CTV Outside Broadcasts launches new all-IP truck at European Tour UK Swing Announces another is on the way by end of 2020 By Heather McLean, Editor Monday, October 5, 2020 - 13:18
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CTV OB's new OB12A truck on the far left, next to the mobile data centre, TSV12
CTV Outside Broadcasts (CTV OB) has launched the latest addition to its fleet, OB12A, which hit the road recently at the Irish Open 2020 for European Tour Productions and is now following the UK Swing around Britain.
The truck is fully IP from end to end using the diPloy, the platform developed by CTV OB's parent company Euro Media Group (EMG) during its three-year OBjective2020 project.
OB12A also has a little sister on the way, OB12B, which is also being fitted with diPloy and that will work alongside OB12A to create a powerhouse in the TV compound when it is launched later this year.
These two trucks working together will not only increase efficiency and broadcast goals for CTV OB's clients, but will also have a large sustainability impact for the company.
Reflecting client ambitions
The new truck is a large production and operational space that can support up to 40 people working on board. It includes three production areas, one sound area and one vision area.
This main truck has the biggest production and operational space I've encountered in any vehicle worldwide, says CTV OB's Hamish Greig on OB12A
Speaking to SVG Europe, Hamish Greig, CEO at CTV OB, says: This truck has really been designed for the ambitions of our clients, as we renewed our golf contract. OB12A is designed to grow with our client aspirations in UHD and HDR. It has been built to cope with our largest on the road golf production as standard, which is normally 32 cameras and 10 RF cameras. It is also designed to hook up seamlessly with SDI trucks in multiple truck productions.
Adds Greig: OB12A is fully scalable, which is the key to anything that CTV and EMG ensure going forward. It is capable of managing the largest productions and has an incredible armoury of state of the art technology, and is the most powerful beast I've encountered, especially when its sister unit OB12B comes online later this year.
This main truck has the biggest production and operational space I've encountered in any vehicle worldwide. The ceiling height alone is impressive; at the lowest point, I can only touch the ceiling with my arm fully outstretched, he continues.
Completely flexible system
OB12A sits alongside a separate Data Centre, TSV12, containing the heart of the electronics for OB12A and freeing up space inside the main truck as well as creating a more flexible system. TSV12 is fitted with solar panels on its roof, furthering sustainability goals.
Normally when you have a launch of a new truck, especially when it's using new technology, there's a lot of harassed engineers, a lot of people running around getting in the way of the production. But this, from the minute they walked in, there was [no issues]; it was just seamless
Notes Greig: There are no electronics inside the main unit; it's all surface panels, it's all monitoring, it's all just control surfaces. All the actual electronics, hardware, everything inside the trucks and inside the field, are based inside the Data Centre, the front racked area of TSV12, [which is also] our support vehicle carrying all the kit.
Says Greig on the creation of TSV12: The reason for doing this was to create the most space and comfort possible for the production staff in the main truck. Any classic single truck' design would have resulted in less operational areas and space, more noise and heat.
Also, we have flexibility of parking, being able to place the field-connected TSV12 near the field of play, and the operational units elsewhere.
The interior of TSV12
Even air conditioning is supersized; while the air con inside OB12A is designed for a regular truck of its size, there is no equipment inside the truck increasing heat levels. Conversely, the smaller TSV12 truck has a normal air con design, but has no people, making it far more efficient at cooling.
Greig adds that sustainability was a large goal of the development project as well: Once we have OB12B alongside OB12A, that will do unilateral, it will do all the ancillary stuff which is now in other trucks; the edit, the graphics, it will do extra commentators. Where we used to have extra cabins and trucks to do stuff, they will no longer be needed.
That's why we've done this to this scale, he went on. It will streamline our operation really. This will take away about two trucks and four cabins when we get to our larger productions. This is very much done from a sustainability point of view, even to the solar panels on the roof [of TSV12].
diPloy converged IP networking
The IP network EMG's modular standardised IP platform, diPloy within OB12A was masterminded by EMG's strategic partner, SDNsquare. It utilises a 100Gb Spine Leaf topology to manage the network, with red and blue network paths, and an end to end SMPTE 2110 format. The Spine Leaf composes of approximately 35 network switches, which are a combination of Arista and Netgear.
SDNsquare has collaborated with CTV OB to give OB12A a fully modular ST2110 IP-based infrastructure. SDNsquare has provided software-based IP network management, enabling a full non-blocking of converged IP networks with guaranteed, predictable and reliable quality of service, through its vendor-agnostic Grid technology.
diPloy, announced by EMG in early September this year, came out of its OBjective2020 project that launched in 2017 to migrate the company over from SDI to a fully IP-based infrastructure, and to find and take its partners on the journey with it.
CTV OB had two primary needs for OB12A, which were part
