NVP Uses Lawo In 4K Outside Broadcast Van

Italian production company NVP has announced its new Outside Broadcast vehicle is one of the most technically advanced OB resources in Europe.

The triple expanded truck enables the company to accommodate multiformat productions in SD, HD, UHD, SDR and HDR.

Together with local Italian partner Aret, German broadcast technology specialist Lawo has provided OB 4 with its audio, video processing and automation.

The heart of OB 4's audio systems is a pair of Lawo mc256 production consoles, a Nova router and DALLIS interfaces. The complete OB Van is controlled using Lawo's sophisticated VSM (Virtual Studio Manager) system, and Lawo's V__pro8 8 channel video processing units are deployed, offering all glue features needed in the broadcast production workflow in a compact 1RU housing.

Together, the audio consoles and VSM ensure the versatility required enabling for multiformat operation on the most challenging productions in Europe. Spanning Italy's Serie A football league matches (produced in 4K), concert and musical events, and high-profile conferences, the OB Van excels in a wide variety of production deployments. The most recent of these saw OB 4 in action during the G7 summit in Taormina in May 2017, when NVP acted as the host broadcasting company.

OB 4 works with Grass Valley cameras (20 4K LDX86N and 8 LDX82 WorldCam, all with HDR functionality) that can be operated simultaneously, Dolby E, 12 replay stations, and six Producer positions. With two dedicated video and audio control rooms, all sources can be handled completely separated to supply any type of production, host signal and national integration onboard.

Ivan Pintabona, Technical Manager at NVP, said: "One reason I chose Lawo is its great reliability. But above all, most decisive were Lawo's functionality and ability to find concrete solutions to the operational issues that we have on a OB van every day.

"The results are very obvious – if an OB van has a coherent and open infrastructure, like OB 4. The Lawo solutions provide extreme power and versatility, opening the infrastructure to any interaction by making complex operations simple and by establishing interconnections that easily support highly complex remote production capabilities. VSM works perfectly together with other products of the same range. I am extremely pleased with my choice, and I am developing new solutions and functionalities using Lawo products daily."

OB 4's two Lawo mc256 audio consoles are connected to a Nova router and DALLIS interfaces. For "glue" features, the production company relies on Lawo's updated V__pro8 processors, allowing connection of different video formats as well as connecting audio and video. High-quality format conversion, color correction, and audio embedding and de-embedding make the V__pro 8 a compact and powerful video processor, bridging different broadcast worlds and formats.

Due to its use in multiformat simulcast 4K UHD HDR, HD 1080P HDR and HD 1080i SDR productions, the company needed a powerful and enabling control system – which is where the VSM system comes into play. VSM controls all relevant equipment in OB 4, including overall Labeling and Tally. Since the system is running on an IP-backbone, it is future-proof for further developments and productions of OB 4 in the IP-realm.

The combination of audio and control solutions from Lawo bring maximum flexibility to OB 4's considerable technical capabilities, allowing the greatest use of its potential.

lawo.com