Article Overview

mc²66 for Singapore's first HD OBVan

mc²66

MediaCorp, Singapore’s leading media company, has chosen a Lawo mc²66 digital audio console for its new outside broadcast vehicle, the first High Definition OBVan with surround capability in South-East Asia.

A full Surround Sound facility

The award-winning broadcaster, a pioneer in its home country and an active regional player through co-productions, operates a 10-year replacement cycle on the vehicles in its OB fleet. This new vehicle, which has been built by Sony’s Professional Solutions and Services Division in Sydney, is the first to feature a full surround sound facility.

Full redundancy is included in the router

Technical sales specialist Boon Siong Tan, Lawo’s representative in Singapore, explains that this OBVan will be MediaCorp’s HD flagship. “As yet, there are no other HD Studios with full surround monitoring control facilities, so the new vehicle will play a vital role in the corporation’s HDTV surround production capability. As well as handling outside broadcast projects, the OBV can be linked to any of the MediaCorp studios for in-house surround sound productions, a highly cost-efficient solution. This is made possible by the audio and video equipment inside the vehicle, notable the Lawo mc²66 and the 4x DALLIS I/O systems.”

Inside the HDTV OBVan’s audio section is a 48-fader mc266m with capacity of 8000 x 8000 crosspoints on the HD Core and Nova 73 router. Full redundancy is included in the router and fibres to the four DALLIS frames, and, of the 240 full DSP channels, 48 are planned as redundancy.

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Delivery in March 2010

Delivery of the new HD OBVan is scheduled for March 2010, but producers of MediaCorp’s popular talent contest ‘Singapore Idol’ were keen to use surround sound for the all-important finale. Sony was able to provide an interim video solution and hired in a Lawo mc²66 digital audio console for the show, ideal training for MediaCorp engineers prior to the delivery of the OBVan.

“This was MediaCorp’s first HD production with full surround sound,” explains Boon Siong Tan, “and therefore the first chance to utilize the mc²66 to its full potential. They were delighted with the results, particularly the performance of the console which they found to have many unique features ideally suited to this kind of production, and an impressively powerful tool compared to other mixers.”

This is not MediaCorp’s first experience with Lawo technology. Many of the radio stations in the corporation has been working successfully with zirkon on-air consoles for several years, there is a mc²66 console in TV Studio 3 in the news production department, and, just a few months ago, the Singapore Media Academy, MediaCorp’s training arm, installed a mc²56. “Lawo’s reputation for providing excellent pre- and post-sales support, and for proven technology, were important factors in the awarding of this contract,” says Boon Siong Tan.

The new OBV will be delivered just in time for Singapore’s National Day Parade, and its inaugural broadcast will give Singaporeans their first taste of the Parade in HD in surround sound.

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