Advanced Television

Arena Television selects Sony to enhance OB units

July 22, 2020

Arena Television, the independent outside broadcast facilities firm and long-standing Sony customer, has selected the Sony XVS-8000 multi-format video switcher to integrate with its new OB17 truck. The OB17 is one of Europe’s largest OB vehicles at 16.5 metres long and weighing 32 tonnes with twin full-length expanding sides.

The multi-format switcher will allow the Arena Television fleet to facilitate a wide range of HDR and SDR productions.

Arena Television selected the XVS-8000 as evolutional choice following on from its install base of MVS-8000 series vision mixers which have been at the centre of countless productions for over a decade. Arena Television customers will benefit from the flexibility and operability of a sophisticated and powerful switcher that creates content in HD to UHD, as well as in SDR and HDR.

Dafydd Rees, Deputy Director at Arena TV, commented: “We created a robust truck optimised to address the growing demand we see from high-profile broadcasters to produce HDR content in the HD domain and not just the UHD Domain.”

The design of OB17 truck had no budgetary compromises. It was a complicated brief thanks to its double expansion footprint and range of HDR and SDR production focus. Having Sony solutions at the heart of a number of our OB units throughout our 30-year history meant it was an easy decision to choose the latest XVS-8000 switcher. We can continue to help our clients to create world-class content.”

The latest generation Sony XVS-8000 multi-format video switcher offers flexibility and operability for top-end production and helps Arena TV to realise a robust, mixed environment with SDI and IP. Utilising the flexible ICP-X7000 X-Panel assignable modular design, the production team can configure the control panel to suit its specific needs. Additionally, the ICP-X7000 X-Panel offers flexible configuration, modular style design, OLED display, RGB XPT buttons and LCD for optimum user experience within the truck.

Norbert Paquet, Head of Live Production Solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe, adds: “At Sony, we always listen and work closely with our customers, partners and the wider industry to help bring their projects to life – and Arena Television’s OB17 is no different. Having been created to facilitate both HDR and SDR productions, Arena Television’s decision to put our XVS-8000 switcher at the core of its OB17 is testament to its ability to meet the demands of modern broadcasting and take production environments to the next level. It’s great to hear that the XVS switcher has already been part of large productions such as ITV’s Royal Variety Performance – highlighting OB17’s full potential.”

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