HD Broadcast UHD 2 begins working life with DFB Pokal and Bundesliga coverage By Fergal Ringrose, SVG Europe
Monday, September 21, 2020 - 17:55
Print This Story
German outside broadcast provider HD Broadcast's new flagship UHD 2 truck has taken to the road this month, covering first-round matches in the DFB Pokal German knockout cup and the start of the new Bundesliga season.
HD Broadcast chief executive and chief technology officer Constantin Novotny told SVG Europe the truck was originally commissioned last September with a view to being on the road earlier this year in time to cover UEFA Euro 2020 matches in Dublin, working alongside fellow German OB provider TVN.
However, when Euro 2020 was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis, HD Broadcast decided to delay the launch of the truck so that it would be ready for the start of the 2020-2021 football season in Germany.
The new truck, designed by HD Broadcast and built by Broadcast Solutions, is one of the largest units available in Germany. It can work with a maximum of 30 UHD/HDR cameras, and with an interior space of around 60 m2 the OB offers up to 28 staff members a spacious working environment.
Wide-angle view showing the spacious design inside UHD 2
The vehicle uses a multi-format production system based on 4K/3G-SDI Quad Link/HD/HDR formats. It is designed as a trailer with three extensions covering the complete trailer length, providing two control rooms, numerous engineering and slomo workstations and VIP spaces. A third control room is available with the support van.
Last weekend we covered Stuttgart versus Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, and then Heidenheim versus Braunschweig in Bundesliga 2 on Sunday, said Novotny. The first production for the OB van was not in the Bundesliga, it was the previous weekend for the DFB Pokal German soccer cup. We covered three matches on our first weekend: Augsburg versus Eintracht Celle on Saturday 12 September; Kaiserslautern versus SSV Jahn Regensburg on the Sunday and W rzburg versus Hannover on the Monday.
It all went very well. The set-up for the DFB Pokal was not as big as for the Bundesliga. But it was very nice to see how the new truck works, and that all of the equipment and programming is working well.
Are there any differences in the coverage plan for the new Bundesliga season?
We covered the Bundesliga matches like the re-start last season - there are no differences. We still have the pandemic plan from Sportcast from the last nine match days of last season.
Of course now we have to learn to set up with fans in stadiums. The number of fans depends on the [federal] state; in Stuttgart, we had almost 8,000 fans and the next day between 2,000 and 3,000 fans. The second division is obviously smaller.
It turns out the new truck lends itself well to production during COVID-19 restrictions. But it was designed to be a very spacious working environment long before any of us had heard of coronavirus?
The design of UHD 2 is based on our first truck, HD 1. We wanted to set up different rooms - production rooms, technical and audio rooms. In the new truck we have a lot more space with new dimensions, but we have seen over the last couple of years [with HD 1] that this is the way we want to work with our customers.
We decided last September to build the truck. We would have had until April to make the design, build the chassis and make all the equipment installation. That was the original timeframe.
Audio production area with Lawo mc 56 mixer, Riedel Artist comms and Genelec 6.1 surround sound speakers
When the Euros were postponed we slowed down the building of the truck. Because of our contract with Sportcast for HD 1 we have another big OB van in HD, so now there was no need to finish the new truck quickly. We delayed it in all for three months, so that the new truck could be finished during the summer and be ready for the start of the new season.
We wanted to build a truck that was very comfortable, where all customer operators would have more space than in the older truck. We wanted to make comfortable workspaces, and we also have a tender truck with two separate rooms which can be set up as an edit room or highlight room, or as a third production room. So we have enough space together in both trucks to make each place very comfortable.
We all know there is a big trend now towards remote production, accelerated certainly by the COVID-19 crisis. Do you wonder if this will be the last big truck you build?
That's a very interesting question. Maybe this is the last decade for big trucks? Maybe.
But on-site, on big daily sporting events like Bundesliga, Champions League or Europa League, you have to set it up in a big truck. I think for concerts or other productions where you have much more time in one place - maybe days or even weeks - in the future these will be covered by remote production.
The next step for HD Broadcast is to cover everything in UHD. Maybe UHD and HDR. These are the two next big steps, and now we have prepared our company to be very comfortable for the future. Each investment we have made in the last couple of years has been based on UHD.
It was great to get the truck on the road. With this size of truck there are small things you have to fix from week to week. This is quite normal, to adjust and refine the programming from production to production in order to get a better set-up for the future, said Novotny.
View from back row of production gallery in action for Bundesliga
HD Broadcast's UHD 2 houses 10 EVS VIA servers, located under the desk of control room 1 - fully air-conditioned and soundproofed. It's equipped with a UPS unit, which ensures 15 minutes of autonomous operation of the complete OB in case of a power failure.
The truck carries Sony HDC-4300 cameras with Canon lenses, Sony XVS-9
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
02/07/2026
Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride.
Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
HD Broadcast UHD 2 begins working life with DFB Pokal and Bundesliga coverage By Fergal Ringrose, SVG Europe 
