The new outside broadcast unit was required to support the very rapid growth in sports coverage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it will be based. The capability of producing high quality television in 4k Ultra HD was critical for these applications.

Production Crew was keen to maintain simple and secure operations in the new unit, and so preferred the native 12G-SDI infrastructure rather than IP connectivity. Production Crew looked at all the key vendors, and selected FOR-A because of its consistent, proven support for 12G-SDI to achieve a compact architecture.

Centrepiece of the truck is the FOR-A HVS-6000 production switcher, coupled with the HVS-3355OUA panel. This gives operators up to Four M/E banks and 80 inputs, with full pre-programmable macros, DVEs and graphics layering. The curved layout of the panel puts all functionality within ergonomic reach of the operator for completely reliable production under pressure.

The production switcher is matched with a FOR-A MFR-4100 router. This is also 12G native and can be configured up to 72 x 72 to meet the practical needs of a live production. Signal conversion and distribution uses the FOR-A USF modular system, capable of hosting as many as 12 cards in a 2RU rack equipped with the 12G distributions amplifiers with video and audio processing.