Two OB vehicles operated by Irish broadcast compay Television Mobile Ltd’s are to be equipped with SoundField UPM-1 stereo-to-5.1 upmix processors. The investment follows thjeir use by UK OB company Telegenic during work for Sky Sports: ‘We had already seen them at the IBC show a couple of years ago, when they were launched,’ says TVM' Head Of Sound Pat Keogh. ‘We had been wanting to add them to our trucks ever since.’

The five-strong OB fleet is used for TVM’s coverage of Irish international sports fixtures for satellite broadcaster BskyB.

TVM already own a SoundField DSF-2 digital microphone system in one of their OB vehicles, where it is used to capture discrete-channel 5.1 stadium ambience and crowd noise on TVM’s large-scale outside broadcasts. One of the new UPM-1s will be used in this truck to upmix VTR output and sound effects in stereo to 5.1. The other two UPM-1’s are destined for use in another TVM OB vehicle, where one of them will also upmix VTR sound and effects. The third processor will upmix the output of the stereo mic pair used to capture crowd ambience in that truck. The second and third SoundField units made their debut on TVM's coverage of the Heineken Cup in November 2011.

‘Our aim is to get everything into 5.1 now,’ says Keogh. ‘We have a new truck being built at the moment which will come into service in February, and that will have a SoundField DSF-2 mic system and a UPM-1 from the outset.’