Beijing Television has outfitted its new 3-D OB unit with EVS XT3 servers as well as IPDirector and XFile software.
The truck is designed as a general purpose unit but will primarily be used for sports production, enabling the network to cost effectively capture and broadcast sporting events in both 2- and 3-D.
The truck is equipped with 10 HD cameras, including two Sony 3-D cameras and two super slow motion cameras. Six of the cameras can be combined to create three 3-D cameras. The EVS XT3 servers can be configured to support both HD production and simultaneous 2- and 3-D production.
For HD production with 10 HD cameras, two XT3 servers are used in an eight-channel HD configuration with Beijing Television's main and back-up Sony switchers. For simultaneous 2- and 3-D production with five 3-D cameras and four 2-D cameras, the XT3 servers are used in a six-channel 3-D configuration. One switcher produces the 2-D signal while the other operates in 3-D mode. The Sony switcher's DVE board combines the 2-D camera signals to create 3-D signals.
Beijing Television's operators maintain control over their productions with the EVS IPDirector suite of production content management applications, while material is archived during capture using the EVS XFile application.