Vision View Returns To Gearhouse For New OB Vehicle

Broadcast services specialist Gearhouse Broadcast has today announced it has been contracted by Vision View Productions to build a brand new 18 tonne OB truck for its burgeoning sports production business in South Africa.

This announcement follows Vision View's purchase of Gearhouse's compact HD OB trailer OBLite last July. The unit has proved such a commercial success that Vision View requires a larger second vehicle as it expands its business to take on bigger productions. The new truck will be based on OBLite's established technical workflow to enable easy collaboration between the two OB facilities.

A brand new Mercedes tractor unit has been sourced from South Africa – due to local fuel and emission regulations – and will be modified for purpose before being shipped to Gearhouse's headquarters in Watford for systems and technical integration. It will then be delivered to Vision View in South Africa in early 2016.

The truck's expanded facilities will feature 12 camera channels instead of OBLite's eight. It has nine Hitachi HD-SK1200s, one Hitachi HD-SK1500 slow motion cameras and two Q-Ball point of view cameras. The camera and infrastructure connectivity inside the truck is an HDSDI/IP hybrid.

It will be fitted with the new Ross Carbonite Black CB3X vision mixer, two EVS XT3 live production servers and a 32 channel Studer Vista 1 audio console – compared to the single EVS XT2 and 24 channel console in Vision View's OBLite. The truck will also feature discrete 5.1 surround sound audio which takes advantage of an extensive set of Sennheiser microphones including the Esfera SPM 8000 with SBP800, four MD 42s and six MKH 416s.

All of the workflows inside the truck are designed to work flexibly alongside OBLite so equipment can be interchanged between the two to scale facilities based on any single productions specific needs.

The truck will feature motorised awnings and jacks which provide increased stabilisation when in use and a more efficient slim-design air conditioning unit – perfect for the climate of South Africa.

"Since the successful implementation of OBLite into our OB offering, our client base has grown to the point we needed to expand our facilities to meet demand," said Mafadi Mpuru, managing director at Vision View. "We wanted something that would complement OBLite and seamlessly integrate with its proven technical workflow. We're confident that this new OB truck from Gearhouse will do that perfectly."

"This new build for Vision View proves the concept of OBLite," added Nigel Haniff, account manager at Gearhouse Broadcast. "Its flexibility and high production values have opened the door for Vision View to cover much bigger productions in the region.."

gearhousebroadcast.com