Arqiva, a provider of transmission services for broadcasters and end-to-end media solutions for content and channel providers, has acquired 48 Zandar Predator HD8 MultiViewers to help produce live HD broadcasts of Championship Football for Sky Sports and its Sky HD channel.
The compact Predator units are installed inside two UK-based mobile production (OB) trucks, 24 for each, making it one of the largest single HD8 OB projects completed. Sony Professional Services installed the systems on both trucks.
On each truck, 10 multiviewers are installed in the production area, 12 in the videotape recording area and two for the audio mixing section. The Predator HD MultiViewers feature native HD input processing to display HD images up to 1080p. The multiviewer also offers low frame delays (less than one frame) from source to output.
The Predator HD8 accepts and auto-detects up to eight SDI or HD-SDI inputs with a high quality DVI output to the LCD displays up to 1080p resolution. The systems feature Zandar Dual Head (ZdH) display to drive one or two displays independently or configured as a virtual monitor wall, with spanning capability. ZdH is particularly ideal in space-restrictive OB vehicles because the system saves on rack space by combining two MultiViewers in a compact 1RU enclosure.
Using the ZdH mode allows Arqiva to build a display wall using an array of 26in by 17in and 32in by 23in LCD screens. Eight images from each system are displayed across two LCDs with no loss of functionality or control.
Arqiva operations director Ewen Hamilton said that using the Predator HD8 MultiViewers allowed operators to place and manipulate one output per screen for the display of four HD images on a single flat-screen monitor, saving significant space. They can also configure the system so that each screen displays three small previews of HD material alongside a single, larger output image.
For more information, visit www.zandar.com.
