The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) has put a new, fully IP-based Ob truck into service to cover sports and cultural events.

Central to the ability of FÜ1 to cover Alpine winter sports, football broadcasts, entertainment shows and concerts with equal ease are two Lawo mc²96 Grand Production Console systems and five V__matrix frames loaded with 37 C100 Processing Blades for multiviewing and IP streaming.

The Lawo installation is a key part of the A/V infrastructure of the Vienna-based OB van, which was constructed by system house BFE. The new truck replaces ORF’s FÜ22 TV OB – which had been in operation since 2005 – bringing the latest technological capabilities to the company’s OB facilities.

FÜ1 had its baptism with production of World Cup events in the Hochfilzen Biathlon, the Nordic Combined in Ramsau, as well as the Four Hills Tournament, the racing week in Kitzbühel at the end of January, followed by the coverage of the Vienna Opera Ball in February 2020 shortly after its commissioning.

‘The FÜ1 is ORF’s first IP project and is designed to be used extensively for television production of sports, entertainment and cultural events,’ says Andreas Fraundorfer, Group Manager, Video Technology in the Broadcast Technology Planning Department at ORF. ‘Two image and sound control rooms – designated ‘A’ and ‘B’ – provide the international and national video and sound signals respectively. The initial concept used IP switches and converters with an optional monitoring IP solution but, due to technological change, this concept was efficiently adapted so that now, apart from the existing cameras and the connection to the outside world, everything is IP.’

The 38-ton trailer (16.5m long, 2.5m wide and 2.5m high when travelling) has extendable walls; with the monitor wall moving by 0.6m, the opposite rear wall of the audio and video work areas moving by 1.6m, it offers around 77m² of floor space for 24 workstations. Networking of the mobile SMPTE2110 production unit (which has SMPTE 2022-7 redundancy) uses two Arista network switches for audio and video data, and another 14 switches for the control network and other tasks.

In the two video control rooms, five Lawo V__matrix units host a total of 37 C100 processing blades – 13 perform multiviewer tasks as vm__dmv units and 24 perform the conversion between SDI and IP as vm__streaming blades. Using Lawo theWall software, up to 52 individual screens can be configured here for multiviewing.

Lawo mc²96 production consoles are installed in both audio control rooms. The console for international sound in Control Room A is equipped with a dual-fader unit, providing the sound engineer with 56 faders. The console’s HD core, equipped with six DSP cards, calculates 288 DSP channels and offers Waves SoundGrid integration. The core also integrates six Ravenna cards and redundant router cards; four Dallis stageboxes provide the interface between the contribution and the audio system.

The Control Room B, for national sound, is equipped with another Lawo mc²96 that also integrates a dual-fader option, providing 24 faders. The HD core with five DSP cards allows the use of 240 DSP channels – Waves SoundGrid is also integrated here. Two Ravenna cards and redundant router cards complete the equipment. A further four Dallis units serve as stageboxes.

‘At the beginning of the project, IP-based, conventional and proprietary solutions were compared. In addition to the technological considerations, the IP solution was chosen to reach a future-proof concept,’ says ORF Audio Technology Department Project Manager, Reinhard Tomek. ‘A highly flexible system was created, in which the front end was kept as simple as possible for the user and state-of-the-art adaptations were also carried out.’

In addition to the FÜ1 OB truck, a 30-ton material truck was also put into operation, which, in addition to a multifunctional room, offers storage space to house material for 17-camera productions.

‘The cooperation with the general contractor for this truck and Lawo has spanned many departments and functional teams. One can see from the result that the joint effort of all those involved have resulted in an excellent product, which could be put into operation by ORF on schedule and within budget,’ Fraundorfer concludes.

ORF audio staff are already familiar with Lawo systems as ORF operates numerous Lawo audio mixing consoles in the mobile and stationary sector, which are used for radio and TV productions.

More: www.lawo.com