MHz Delivers DSNG To AP TV News For World Cup

An independent international systems integrator, has delivered an HD-ready Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) truck to AP Television News in London.
The vehicle is currently in South Africa covering live news events from around the 2010 World Cup football.
The truck, part of the AP Television News DSNG fleet based in London, was originally designed and built by MHz as a standard-definition vehicle. The recent refurbishments have included the addition of a new VW Transporter chassis and the overhaul and upgrade of the RF equipment. Furthermore new production equipment was installed, at the heart of which is a completely new baseband infrastructure, a Harris Panacea router, a For-A HD vision mixer, a Soundcraft audio mixer. The signal is routed via an Ericsson encoder, Newtec modulator, Xicom high-power amplifier and uplinked via a SWE-DISH antenna - the latter is based on existing equipment that was completely stripped down, repainted before being rebuilt and reinstated on the roof of the new vehicle.
To meet the growing demands for 16x9 widescreen coverage, a Harris aspect ratio converter is also installed. Furthermore a Courtyard Electronics TSG test pattern generator, Hamlet waveform monitoring, 2 x 15" Oxygen DCT LCD monitors and a 3 x 5.7" monitor unit are also incorporated to ensure first-rate accurate signal monitoring. Sources to the system include a Gigawave wireless camera, an HD-compatible Telecast fibre optic system, a VTR and several analogue and digital feeds. The new truck has an on-board 8kVA Fischer Panda diesel generator providing a highly efficient mobile power source.
"Megahertz has a keen understanding of the operational needs of live news production given the wealth of experience it has gained from designing and building DSNG vehicles for news organisations around the world," said Frances Jarvis, Managing Director of Megahertz. "We worked closely with AP Television News's engineering team to define the technical specifications, operational design and configuration of this DSNG truck to meet the specific demands of their live news production needs."
Jarvis concluded: "In choosing to refurbish the RF system and replace the vehicle and production infrastructure, our client was able to minimise the overall downtime for their vehicles while ensuring a successful implementation that will drive genuine return on investment well into the future."
(BMcN)