Fox Sports Southwest has officially entered the age of large-scale 6X slo-mo replay with the launch of its Mobile TV Group 38 FLEX mobile unit. The two-trailer dual-feed production unit is the first of MTVG's new fleet of FLEX mobile units, which deploy up to six 6X slow-motion camera systems and can also serve full-4K productions. Fox Sports Southwest has rolled out 38 FLEX in the Dallas-San Antonio market in 6X slo-mo mode, complete with six Grass Valley LDX 86 cameras - the most ever for an RSN production.
Mobile TV Group's 38 FLEX launched for Fox Sports Southwest in August.
After being previewed at NAB 2015 in April, 38 FLEX launched in August for Texas Rangers baseball and made an immediate impact on the telecast and MLB replay-review operations.
The very first night that we had the truck, we had three replays overturned in the game, and I can tell you it was the direct result of having super-slo-mo capability on these trucks, says Fox Sports Southwest Senior Executive Producer Mike Anastassiou. The clarity of the replays is so definitive that there is really no question about it, which simply wasn't the case with an HD camera. So it was transformational for us the very first night out.
With the Rangers regular season now in the rearview mirror, 38 FLEX is set to serve as the home truck for NBA Mavericks and NHL Stars games and also work a handful of NBA Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs dates in the coming months before returning to baseball in the spring.
Everyone gets to use all six super-slo-mo cameras for every game, which is amazing when you consider that you don't usually have that many super-slo-mos even on a national A game, says Mobile TV Group President/founder Philip Garvin. They are getting upwards of three super-slo-mo angles on any critical play, so it ends up really being a game-changer. I'm very pleased they have been able to use this new technology in a way that truly has an impact on [the telecast].
The 6X Slo-Mo Replay Factor
In addition to the six LDX 86 6X slo-mo cameras, 38 FLEX rolls with five LDX Premier HD cameras - all with Canon lenses (one 95X long lens, eight 72X long lenses, one 10 x 4.5 wide-angle lens, and three 17 x 7.6 HH ENG lenses). For Rangers baseball, the LDX 86s are located at tight center field, low first, low third, shooting down the first-base line, right field, and high-third.
We really work hard to not duplicate angles so we can optimize all six of these cameras, says Anastassiou. As a result, sometimes they may choose to put one camera in a tight follow position, and that's not a bad thing because they may end up with a little different or slightly better look than if we had duplicate angles.
The replay area inside 38 FLEX houses six replay-operator stations.
Although 38 FLEX was originally set to launch with Grass Valley K2 Dyno replay systems, the mobile unit ended up using four of EVS's new 12-channel XT3 replay servers (16-channel embedded audio). The 12-channel units debuted over the summer and provided an optimal server for the LDX 6X slo-mo cameras, which require three replay channels apiece.
EVS's new 12-channel replay units made it possible to put two 6X cameras and two regular cameras on one system, which basically gave you four-in and two-out, says Garvin. That is just like a six-channel EVS, which is the industry standard, but two are super-slo-mo in this case. You could do that with K2 Dyno previously, but you couldn't do that with EVS until this summer.
We went with EVS [replay systems] not because there is anything wrong with K2s; we were very pleased with how that was developing, he continues. But, in terms of workflow for a regional sports network, where they do only half their games on this truck and half the games on road, they [had] a workflow problem. If the truck was all K2 Dyno, they would need to modify the files to work on EVS when they went to a non-Dyno truck, which is almost all other trucks, and then they would have had to modify it to come back. Once it became apparent that this truck would focus more on super-slo-mo than on 4K, we decided to go with EVS.
With up to six replay-operator positions (and one tech-manager position), 38 FLEX also features one four-channel EVS XT3 replay-only server, one four-channel EVS XS server for SpotBox (two channels per show on duals), and XFile3 software.
Anastassiou adds, The XT3s and the XFile3 with their new version of software make beautiful music together. It's a marriage made in heaven in that it's flexible, it's powerful, it's transparent, and you can easily record files in any format that you choose. The workflow is as good as I've ever seen it in a replay room.
Inside 38 FLEX: Plenty of Dual-Feed Firepower
Built around a Grass Valley Kayenne K-Frame switcher (7 M/Es, 96 inputs/48 outputs in HD, 40 inputs/12 outputs in 4K), 38 FLEX features a Calrec Artemis Beam audio mixer with 56 faders (256 routable inputs via MADI, 64 analog inputs), ChyronHego HyperX2 graphics, a Grass Valley NVision 3G/4K router (77 862) , a Grass Valley NVision audio router (9,216 18,432), a 105-display monitor wall, and an RTS ADAM 96-port matrix system and Studio Technologies IFB system for comms.
38 VMU, the companion trailer housing the visitor show, has full access to all six super-slo-mo cameras via its three EVS-operator positions. In addition, the visiting show has directorial control over at least one 6X slo-mo camera on every show (and sometimes two). Three switcher M/Es are assigned to 38 VMU, which also features a Studer Vista 1 audio console (50 mono channels, 38 stereo channels ), a seven-rack monitor wall with 58 displays, and ChyronHego HyperX3 HD graphics.
A 6X Model To Live By Moving Forward and What About 4K?
Both Garvin and Anastassiou believe 38 FLEX sets the ben
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Fox Sports Southwest has officially entered the age of large-scale 6X slo-mo replay with the launch of its Mobile TV Group 38 FLEX mobile unit. The two-trailer dual-feed production unit is the first of MTVG's new fleet of FLEX mobile units, which deploy up to six 6X slow-motion camera systems and can also serve full-4K productions. Fox Sports Southwest has rolled out 38 FLEX in the Dallas-San Antonio market in 6X slo-mo mode, complete with six Grass Valley LDX 86 cameras - the most ever for an RSN production.
