With three OB vans equipped with Lawo systems and six mc²56 mixing desks installed, Lawo regards Doha-based Al Kass its most loyal customer in Qatar. The latest OB truck to be commissioned is now in service, it has a 48-fader mc²56 fitted with local I/O and 384 DSP channels, as well as a Nova router.
The start of 2016 saw Broadcast Solutions delivered the 31-camera OB-10 – the largest addition to the Al Kass OB fleet – plus a supporting truck to the sports channel. Following an international tender, the truck was designed, built and equipped at the Broadcast Solutions headquarters in Germany. The vehicle will serve major live events for the Al Kass sports channel, as well as for other TV stations when Al Kass acts as broadcast service provider.
For Broadcast Solutions, the project marked a further highlight in building live production trucks, proving its resources – including coachbuilding, tailor-made interiors and technological solutions – as well as the ability to deliver in time and budget, and to the customer’s satisfaction.
‘This project is the first cooperation between Al Kass and Broadcast Solutions,’ reports Al Kass Technical Advisor, Samer Younes. ‘We were looking for companies that meet our demands for high-quality and specialised OB vans, and who work as a full-service provider – we found this at Broadcast Solutions. The company has a more advanced approach to resources and the number of cameras to include directly in the OB. Broadcast Solutions helped us to reach our design goals for this OB Van, which is the biggest one in the Middle East, and we are looking forward to many big productions with this OB van.’
As well as 31 cameras, OB-10 carries nine EVS XT-3 servers (12 channels each), 68 monitors and 240 multiviewer screens for up to 29 operators. To provide space for all equipment and manpower Broadcast Solutions opted for a trailer design with a single expansion (1.6m) over the full length of the trailer. With a length of 16.5m (with tractor unit), 2.5m (expanded 4.1m) width, 4m height and a weight of 37t OB-10 works with maximum dimensions and optimised weight. Because of the side expansion, Broadcast Solutions focused on chassis stability. A further requirement was for quick set-up time – OB-10 is in operation within 20 minutes after arrival on-site.
Since the van operates promarily in the Middle East, a sophisticated air-condition system is paramount. The system integrator included a highly efficient and partly redundant cooling system with a maximum cooling capacity for equipment and operators of up to more than 50°C outside temperature.
Within the technical design of the vehicle, Broadcast Solutions provided access to all equipment for maintenance and service. Most of the high power consuming equipment in OB-10 is located in the main equipment room at the rear of the trailer, with separate air-condition circuits and separated from the working areas by low-noise racks for low noise pollution. Due to limited space, Broadcast Solutions used special solutions to include such a large number of equipment in the trailer like mounting some of the A/V equipment in a fully air conditioned locker underneath the trailer.
The supporting truck provides two generators and an UPS unit. The two generators supply 70kVA each and feed air condition and equipment circuits separately. A special feature is the additional 900 litre built-in diesel tank which enables the generators to work for a minimum of 24 hours, providing electricity for the OB van under full load. In case city electricity fails the UPS ensures uninterrupted operation of all technical equipment in OB-10. In such a case both generators start and feed automatically. For equipment operability the supporting truck is equipped with two air conditioning systems.
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More: www.broadcast-solutions.de/al-kass
