Hardware Analysis based on the 503 HD OB Trucks listed on Live-Production.TV

Cameras - Lenses - Vision Mixers - Displays – Multi-Viewer - Digital Glue - Video Routers - Video Tape/Disk Recorders - Video SloMo/SuperSloMo Devices - Audio Mixers - Audio Monitoring - Audio - Intercom Systems

With SD officially dead and HD the status quo, 4K- and HDR-capable trucks — as well as units featuring IP-based infrastructure — are on the rise. Of the 503 mobile units covered in the survey, 49 are listed as 4K-capable.

281 trucks are based in Europe (incl. 27 from Russia), 133 in the Americas (with 19 from Canada and 105 from the U.S.), 65 from Asia (with 21 from China and 12 from the UAE),16 from Oceania (mainly NEP Australia) and 8 from Africa (mainly SABC). Europe is listed with 37 trucks from Germany, 36 from the UK, 25 from Italy, 20 from France, 19 from Belgium, 15 from Spain and 11 from The Netherlands. Norway, Sweden and Switzerland a re represented with 10 trucks each while the other European countries show up with 1 - 8 trucks.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

• Of the 503 trucks whose camera complement was identified by brand 52% use Sony 31% deploy Grass Valley 3% Ikegami and 4% have other cameras on board (Panasonic, Hitachi, Blackmagic, etc.)

• The battle for lens-market share remains a two-horse race. Of the 503 trucks that identified lens brand, 50% exclusively carry Canon lenses, 30% have only Fujinon, and 14% have a mix of Canon and Fujinon lenses. 6% of the trucks carry lenses from other manufacturers e.g. Agenieux.

• Among switchers, Grass Valley continues to dominate, with its units found at the center of 44% of the mobile units. Sony switchers are in 39% of the trucks, SAM switchers are in 11% of the trucks while Ross is represented in 2% of the units. The remaining 4% represent Blackmagic Design, EVS and FOR-A.

• The video-router sector presents the following picture: 23% Grass Valley, 17% SAM, 15% Evertz, 11% Imagine Communications, 5% Pesa, 4% Cisco and 3% Riedel. Behind the 22% others we find Utah Scientific, Ross Video, Sony, Blackmagic Design, FOR-A, etc.

• In HD replay devices, EVS is once again the industry standard: 87% of the HD trucks were identified as relying on some form of EVS system as its primary replay/ SloMo device. Cur­rently, 8% of the trucks carry Grass Valley K2 Dyno replay systems and 5% carry systems from BLT. Although the majority of them also offer EVS replay systems if the customer demands. Three of the Russian trucks offer Slomo.TV systems.

• Calrec Audio remains the number-one audio console (25%) on the trucks. Yamaha (mainly used as the backup console) is second with 21%, followed by Lawo 21%, Harman Studer 18%, Stage Tec 8%, while the remaining 10% show Avid/Euphonix Behringer, DiGiCo, SSL, Harman Soundcraft and Mackie.