All Mobile Video Taps Grass Valley for the ECLIPSE IP-Based Production Truck

All Mobile Video has chosen Grass Valley’s end-to-end, open standards-based IP workflows and infrastructure for its latest remote production truck, ECLIPSE. The deal includes cameras, switchers, and other gear that gives AMV the capability to handle everything from HD to 4K UHD and HDR, plus the ability to scale up to 8K when needed.

All Mobile Video is adding its first IP unit to its fleet, ECLIPSE, with the help of Grass Valley.

The future-ready unit will support a range of live productions, including major award and red carpet events, the “Live from Lincoln Center” performing arts series, and the Times Square Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve. AMV’s ECLIPSE will be ready to roll later this spring.

It will also be the first production truck to have the new LDX100 Grass Valley camera technology.

“Technology is changing at a rapid pace, and SDI can no longer support the forthcoming formats. IP allows us to future-proof our offering and adapt much quicker, plus we can offer clients much more operator space, more firepower and greater production capability all in one unit,” says Eric Duke, president of All Mobile Video. “In the past, we would have to outboard extra capacity to additional trailers, but now we can do everything we need to, and more, with a smaller footprint on location. The biggest challenge with IP is getting control and diagnostics right. We need a partner with great switching capabilities and great diagnostics and Grass Valley delivers the best solutions in those areas – plus the added reliability and expertise made it the clear choice for us.”

Duke says that AMV has been planning to build an end to end IP based mobile unit for several years but they didn’t want to build a truck with only a partial IP solution.

“Grass Valley was able to provide a complete IP solution in terms of both hardware and software,” he says. “This will make us more future proof and more cost effective in terms of format and show design. It gives us additional space in the truck for more people and operations.”

The new AMV IP unit comes fully loaded with Grass Valley’s new LDX 100 IP camera platform, delivering 3x high-speed UHD capture and Creative Grading which helps camera shaders have more creative control. Simplifying the IP workflow is the GV Orbit dynamic system orchestrator; using the interface, operators can easily configure and change systems on the fly. The IP workflow is supported by an IP fabric built with Nexus 9000 Series Switches from Cisco Systems.

“Cisco’s Nexus 9K-based IP Fabric for Media supports the latest SMPTE 2110 suite of standards and is ideally suited to build a scalable and agile switching fabric for the most challenging media production needs,” says Sunil Gudurvalmiki, product marketing director, data center switching, Cisco. “We are excited to partner with Grass Valley and World Wide Technology to provide the best path to market.”

World Wide Technology is a systems integrator in the media space and is Cisco’s first certified partner in the IP Fabric for Media (IPFM) solution. Gene Arantowicz, Systems Engineering Manager at WWT, says  WWT partners closely with Grass Valley in their broadcast solution by providing global design, supply chain, integration and deployment services.

AMV IP is also home to Grass Valley’s K-Frame X video production engine, with Kayenne switcher control panel; Kaleido SD, HD and 4K UHD IP multiviewers; IPVU IP to HDMI monitoring gateways; Densité and IQ Modular signal processing and conversion; and the Audio Live router for live multi-stream IP audio.

Marco Lopez, Grass Valley’s senior vice president for live production, says as broadcasters, content producers and remote production companies drive to deliver the rich, captivating viewing experiences that audiences demand, IP brings the scale and agility needed to create greater volumes of first-class content more efficiently.

“This project with AMV demonstrates how Grass Valley works in partnership with customers to ensure they get the best solution for their business and we’re absolutely delighted that our solutions are helping the company springboard into the next phase of its evolution,” he adds.

Duke says the move is part of a long history of innovation at AMV as it deployed the first all-digital mobile unit back in 1998.

“We designed the first HD unit capable of doing both SD and HD simultaneously,” he says. “We deployed the first 3D truck. And now we are at the forefront for HDR/UHD production.”

For more information on All Mobile Video, please contact Eric Duke at [email protected].