VTV’s BIGGEST OBVAN PROJECT – JUNE 2015

Vietnam Television – VTV, is the national television broadcaster of Vietnam

In 2014, VTV wanted to purchase one big OB Van with 11 camera systems. This was the biggest OB Van in Vietnam at that time, the Van will be used mainly for sports and big shows.

The challenges were the complicated requirements of the Video, Audio, Tally and Control systems. This Van handles various signal formats: digital HD Video, digital SD Video, analog Video, digital Audio, analog Audio. VTV also wanted a comfortable operating environment in the Van, the equipment must be arranged in good layout in order to let operators can do their jobs easily.

TVS won the tender to provide designing and coaching services as well as a big part of equipment of the Van. All systems were designed with full redundancy to ensure non-stop live production.

VTV’s OBVan with 11 cameras on the field

The working cabin of the van has been divided into several functional areas.

The Audio cabin where audio guy doing mixing and monitoring all audio sources. The main audio console is Yamaha CL3 together with measurement gears from Tektronix and Wohler. Audio cabin is also equipped with a NEC 40” monitor to display the main Video PGM and sources for co-operating with show director. There is one 32×32 AES/EBU Audio Router from Rossvideo operating as main audio infrastructure part as well as redundancy part for CL3 system.

Operation layout of the Van

The Main cabin where whole production team work together is located at the middle of the van. The vision mixer is Vision Tritium from Rossvideo, this 3ME mixer system got 48 HD Inputs/32 HD outputs makes the van to be able to handle any show of VTV. There are two 55” professional monitor from NEC displaying every video sources in the system, one for director and one for technical staff. For detail technical monitoring, there are two 17” monitors from Plural and five sets of 3×5” monitors from Kroma.

Audio cabin

Video Desk

On the rack of the control desk, we mount control panels and waveform monitor together with 5” display monitors. This enables technical operators have ability to monitor any video/audio signal within the system, and the director can easily choose signal for PGM output in case the vision mixer not working to ensure non-stop live programs.

Control panel and monitors

Running in parallel with vision mixer is Platinum MX routing system from Imagine Communications, this 5RU HD/SD-SDI routing system can handle 32 inputs and 32 outputs. The unique feature of this router is including a multiviewer module which displays all video signal with embedded audio. These multiviewer outputs are main feeds for two 55” monitors, each PiP come with tally indication bar which be triggered by GPIO sent from vision mixer. This Platinum MX router is also the main part of the video infrastructure of the Van, it is used as the core routing for all signal in the system, the integrated multiviewer module is used as the main display engine for Video operator while the multiviewer outputs come with Vision Tritium is used as the redundancy display.

The main parts of signal infrastructure are from Imagine Communications, these parts are HD-SD Up/Down converter, Audio embedder, DAs, Auto Change-Over, DAC modules and standalone frame sync/signal processing X50 unit. Thanks to the signal processing system, the van is able to output or input any type of PGM signals from 1080i@50 SDI to analog composite video, enable the production system of the van to be co-operated with any other van or production facilities.

The Tally system of the van was customized uniquely following end user’s requirements. We used both Red and Green tally signal to help camera man got advanced signaling. This tally system also got ability to inter connect with other production system likes other van or flying kit, make all people got the same tally signaling.

The Intercom system was also customized similarly with Tally system, to enhance the communication between the director with outside crew as well as other production facilities.

There is a row of 4 racks for mounting most of equipment of the van, the equipment on the rack are easily accessed from front or rear thanks to wide space between racks and walls, this help any technical tasks can be fulfilled comfortably.

After couple months doing installation and modification, at last we handed-over VTV one OBVan which apply most of their respect. During the installation, we got strong technical support from our world leading vendors like Rossvideo, ImagineCommunications, Clearcom to solve any issue or modification. We were also trying to provide the operators best training as we can to help them running the van smoothly and efficiently.

Side Panel of the Van

Equipment racks