Mobile Image Co

Digital Outside Broadcast Van
for Live-switched multicam TV production

phone 61 2 9953 3833
mobile 0408 446 603
email: mail@mobileimage.com.au

WHY USE OUR MID-SIZE OB VAN ?

On this page:

·         Why do a live-switched coverage?

·         4 ways of equipping a live-switched coverage:

·         Why a mid-sized van?

WHY DO A LIVE-SWITCHED COVERAGE?

The usual problem to be solved is record or cover an event in real-time, using more than one camera angle, to give a variety of shot sizes, angles and subjects, to “tell the story” in the most clear and interesting way possible. The final product may be anything from a short highlights tape through to a complete coverage.

4 WAYS OF EQUIPPING A LIVE-SWITCHED COVERAGE:

Some options are:

1) Use several separate camcorders and edit it together later:

ADVANTAGES:

·        Less complex equipment and sometimes cheaper on the day.

·        Supposedly requires fewer or lower-skilled crew.

·        Supposedly no live-switching or directing skills needed.

DISADVANTAGES:

·        Chews through a lot of tape.

·        Chews through a lot of editing hours.

·        Product isn’t ready at the end of the shoot.

·        Can’t do live to air (of course).

·        Audio is a real problem.

·        Without facilities of comms, return video and tally lights, directing a coherent coverage that is shot so as to cut together smoothly, is much harder.

·        What you save on the shoot you lose on the edit.

2) Hire lots of bits of kit and build a “racks” OB yourself, just for the job:

ADVANTAGES:

·        Omitting the extra gear you get in a commercial system, might save you a little money.

·        You may avoid paying for a TD.

·        You will end up with a switched recording, or live feed, by the end of the shoot (if nothing else stuffs up)

DISADVANTAGES:

·        Nobody but you to blame if any part of the kit doesn’t work, or isn’t compatible, or there is no redundancy in the system.

·        Nobody but you to chase faults on the day

·        Can you really trust unfamiliar cross-hired gear?

·        You pay for time spent in hiring collecting, delivery, load-in , rigging and testing, fault-finding, etc

3) Use a “flyaway racks” system:

Bring a built-up system into the venue, set up a temporary control room somewhere in the venue, and shoot with proper OB cameras with triaxial cabling and CCUS

ADVANTAGES:

·        Easier cabling within the venue

·        Easy communication and access between the shooting area and the “control room area”

·        You will end up with a switched recording, or live feed, by the end of the shoot (if nothing else stuffs up)

DISADVANTAGES:

·        Usually no real cost savings in equipment, compared to an OB van.

·        Extra labour and delivery costs, getting racks in and out of venue

·        Serious environmental disturbances when using temporary on-site “control rooms”

4) Use an OB Van

ADVANTAGES:

  • Offers OB Van features, but usually at portable racks budgets.
  • A live switched video facility that’s compact, self-transportable and economical to own and run.
  • Doesn’t suffer the functional limitations of a flyaway kit.
  • Lots of built-in extra features not found in racks systems.
  • Pre-configured: so doesn’t require lots of assembly, wiring-up and qualification on site.
  • No loading in and out of heavy racks and packers. Can save time and costly labour.
  • Remains configured: isn’t built up for each job from bits and pieces of a hire company’s inventory, so is usually much less “flaky”..
  • Control room is more immune from noise, lights and heat in its surroundings. Better working environment for quality production work, than using portable racks in a site shed, or squeezed in with the audience in a noisy venue.
  • You don’t need to rent a site shed for outdoor jobs.

DISADVANTAGES:

·        Van usually requires 3-phase power, from mains or generator.

·        Parking and cabling from outside the venue may be required (planning, cabling labour, access and logistics requirements). Some venues just aren’t friendly to running cables safely from outside to inside.

·        Skilled OB crews are required to get best results.

WHY A MID-SIZED VAN?

Conventional broadcast industry fashion is to use gigantic "expando" digital trailer vans, to serve the new widescreen digital market, but which our "real-world" clients can't really afford or justify to use for productions with "real-world budgets", so we've taken a new approach.

  • Modern digital video equipment is very compact.
  • Our clients usually have limited budgets, and so do not need to provide space for larger crews, and usually unnecessary extra equipment, the cost of which can't be justified for most jobs.
  • A smaller van is cheaper to travel, garage, own and operate. Sometimes we can supply the whole van for little more than the cost of just delivering a big van to the site.
  • Modern diesel truck to make longer trips easily.
  • A smaller van will fit into some smaller venues, saving on rigging and cabling costs.
  • Can be operated by a small crew
  • More economical than having to use a large digital truck to do quality smaller jobs.

 

Nowadays, digital TV production doesn't automatically come with increased production budgets. Usually the opposite applies!

OPTIONAL SECOND TRUCK FOR DOING LARGER OBs:


We sometimes use both OB3 together with our support vehicle which can be configured to provide extra space for specialist control functions, such as graphics, editing, downstream versioning, etc.

 

PORTABLE RACKS FOR DOING SMALLER OBs:

Our flyaway racks system (click link for more info) may be a suitable solution for very small jobs, or ones where a truck cannot go.

 

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