Migrating its OB fleet to HD, South African OB specialist SuperSport has commissioned a new OB truck, OB1HD, equipped with a Calrec Artemis digital mixing console.

OB1HD is the last truck in the SuperSport (formerly M-Net Outside Broadcast) fleet to migrate to HD. ‘From our first installation in 2006, we have worked with Calrec and have standardised our South African fleet on it. Calrec consoles not only meet our technical requirements for reliability and fibre connectivity in a compact footprint, but also are easy for our operators to learn and use because the layout is similar from one desk to another,’ says SuperSport Technical Operations Manager, Johan van Tonder.

‘Fibre connectivity has given us greater versatility and has drastically cut down on rigging times, both of which save money. In terms of the ability to attract business, Calrec is well-known throughout the broadcast world, so the product speaks for itself.’

SuperSport installed a 64-fader Artemis Beam console with four 32 x 32 analogue and four 32 x 32 AES Hydra2 network boxes in the scanner. SuperSport also has three Madi interface units in the OB and carries four 24 x 8 analogue Hydra2 boxes, which are used as stageboxes whenever extra I/O connectivity is required. The Artemis Beam console supports ample I/O for SuperSport’s requirement to broadcast in three different languages, which calls for sending a minimum of four programme feeds from a venue.

The size of the desk has been beneficial because of the limited space inside the truck. Fiber connectivity has also been useful because, as OB trucks get pushed farther away from fields of play, fibre is the only way to transmit the signals.

‘With Calrec, support has never been a problem, and advice has always been readily available,’ van Tonder says. ‘We have always felt we are a valued customer and that they care about this relationship. Even better, we have never had to take a unit offline due to a Calrec failure. When there have been technical glitches, Calrec has dispatched replacements straight away so that we could avoid downtime. The consoles we installed in 2006 are still running smoothly.’

‘SuperSport covers some of the biggest sporting events in Africa and the world, and it is a major source of sports content for people across the African continent,’ says Anthony Harrison, Middle East & Africa Sales Manager at Calrec. ‘This is the third 64-fader Artemis console for SuperSport, bringing their total to six Calrec consoles across the fleet. The fact that they continue to use Calrec desks and have invested in the Apollo and Artemis range is a strong vote of confidence in the value of the consoles.’