Royal Thai Army Television (Channel 5) Take Delivery of New Compact & Versatile OB Truck

Royal Thai Army Television (Channel 5) Take Delivery of New Compact & Versatile OB Truck

State of the art Hitachi production vehicle goes where larger trucks cannot; televises diversity of sporting, cultural and entertainment events

Based in Thailand, national broadcaster, Royal Thai Army Television (Channel 5) has taken delivery of a multi-functional outside broadcast (OB) production vehicle which was designed, built and commissioned by Hitachi Kokusai Turkey. On this project, Hitachi worked closely with its local representative, Bangkok-based P.S. & Sons (Thailand) Co, Ltd.

Based on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, the vehicle combines a compact and lightweight construction with some of the region’s most advanced OB production capabilities. The OB truck supports five Hitachi SK-HD1200 multi format HDTV production cameras and a team of six production engineers.

 

State of the art Hitachi production vehicle goes where larger trucks cannot; televises diversity of sporting, cultural and entertainment events

Designed and built at Hitachi’s Istanbul facility, the new OB truck is ideal for use as a small, flexible production vehicle covering a range of sporting, cultural and entertainment events throughout Thailand, supporting productions where a larger OB truck would be impractical or cost prohibitive.

Starting with the standard Mercedes Sprinter truck, Hitachi implemented extensive modifications, installing stabilising jacks, thermal and acoustic insulation, on-board air conditioning and a purpose designed ergonomic working environment for the six-person team. All cabling is stored on motorised drums within the vehicle meaning that set-up and break-down of events is swift and easy.

Hitachi’s next challenge was to specify and integrate the latest production technology from trusted industry vendors. Alongside its production cameras, which are fitted with Canon lenses, the vehicle includes Ross vision switchers and 3G/HD-SDI routers; EVS slow motion servers; Inscriber character generators; recorders from Panasonic, Sony and AJA; Blackmagic Design HDMI-SDI converters; a Yamaha digital audio mixer and audio gear from Sennheiser, Trilogy, Genelec and Tascam.  

advertisment

The truck’s advanced production workflow is suited to servicing a number of events including outside news broadcasts, sports events, drama productions, religious festivals and national cultural events.

State of the art Hitachi production vehicle goes where larger trucks cannot; televises diversity of sporting, cultural and entertainment events

advertisment

“We were first attracted to Hitachi by the quality of their cameras, which we saw being operated at the Incheon Asian Games but then we became aware of the fantastic OB centre of excellence that the company has developed in Istanbul,” said Mr.Sumneang Noipasri, Chief Engineer of Technical Division at Royal Thai Army Television (Channel 5). “Their ability to meet our production needs so completely with such a relatively small vehicle is a big help. And the cost savings generated by this innovative approach are a big bonus for us too.”

Hitachi Kokusai Turkey reports that it has many similar projects in production and that this small form factor, high engineering capability is proving popular, especially amongst Asia Pacific region broadcasters. “Each vehicle that we produce is individually configured to meet the needs of its owner – in this case we have packed an enormous amount of production technology into a very compact vehicle,” commented Koji Yuzawa, General Manager of Hitachi Kokusai Turkey. “We see this approach becoming increasingly popular in many geographic regions and for broadcasters both large and small.”

advertisment

About Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. (TSE: 6756), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a company that manufactures broadcasting systems, security and surveillance systems, wireless communications and information systems, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Fiscal 2015 (ended March 31, 2016) consolidated net sales totaled 180,740 million Yen ($1,604million).

Hitachi Ltd is a major stakeholder of Hitachi Kokusai Electric which is a world renowned manufacturers of innovative, high-performance telecommunication products. Hitachi Kokusai Electric is one of the most significant Japanese companies developing advanced broadcast camera technology.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Turkey is an independent subsidiary company aimed at supporting Hitachi’s business development activities in the Middle East, Africa, Russia and CIS region.  Hitachi Kokusai Turkey is headquartered in Istanbul in the Republic of Turkey and opened its offices on June 10, 2013. Hitachi Kokusai Turkey provides services such as sales and maintenance, and also develops its "local production for local consumption" business model focussed on locally developed, designed, and manufactured products in Turkey's free trade zones (specially developed areas that support companies that export products manufactured in free trade zones from Turkey).