2019 was a busy 25th anniversary year for Mobile TV Group, which remained true to its progressive and tech-savvy approach by launching two new mobile units into its 41-strong fleet. This initiative broke into new territory, creating the world's first entirely SMPTE 2110 uncompressed IP-based mobile TV broadcast unit - 45 FLEX' - with mobile unit 46 FLEX' launching shortly after, and mobile unit 47 FLEX set to launch in Q1 of 2020.
The new dual-trailer units' infrastructures are both based around the Grass Valley Kayenne K-Frame X IP switcher, an Evertz 384-port EXE 2.0 IP router and an Evertz Magnum control system, to offer 1080p capacity that would require at least a 3000 3000 baseband router. For audio, the new mobile units use Calrec's Artemis digital broadcast consoles with audio-over-IP capabilities.
Fleet Services
Mobile TV Group predominantly services the U.S. sports markets, with units spread across the country, each run by around 50 engineers. The current count of 41 mobile units, including 15 dual-trailer rigs (Unit A and VMU-Unit B) that can run the group's dual-feed' production concept - operations for both home and visiting teams from two spaces but with shared technical resources. Both the new 45 FLEX and 46 FLEX units are dual-trailer outfits, with 53-foot expanding trailers (to 16'6 wide) for unit A, and 53-foot long (8'6 wide) for Unit B VMU trailers.
Impressively, the group designs and integrates its own mobile units, using a strong permanent integration team at its Denver HQ. At any time, visitors can find at least one mobile unit is built.
As Director of Engineering for Mobile TV for the past seven years (following nine years based in Michigan as an engineer for the company), Peter Wehner has long-been drawn to the tech side of the industry: We always get the latest tech, and it's always changing. Of course, I also get to work with a lot of different people from different backgrounds, and I get to travel to some amazing sporting events. The mobile unit is where it all happens, and I'm never bored.
Technology Pioneers
Wehner feels that a willingness and ability to adopt the right technologies at the right time is one of the things that sets Mobile TV Group apart from the crowd. It has a healthy, pioneering track-record, with some of the first HD mobile units in North America, the first ground-up 4K UHD mobile unit and the first HDR broadcast in America. We pride ourselves on being the first, he says. We have a talent for getting in there at just the right time, with improvements and facilities that always make things better for our clients.
All Mobile TV Group units are numbered sequentially as they are finished and brought on-line. With only one exception, all new mobile units since number 29 have been equipped with Calrec Artemis audio consoles, complete with Bluefin2 processing and integrated Hydra2 routing. The fader count varies between 48 and 64 across the fleet, but all have the Artemis Beam' package, which offers 340 channel processing paths per console.
Wehner makes the point that it's important for the mobile unit environment to be comfortable and familiar to all mixers. One way to ensure that is to go with industry standard tools, such as Calrec consoles. Our clients will hire freelance operators who may or may not have seen our mobile units before. Being able to come in and get working straightaway is incredibly important.
He also sees the flexibility of Calrec as a prime attribute, particularly given the variety of events many of the group's mobile units are used on. We primarily produce sports, but we also do entertainment and corporate shows. The Calrec consoles can handle anything, for whatever market we're dealing with.
One thing that all Mobile TV Group engineers look for is great service and support, and that's something Calrec is well known for, he adds. Most of our engineers do not have audio backgrounds - they're not operators. The willingness of Calrec to take the time to make sure they really understand how the console works, what the signal flow is and so on, is really appreciated. We don't see that with a lot of other manufacturers.
In order to integrate Calrec into the new IP mobile units, Mobile TV Group relies on the Calrec audio-over-IP I/O unit, which provides a Hydra2 AoIP interface for up to 512 512 channels using AES67 or Ravenna. That IP connection goes directly to the unit's Evertz router. Now, we can connect all of our audio with a couple of pieces of fiber, says Wehner. Taking the units' infrastructures into consideration, that's amazing for ease of connectivity and use. Of course, it also helps on weight, which is a big issue on these trailers.
FLEX-ability
Wehner sees the new units, and their components, as vital parts of an everything everywhere' future: Every feed can be available everywhere, he says. That, in turn, has now become an expectation for clients who understandably don't want any restrictions. In the past, there's always been a limit on how many audio channels we can send between units. Now, those restrictions are going away thanks to the latest audio technologies, like those provided by Calrec.
As a world first, the natively IP Mobile TV Group 45 FLEX mobile unit represents a big step forward in many ways. Wehner acknowledges that it's not the first time IP has been core to a mobile unit, but says it is the first time that IP has completely taken over. He notes that Mobile TV Group's plan was always to build an IP-based mobile unit, but only once it was feasible to natively connect all core devices, including the switcher, the cameras, replay devices, multi-viewers and, of course, the audio console.
There are other mobile units out there that say they are IP, he explai
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
18/12/2025
At 7.45pm on 1st January 1926, the precursor to RT , then 2RN, delivered the fledgling new Irish state's first public radio transmission. From those first c...
18/12/2025
Step out of the vault and into the future of gaming with Fallout: New Vegas streaming on GeForce NOW, just in time to celebrate the newest season of the hit Ama...
18/12/2025
December 18 2025, 05:30 (PST) The Movie Experience SLO Becomes First U.S. Exhib...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
2019 was a busy 25th anniversary year for Mobile TV Group, which remained true to its progressive and tech-savvy approach by launching two new mobile units into its 41-strong fleet. This initiative broke into new territory, creating the world's first entirely SMPTE 2110 uncompressed IP-based mobile TV broadcast unit - 45 FLEX' - with mobile unit 46 FLEX' launching shortly after, and mobile unit 47 FLEX set to launch in Q1 of 2020.
