Mansion Mobile Television, in Branson, MO, is using Grass Valley HD cameras and a video switcher for its new production truck.
The multimillion-dollar project made its debut at the NAB Show in Las Vegas this week and will be used to capture about 65 live sports events a year throughout the Midwest and across the country.
During productions, seven cameras will be used for fixed positions in a SuperXpander configuration with box-style lenses, while four will be set up in handheld configuration to roam the various venues. The Kalypso HD switcher includes a 4M/E panel, four auxiliary bus panels, and is loaded with a variety of options.
Mansion Mobile is the remote production division of Mansion Entertainment, owners and operators of two local theaters, a recording studio and a record label, all based in Branson, MO. This location puts Mansion Mobile within an eight-hour drive of 10 of the country’s major cities (from Phoenix to Louisville, KY). Mansion Entertainment is owned by Gene Bicknell, a co-founder of the national Pizza Hut chain of restaurants.
For the past two years, Mansion Mobile has been producing games with an SD truck (a rig once owned by F&F Productions that features Ikegami HD cameras and a Grass Valley Kalypso Duo switcher) for several sports networks. The company has covered MLB (Kansas City Royals), NFL (Kansas City Chiefs) and Big 12 college football games (Texas A&M, Kansas State and University of Missouri). The new 53ft expandable HD truck will allow the company to produce twice as many live events. This will include entertainment shows as well as sports productions.
Diversified Systems designed the system and installed the equipment in the truck, on top of a body constructed by Calutech Mobile Solutions, in Hammond, ID.
