King Faisal University Outfits New OB Van with Solutions from Grass Valley

“Choosing the supplier for the equipment in the new van was an easy process,” said Abduaziz Al-Sa’aty of KFU. “Our prior experience with Grass Valley was very positive, and the equipment meets and exceeds all of our needs for quality and reliability. Having a modern mobile unit with the best technology in the industry makes it valuable for our students and staff, as well as those looking to rent a solution from us.”

The new OB van includes six LDX 80 WorldCam camera systems for full 1080p production, a Kayenne K-Frame Video Production Center switcher, a K2 Summit 3G Production Client and other infrastructure components. The van is being used for all educational events in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and is also available for third-party rental to cover conferences, sporting events and entertainment programs.

“KFU is a leader in the region, and other universities are certainly watching to see what they do, so we expect that there will be increased demand for these kinds of solutions in the future,” noted Rahif Jneid, Executive Services Manager, of First Gulf Company. “Our partnership with Grass Valley has been in place for a long time and we work closely with them to design and install the best broadcast solutions for our clients.”

The LDX 80 WorldCam is an ideal solution for any production, under any condition, incorporating all the features of the LDX 80 Elite (1080i, 720p and 1080PsF) plus 1080p. The LDX 80 WorldCam enables 1080p productions that are normally impossible to cover without huge investments in additional lighting or without serious degradation of the image quality. Kayenne K-Frame brings the highest level of performance available to live productions with innovative features and upgradability, plus full multiformat support including 1080p and 4K. Kayenne can be configured with up to 192 inputs, 96 outputs and up to 9 M/Es with six keyers in every full M/E. K2 Summit 3G Production Clients are optimized for a broad range of production and broadcast applications and is the only server that supports end-to-end SD/HD workflows in DVCPRO, MPEG-2, AVC-Intra and H.264/AVCHD formats.

“Universities today are finding the need to offer advanced broadcasting solutions as they promote their own capabilities and train their students to go out into the workforce,” concluded Jan-Pieter van Welsem, vice president of sales and marketing, EMEA, Grass Valley. “New technology is making this an exciting time to be in the industry, and the students we are training on our equipment today are the ones who will be leading us in the future.”

About Grass Valley
Grass Valley is a trusted partner completely focused on empowering customers to create, control and connect content wherever, however and whenever it is consumed. In this ever-changing media landscape, content remains the most important element. Many of our customers are faced with the need to create and support new workflows while continuing to operate their legacy workflows, simultaneously broadcasting through traditional channels, Over-The-Top platforms, and Video-On-Demand as well as to tablets, PCs, and mobile devices.

We provide the innovative tools and expertise to help customers improve the efficiency of their operations while telling better stories to attract and keep viewers. With Grass Valley's integrated solutions that enable flexibility, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality and scalability, broadcasters and content creators have what they need to sustain their businesses. Headquartered in Montreal, Grass Valley has been in the broadcast business for nearly 60 years and is part of St. Louis-based Belden Inc.