protocol, or newly release Ethernet trunking the Zeus III is seamlessly able to communicate with a RTS trunk master system.
Bishop added, “The Magna guys really know their stuff. For me the real standout products are the Ikegami cameras, I just love the beautiful pictures they produce, the colour imagery is superb so we purchased six chains with room to expand and get two more. The Bluebell Shax matched our current LC fibre infrastructure and works perfectly in a broadcast environment. Finally the RTS Zeus III intercom provides us with serious comms for high end work and more RF comms and IFB. One of the best things about RTS comms kit is that it is very compatible with other manufacturers equipment in the rental space. It's also easy to get parts and spares and incredibly reliable.”
With the equipment ordered and the install complete Bishop gave his view on dealing with the right technology partner for such an important project as he concluded, “Dealing with Magna is an absolute dream. I wish I could have purchased more products from them. The real deal breaker is the incredible level of service and tech support Magna offered. They really went above an beyond, even getting me demo cameras shipped in from Singapore to use until the ones we bought arrived. Having purchased kit from Magna for the last 15 years I really have no need or desire to go elsewhere.”