RTS/TELEX Supports Transmission of Champions League Final from Telegenic's new 3D OBVan

In May 2011, the company's third 3D-capable outside broadcast vehicle, which took three months to manufacture, was delivered, once again by Sony Professional Solutions Europe in Basingstoke. Like its two predecessors – the three vehicles are identical -- the 13.6-metre OB truck boasts 24 camera production units or twelve 3D positions and is destined for use primarily in the sporting field.

Soon after delivery, the new vehicle made its debut at one of Europe's major sporting events: the final of the UEFA Champions League between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Telegenic transmitted the match, which turned out to be spectacular, from London's Wembley Stadium at the end of May for the European broadcaster BSkyB.

"Since we were already relying on RTS/TELEX in its two sister vehicles, it was natural to opt for the same systems in the new one," says Dave Rowley, Head of Sound at Telegenic. "In fact, we've been working successfully with these products for years now." On board the 3D outside broadcast truck there are in fact several systems from RTS/TELEX, including a 128-port ADAM matrix equipped with RVON, MADI and Tribus cards. Party-line two-wire equipment is also used.

Where the new 3D outside broadcast truck differs from its predecessors is in the greater versatility afforded by its connectivity and expansion capabilities. The combination of IP-based RVON, Tribus and MADI cards has proved to be a decisive advantage: "For us the flexibility afforded by the combination of RVON, Tribus and MADI is very important," explains Rowley. "Depending upon the production vehicle to which we are linking our outside broadcast trucks, we employ MADI and either RVON or Tribus. We use the MADI interface to connect our outside broadcast vehicles with those of other broadcasters, as it is a standard audio format. Through its use of a digital multi-channel audio signal, MADI is not only very reliable but also dramatically reduces the amount of cabling required, thereby saving both time and money as well as reducing the possible sources of error. We use the bus-expansion card Tribus, on the other hand, when we want to connect two of our own trucks with one another. In this way we can configure a single large matrix from the frames in each of the two vehicles. We use RVON to connect IP keypanels over larger distances or in order to trunk the outside broadcast trucks with another RTS system."

The ability to trunk  its outside broadcast vehicles in  a flexible manner proved of particular advantage to Telegenic during the broadcast of the final of the Champions League, which was watched all over the world. "At this event, we connected two of our outside broadcast vehicles via Tribus and confined the operation thereof to a single vehicle," says Rowley. "Once again, the technical possibilities and the reliability of RTS/TELEX products have been to our complete satisfaction." So much so, apparently, that Telegenic's entire fleet of outside broadcast vehicles is currently being upgraded with Tribus and MADI technology.