UM-HD1

UM-HD1 is the newest TV Globo production trailer mainly designed to cover shows and big sports events. The imposing white structure — 55ft long, 13ft high and 39 tons of weight, with rear and right side expansions — make it the biggest mobile unit (MU) below the equator line. The layout was optimized to comfortably accommodate 36 operational personnel and to attend two simultaneous and/or independent productions.
The system, fully compliant with SMPTE specs for full HD productions (1080/60p @ 3Gb/s), was conceived to manipulate video with eight embedded audio channels and has the capability to receive multiple discrete feeds to interface with legacy field equipment. The system supports 46 feeds in total (24 cameras with CCU, two microlinks, four microcameras and up to 16 processed external feeds).

As part of the plan for pre-integration with TV Globo personnel during the shell construction, we built a wood platform the same size of the chassis to cut the cables and preconnect patch panels. The strategy saved considerable time and increased the cabling quality as installers had wider working space than the MU’s space constraints. In order to achieve maximum operational space and proper installation for equipment, the project team designed and manufactured every console, rack, monitor wall and equipment accessory.

Because the project started in the beginning of 3Gb/s developments, the infrastructure implementation was another huge challenge. Many studies were carried out in order to understand the technological challenges faced. These studies made it possible to identify and tackle the incompatibilities between SMPTE-425M level A/B. We also realized that major vendors were choosing only one level at their convenience. Based on this information, we started work with manufactures to convince them to support both levels or at least Level B. After this long process, the companies decided to incorporate both levels on their product lines, which certainly brought benefits for the whole broadcasting market. The outcome was an infrastructure prepared for level A/B.

Regarding audio operation, we specified a system that analyzes and corrects audio monitoring, compensating the distortions produced by the room’s acoustics and thereby improving significantly the quality of mixing and recording.

The innovations were also present on the power system; the design allowed power lines, racks and consoles monitoring. In case of any component failure or power outage, the system generates alarms on a Human-Machine Interface, permitting a quicker and easier troubleshooting and intervention. This is the first trailer with 60KVA no-breaks hooked-up in shunt mode, providing approximately 10 minutes of power autonomy.

The biggest challenge was during Rio de Janeiro’s 2010 Carnival, TV Globo’s most complex event. The UM-HD1 system proved to be so compact, versatile and reliable that it alone produced the same event previously done with two MUs of similar size.