In Broadcast - July 2016 - 40


40

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 6 - Issue 7 | July 2016

InStudio

TNDV Rolls Out New
Exclamation Truck

More than 13 years into business, mobile production specialist TNDV
has turned the ignition on Exclamation, its largest truck to date...

E

xclamation, which hit the road in
late May, becomes TNDV's eighth
mobile production truck, and its first
53-foot, double-expando Class A truck
to offer native 1080p broadcast and
production capability across its entire
infrastructure and workflow.
For clients requiring 4K-production
for their events, Exclamation's design
also offers 4K quad-link capabilities,
with a Grass Valley Kayenne 4K-ready
switcher, AJA KiPro recorders, and
audio production and recording gear
built around a Studer Vista X mixing
console from HARMAN Professional
Solutions.
Road To Launch
The road to Exclamation's launch
began in mid-2015 when TNDV Owner
and President Nic Dugger identified
a need for a new flagship video and
audio truck that aligned with the needs
of the largest broadcast networks and
live events. Exclamation has already
provided support for one of the largest
annual corporate events held by a
well-known Arkansas retailer. And by
the end of June, it will have serviced a
Baptist convention in St Louis, a twoweek live music event at the Music
City Center in Nashville, and a special
broadcast event at the Dolby Theater
in Los Angeles.
"We have had 13 very powerful and
successful years as the elite 'small
truck' company," said Dugger, whose
team handled Exclamation's entire
systems design and integration
process in the company's Nashville
warehouse. "But until now, we've had
to turn away projects that exceeded

the capacity offered by our existing
fleet. Exclamation is the answer to our
customer base that says, 'We love your
customer service and selection of gear,
but we wish you had a bigger truck.'
"We can now accommodate seating
for 15 crew members in production
control alone, and 30 throughout the
truck," Dugger added. "Exclamation
reinforces our commitment to
delivering what our clients need."
Flagship Truck
Exclamation is more than double the
size of Aspiration, a 40-foot expanding
side truck that has served as TNDV's
flagship mobile facility since its 2010
launch. While Aspiration and TNDV's
other video-centric trucks are all
1080i/720p HD-capable, Exclamation
is the first to offer full 1080p broadcast
and production support with 24 fps
(frames per second) capability. It is
also the first TNDV truck to integrate
a Grass Valley video production
switcher, which Dugger and his team
identified as critical to servicing clients
with higher end production needs. The
Grass Valley Kayenne video production
centre will provide up to 192 inputs
and 96 outputs of native 1080p
support, with the ability to support 4K
productions upon request.
On the acquisition side, Dugger again
elected to purchase Hitachi cameras,
this time choosing the company's
SK-HD1300 camera systems for use
on all live and recorded HD shoots.
Exclamation's
infrastructure
can
support up to 20 cameras, and clients
electing to use 4K cameras can plug
into Exclamation's 4K backbone with

Extensive monitoring wall in production control

their camera of choice.
"We
have
been
thrilled
with
our
nearly 25-year long
relationship
with
Hitachi," said Dugger.
"They were with me as
a middle school student
learning television in
West Tennessee, and
they were with me when we built our
digital SD trucks in 2003. And five
years later, they supported our first HD
trucks.
"Now that we've gone 1080p, they
have provided what I believe to be
their best camera system yet," Dugger
added. "Everything starts with picture
quality on a video truck, and we
evaluated many cameras from all of
the usual suspects. We determined
that the SK-HD1300 SMPTE fibre
studio camera system was hands
down the best looking, most rugged
and easiest to operate 1080p camera.
With their updated base-stations,
and outstanding black levels, chroma
saturation and detail control, the
whole camera chain comes together to
produce stunning images."
End-To-End Workflow
Exclamation integrates a mix of
new and existing TNDV vendors in its
end-to-end workflow. New vendors
include Cobalt Digital (seven frames
of digital conversion and distribution
gear), TSL Audio (analogue/digital/
MADI audio monitoring and tally light
control),
and
Flanders-Scientific
and Boland Communications (multiformat video monitoring). TNDV also
elected to stick with long-time
vendors AJA (Ki-Pro recorders),
RTS (ADAM intercom matrix)
and Imagine Communications,
which will support a 512x512
video routing infrastructure with
extensive, integrated multiviewer
capabilities.
Dugger points to Exclamation's
routing
and
monitoring
infrastructure as especially critical
to managing the overall video

Studer Vista X console in Exclamation

and audio workflow. In addition to the
Imagine Communications Platinum
video router, Exclamation includes
a separate PESA audio router that
supports 128x128 analogue I/O and
128x128 digital I/O, and up to four
MADI streams. The separate audio
router was integrated into the original
design to specifically support the
Studer Vista X, which can control 800
or more DSP channels and over 5,000
inputs and outputs.
Given its enormous signal routing
and switching capability, Exclamation
provides TNDV's most diverse array
of monitoring systems to date. The
Platinum router integrates four
Imagine Communications HView
modules and 12 additional QuadSplit
cards, for a total of 24 multiviewer
outputs.
"Most 1080p workflows involve
progressive
cameras,
switching
and recording, but the monitoring
is often lacking," said Dugger. "We
decided early on that everything
on Exclamation must be native
1080p-grade, including monitors. The
monitor wall in the production space
is enormous, and it wows our clients
when they first board the truck. Hence,
the name Exclamation."
The Exclamation double-expando
trailercontrol
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.tndv.com/hardware/production-trucks/exclamation/ http://www.tndv.com/hardware/production-trucks/exclamation/ http://www.tndv.com/hardware/production-trucks/exclamation/
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - July 2016
