Comfort Zone.
Lawo mc²66 installed in HD OB truck nobeo 1.
When the going gets rough outside, what you need inside is a high level of comfort and convenience. This concept has been consistently adhered to in the design of a new 16-camera OB truck – nobeo 1 – the first outside broadcast vehicle to be commissioned by German TV service provider nobeo GmbH. The inside has a spacious feel, achieved by expanding walls on both sides of the trailer, plus individual lighting design and ergonomic seating. On the outside, nobeo 1's baptism of fire is about to begin, with one crash after the other as they cover the popular German TV show 'TV Total's Stock Car Crash Challenge'. The actual crashes will only be heard on the truck's audio monitors, as the audio control room is decoupled from the rest of the OB truck by a 'box-in-box' structure, which effectively eliminates mechanical and acoustic interference. In both the audio and video control rooms, a 5.1 surround sound monitor system, calibrated to ITU standards, has been installed. In addition, noisy equipment has been banned from the video area in the rear of the vehicle, to assist in the creation of an ideal audio monitoring situation.
nobeo, based in Hürth, Germany, focuses on High-Definition TV for sports, cultural and entertainment productions, which is why in 2007 the company decided to acquire their own new HD OB truck. nobeo chose sono Studiotechnik GmbH as their system integrator. sono had previously been involved in the successful realisation of nobeo’s Studio 6 control room, which is equipped with a Lawo mc²90 for HD productions. The nobeo 1 OB truck is fitted with a mc²66 console. “Rightfully a widely-used mixing console with great performance and flexibility”, cites Guido Amann, nobeo’s Technical Director, explaining the decision to purchase the Lawo mc²66.
The mc²66 installed in nobeo 1 has 56 faders, 192 DSP channels, plus an HD core with fully redundant router card and 8,192 x 8,192 crosspoints; links to the DALLIS racks are also redundantly designed. A VSM (Virtual Studio Master) system controls the monitoring sources and levels. Facilities in the truck enable two completely independent mixes to be generated in Dolby-E, so no additional audio OB unit is required for live concert recordings. This exceptional new HD OB truck therefore offers the renowned high standard of technology that is also present in nobeo's fixed studio installations. Guido Amann's judgement on the cooperation between nobeo, Lawo and the main contractor sono, is entirely positive: “With a great deal of effort and expertise, practically all our wishes became a reality.”
About nobeo
nobeo GmbH is a service provider for TV productions. Based only a stone's throw away from Cologne, the nobeo facility in Hürth has nine TV studios, offering an area of up to 1,400 m² for TV and event productions. Stern TV, Wer wird Millionär? (Who wants to be a millionaire?), RTL’s yearly review and many other successful programmes originate from here.
Another of nobeo’s successful business areas is outside production: nobeo can provide OB trucks (HD/SD, up to 32 cameras), mobile edit units (HD/SD), SNGs, portable control rooms, as well as mobile Avid and Pro Tools edit suites. In addition, nobeo offers EB teams, broadcast rental, tape checking and restoration, event management, as well as stage building.
In 2004, nobeo GmbH became part of the UBF Media Group that, more recently, merged with Euro Media Télévision. The new Euro Media Group is a full service provider, with more than 1,300 employees in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland.
