
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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
05/08/2026
Thomson's Climate Crisis Toolkit for Media in Tanzania is being included in a new virtual library designed to ensure accurate and engaging storytelling arou...
05/08/2026
RSNs, teams, leagues, and streamers explore the present and future of local spor...
05/08/2026
As sports-production workflows generate larger volumes of unstructured data and ...
05/08/2026
Three aspiring broadcasters will contribute on-camera and inside the production ...
05/08/2026
Adam Meeks attends the premiere of his film Union County, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Sundance Institut...
05/08/2026
Major discounts, updates & remakes of early VST plug-ins
Steinberg are currently celebrating two significant anniversaries, with this week marking the 30th ...
05/08/2026
Flagship monitor range gains wireless remote control
KRK's flagship studio monitor range has just been upgraded, with three new fifth-generation models ...
05/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz launches next phase of Airways New Zealand Air Traffic Control s...
05/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents the R&S MP007, a man-portable tactical direction findin...
05/08/2026
Advertisers invested $53.6 million in the retirement sector in the last 12 month...
05/08/2026
Nielsen CMI and Ad Intel data reveals who's visiting IKEA, where else they s...
05/08/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare deduplicated campaign reach across computer, mobile, connected TV and linear TV across all measurable CTV publishers in...
05/08/2026
Stranger Things' Leads All Streaming Titles with 23.3 Billion Minutes in Fir...
05/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/08/2026
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, announces the appointment of Kane Peterson to its Nort...
05/08/2026
XR research reveals marketers believe they have control over production costs, yet budget overruns, campaign delays and creative cutbacks remain commonplace
Se...
05/08/2026
Game On Live Studio Uses Blackmagic Design to Stream Tropical 7s
Brie Clayton August 4, 2026
0 Comments
Every match of world's largest youth rugby...
05/08/2026
Chris Fitzgerald to Head TDC's Experiential Growth
Brie Clayton August 4, 2026
0 Comments
Technical Direction Company promotes Chris Fitzgerald to...
05/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
05/08/2026
Profuz Digital is set to launch a powerful upgrade to its Profuz LAPIS digital media management platform at IBC this year at Stand 8.A88. France Galop, Canal+ F...
05/08/2026
KRK, a Gibson brand and leader in professional studio monitoring for nearly four decades, launches its new V Series Five Studio Monitors, the latest evolution o...
05/08/2026
Network expansion, continued customer growth and stable financial performance characterized Magyar Telekoms business results for the first half and second quart...
05/08/2026
Wednesday 5 August 2026
The Sky Foundation launches new bursary programme to su...
05/08/2026
Charlie Sheen Launches Mostly Sheenius in Partnership with Red Seat Ventures After Decades as One of the World's Most Recognizable and Interviewed Celebr...
04/08/2026
Live production in the cloud is a growing trend across the industry, and Major L...
04/08/2026
LAFC co-managing owner will succeed Don Garber on Jan. 1, 2027, as league prepar...
04/08/2026
In 2022, when the PGA TOUR was breaking ground on its new, state-of-the-art broa...
04/08/2026
Provided by POVORA, the new camera angle offers a dealer's-eye view of the c...
04/08/2026
Spiideo will provide the camera setup, with NEP handling broadcast integration and off-site video operations...
04/08/2026
Production team streamed more than 750 youth rugby matches using ATEM switchers,...
04/08/2026
Agreement gives KTC early access to NDI's Advanced SDK for integration across commercial displays, digital signage, and interactive panels...
04/08/2026
Twelve projects across four categories recognize collaborative work in productio...
04/08/2026
Multi-year agreement will introduce SkeleTRACK, semi-automated offside, automate...
04/08/2026
Three mc 56 consoles, dual A__UHD Core engines, RAVENNA networking, and HOME management supported live sound, monitoring, and international broadcast production...
04/08/2026
New contribution products support ultra-low-latency video transport across fixed, remote, and mobile production environments...
04/08/2026
Company will showcase updates across PRIME, Chyron LIVE, Paint, virtual production, newsroom workflows, and venue control...
04/08/2026
Exhibit will feature SilverBack, VersaBrix, VersaFrame, VF-9100, and FiberSaver-10G platforms...
04/08/2026
Platform updates target cloud-based production, high-density ST 2110 monitoring,...
04/08/2026
Live Media Group will take control of Gravity Media's U.S. mobile-unit fleet...
04/08/2026
Amp-modelling rigs get major upgrade
HeadRush have recently released a major firmware update that brings some powerful new features to their Prime, Core and...
04/08/2026
Generate a choir from a single voice track
Following years of development, Am I Audio have just officially launched their debut plug-in. Created in collabor...
04/08/2026
Official EMT-endorsed reverbs now available to all
Two more of Universal Audio's renowned UAD plug-ins have just gained new native versions that can be ...
04/08/2026
SBS helps Australians understand why every Census counts
Media releases
As Australia prepares for the 2026 Census on Tuesday 11 August, SBS is helping ensur...
04/08/2026
Canada invests in the future of HF communications with Rohde & Schwarz solutions After selection by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) as the p...
04/08/2026
Blendkit Expands Beyond Blender
Brie Clayton August 4, 2026
0 Comments
Popular 3D Asset Library Launches Alpha Plugins for Maya, Godot, and Rhino
Blend...