Al Kass gets set for HD production

As part of its efforts to cover Middle East sports events in high definition, Al Kass, a new sports channel, broadcast out of Doha, has commissioned Abu Dhabi based systems integrator, Tek Signals to design a 10-camera High Definition OB truck and a shadow truck for it. The trucks are scheduled for delivery in March 2007.

The main truck will be 9.7m while the support truck will be 7.8m in length. The 9.7m x 2.5m production area in the main truck will partitioned into a video control room, an audio control room and an engineering room. Parting from conventional OB layouts, this van will have a common corridor for all of the rooms.

The 10-camera HD OB van will be equipped with state-of-the-art HD systems. This includes Thomson Grassvalley's LDK800 HD cameras. This is known to perform on all known HD standards (1080p/1080i/720p), is switch-able between 16:9 and 3:4 aspect ratios and gives both HD as well as SD output. At the core of the video production room will be a Thomson Kayak SD 200-C HD vision mixer, which comes with full options. There is a six- channel RAM recorder with built-in 3D Digital video effects (DVE), chromakeys and 16 RGB Colour Correctors. A Deko 3000 HD CG; a Turbo iDDR playout server, Sony HD VTRs and an EVS IP director desk will complete the video control system.

Two six-channel EVS HD Slow Motion (slomo) servers will interface seamlessly with the IP director to ensure that the channel can replay all actions in slomo on the fly.

The main switching routing system in the truck will be the Concerto HD SDI 96x96 expandable to 128x128. "Our aim is to ensure that the vans have state-of-the-art equipment," says Adnan Mubarak, technical director of Al Kass sports channel. "This will ensure that we can capture live sports events in the Middle East on HD. At the same time, we are also ensuring that the equipment used in our vans is capable of handling future expansion," he adds.

The audio control room in the truck will be kited out with a digital AES3 system with embedded islands. A PM5D Digital Audio console from Yamaha will be interfaced with the latest concerto AES router for a complete digital audio system.

"Digital audio systems are immune to noise, and digital performance and quality is exceptional," says Tariq Raja, managing partner of Tek Signals, UAE. "We have also selected a top-of-the-line Shure wireless microphone system and Sennheisser short Gun Microphone for high-end audio reproduction. All audio sources and destination will be interfaced digitally," he adds.

Voice communication and co-ordination in the HD truck will be done through a Trilogy Digital intercom 64x64 matrix system that is expandable to 96x96 by merely adding more cards. This will be interfaced with the audio console and telephone hybrid units. Additionally, all of the presenter/ anchor earpieces will be wireless.

The main truck will also be provided with UPS (Uninterrupted power supply) from an internal 60 KVA generator as back up and directly from the Mains National Grid, with battery back up in case of total power failure. This will ensure the smooth transition of power from Mains Grid to generator and the other way.

The support truck will be equipped with fully redundant Ku band DSNG flyaway systems and a Gigawave Digital Microwave system. Both OB trucks will be fully integrated so they can work together. At the same time, they can also be used for independent productions. Tek Signals will put in HD plasma screens and the latest HD/SD SDI LCD high-resolution Kroma monitors for video picture monitoring.

"HD plasma screens with an Evertz PKG 3000 multi-viewer system will have all areas covered," explains Raja.

Quality checks will be handled by a Tektronix Rasteriser, the 7000 series HD waveform monitors and Wohler's AMP2S8 MDA audio monitoring units, which can either select HD/ SDI audio, AES audio or stereo analogue audio. The Tekrtonix WFM 7100 with HD, SDI, analogue and digital audio options will be used to carry out further quality checks.

The whole system including the video and audio is synchronised by Tektronix and Evertz SPGs and pulse generators. All reference as well as time code and test signal outputs can be synchronously changed over by a Dual automatic change over system. This system ensures perfect synchronisation of all the units and equipment used. Raja says that this, there will be less need for frame synchronisers, thus saving cost and space.

What makes this project important is the fact that it will be fully engineered and designed within the Middle East. This project sends out a signal to industry players that the region is gradually become self sufficient and capable of carrying out entire projects in-house instead of turning to more expensive options from Europe or the US.

"The Al Kass OB van will set a new standard for live TV coverage in the region," says Raja. "This van will be fully engineered and developed from scratch, as well as implemented and commissioned by the Tek Signals' engineering team. This truly helps us to tell the world that we are fully capable of doing such projects from the region," he adds.

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