Isolation Day 37: I want a broadcast Truck – Part 1
My Fake Credit Card is Getting Hit… Again!
For the last year or so I’ve been watching Doug Johnson build his broadcast truck from scratch. Not only is it a really cool project but it is something I would like to do myself in the not so distant future. A lot of the ideas I have for this build come from Doug’s trailer so most of the credit goes to him as I’ve just tweeted thing here and there so they work for me.
So, today I thought that I’d actually plan out how I would go about it and get some of the pricing together. I know it’s not going to be cheap to do but I thought it would be a good exercise to keep me occupied and also save me a bit of planning in the future.
The Truck
My ideas for the truck have changed a few times. I originally thought that I’d just go with a long wheel based, High Top Transit van and build in that. Thinking about it though that would limit that vehicle to just doing broadcast stuff as there wouldn’t really be any extra storage for things I’d transport from one place to another.
My next Idea was to get a caravan and rip all the guts out of it and keep a few essentials like the toilet and possibly even a bed. Whilst this would give me those few extra bits it would add a ton of extra work to re wire and plumb the caravan to suit my needs.
I finally found an option I think could work though when I came across the Ifor Williams Trailers Website. They offer a range of trailers called Business Inabox. I think this would be ideal as it would give me a blank canvas will all the space I would need and are customisable.
They offer two model the M and the L. Both models are 2.18m wide (internally) with the M having an internal length of 4.45m and the L having an internal length of 5.22M. That extra 0.77m might not seem like enough but that is almost 2 thirds of the depth of a server rack unit and with limited space already that will make all the difference.
Unfortunately Ifor Williams don’t quote a price on their website for these trailers as they are all made custom for each customer. But their Eventa range, that is a similar size and shape, come to £20,120 for their largest trailer without an extras. So I’ll be using that to give me a rough guide.
The Layout
So now I have a trailer to base this project around I can start working on the layout. I want each member off the crew to have their own area. So the layout will be split into seven work areas with a Server rack at the back with some addition storage next to it for cables, cameras, tripod and other gear.
At the front there will be the a walled off power distribution area, where I plan to have a couple of Tesla Power Walls (or something similar). This will all be accessible via hatches in the wall should there be any problems. The trailer will have 3 230V hook ups: One for the HVAC system, One 32 Amp Connection to charge the batteries and one 32 Amp connection that will provide hard power if it available.
Due to the power draw of the HVAC system it would have to be on it’s own circuit regardless. As Well as the power walls I’ll be adding a UPS or two to the Server rack so if the power is cut during an event the main switching gear is still powered whilst computers, screen and networking is rebooting. At least this way there will still be some video output if there is a power failure even if there is no audio (not to much of a problem if the audio is being handled in the venue).
The AV Setup
The front area will be were the director and assistant director will be, as well as a spare seat in the door should it be needed. The Video wall will have 5 Monitors: 2 43″ UHD TVs above 3 28″ UHD Monitors. whilst all of the monitors in the truck will be patchable the default for the video wall will be Preview on the top left, Program on the top right and multi views on the bottom 3 monitors. Each of the bottom 3 monitors will also have a 4k KMV unit utilising the 2nd HDMI port so it can connect to one of the rack mounted Mac minis. Also as the trailer will be run entirely with Fibre for video. As none of the monitors support fibre in each will have a 4K fibre to HDMI adaptor.
Each station will also have a rack mount style dock. this is so they can send extra sources to the Switcher or sound booth, connect an extra device to the network etc. Each dock will have 3 x SDI, 2 x CAT6 Network Ports, 2 x Male XLR, & 2 x Female XLR and 1 x Optical Connection (LC).
I have two main reasons for including the Optical Connection: Firstly If a device has a fibre connection they can use this to connect to the network. Secondly the fibre can also be used to carry video send and return to the switcher with the use of convertors.
Each station will also have 4 13 amp power points to power any devices needs at each station. For example, the monitors, A Laptop, Sound Desk, Remote control Units, etc.
There will also be a VoIP network setup to run through the trailer and out into the venue as a backup should the comms network go down. It will also allow other to connect to the truck if need be, such as a camera person sending a video feed via the internet from a different location.
The Sound Booth
I decided that all audio would be run over a fibre connection where possible. The easiest way to do that would be to use the Dante protocol. Whilst I could use the SDI Lines and Blackmagic’s Audio to SDI adapters it would give me a whole jumble of cables I don’t need. Using Dante also make the multicore to the venue a lot simple as it can be converted to run over fibre too with the use of a VLAN.
At the heart of the Setup will be a Yamaha LS9-32 with the added MY16-AUD2 Dante Card that enables 32 inputs and 16 outputs using a network cable and stage box. The XLR connections on the desk itself will feed to locations throughout the trailer whilst the stage box will handle everything in the venue. The XLRs running through the trailer should be the only cables that aren’t fibre excluding the 12v & 230v power.
The booth will also have a 28″ monitor that can show anything from the switcher so the sound engineer can see what is happening on stage. This also allows the possibility that the cameras can be switched from the sound booth if running with a minimal crew.
PTZ
I’ll be including 4 PTZ cameras in the kit list for this trailer so an operation point will be needed for this too. I chose to add PTZ cameras to so that if an event, a conference for example, doesn’t need much in the way of cameras I operator can control the cameras rather than having 4 camera operators who won’t be doing much during the event to save on operating costs.
I went with the Lumens VC-A61PB 4K PTZ Camera and the VS-KB30 Camera Controller. This does mean I’ll need to setup another VLAN to send the control down, with the help of some R232 to Ethernet converters, but again means that a single Fibre snake can be sent into the venue. Each camera will also need a Fibre to HDMI converter too to send the 4K Image to the switcher.
The Server Rack
Now come the fun bit. The Server Rack is the heart of this build as everything needed to actually make an event happen will be housed here. I’ll be using both the front and back of the panel when it comes to rigging this all together, as a lot of the Blackmagic stuff isn’t that deep.
Spread through the rack there will be 4 VM-100 Volt Meter Power Distro Units from the t.racks to provide power through the rack and also give some light too.
Next up is the switcher. Of course this is going to be from Blackmagic Design. The difficult part was choosing which one. Whilst I’d love the Constellation 8K it’s just a bit to expensive for this build adding an extra £10,000 to the price. So the decision is now between the 2 M/E and the 4 M/E. Both are great units and have largely the same features.
I ended up going with the 4 M/E as those 2 extra M/Es give me a lot more freedom to be creative during an event, with the extra DVEs and Chroma Keys.
Now I’ve got my switch I’m going to need something to convert standards and for this I’ve chosen three of the Blackmagic Teranex AV Converter. Whilst I’d like it if there was a mini version of this device, so I could have 3 side by side, it is still a great bit of kit that will enable me to add sources that have different resolutions to my switcher.
Next I’ve gone with two of Blackmagic’s Talkback Converter 4Ks as this will give me 16 fibre send and receives to cameras and other gear. I’ll be pairing these with 16 SDI to Fibre Converters to accomplish this.
To organise all of these inputs and outputs I’ll be needing a patch panel. I’ll be using the BMD Smart Videohub 40X40. Not only will this help me keep my cables at the back of my rack, with no need to unplug and replug cables during every event, but I can also change the patch over the network even if I’m not at the videohub itself.
Adding Live graphics is next up on the list and for that I’ve chosen the BMD UltraStudio 4K Mini. well three of them to be exact. These little gizmos will connect to any of the Mac minis running mimolive (other CG software is available) and output a fill and key for the graphics created. I’ll be putting each into separate machines as, as far as I know, MimoLive only allows one UltraStudio per installation. It also means that I can animate not just lower thirds but have dedicated UltraStudios for any other graphics such as Bug and full screen graphics.
I’m going to need to record some events so next up is the BMD HyperDeck Studio 12G and eighteen 1TB SSDs. Why eighteen ? I’ll be adding four multidocks to the install, each of these multidocks has four drive bays that can either send all four SSDs to one computer or two SSDs to two computers. I’ll be using them in the two computer mode to give the Mac minis some extra storage and make on the fly editing that bit easier.
Well I think that’s it for the Blackmagic gear but now it’s onto Ubiquiti for the networking side of things. though there should be a hell of a lot less.
For the main hub of the network I’ll be using the Unifi Dream Machine Pro. This is an amazing bit of networking kit as it fir the gateway, firewall, controller and an 8 port switch too. I’ll be pairing it with a UniFi Switch 16 XG for the SFP+ Switch (to run through the Trailer) and a USW 24 POE Gen2 to provide Power Over Ethernet to anything in the rack and throughout the trailer.
I’ll also be adding a pack of 5 UniFi AC Mesh Access Points to this list too. One will go in the trailer, two for outside the trailer (one at either end) and two for the in venue racks (more on those in a bit.) The great thing about these is that if the network connection between the switch and the access point drop for some reason, they will automatically connect to each other, if they still have power, and keep the wifi going.
And finally I’ll need somewhere to store the Mac minis I mentioned earlier. for that I have gone with the Sonnet RackMac Mini 1U Rack Kit. Each kit hold 2 of the Mac mini and provides a power button and USB 3.1 port on the front.
I’ll also be adding an MTP Fibre patch Panel on the back too so I can run everything into the venue over fibre without the bottleneck of trying to run it all on one strand of fibre.
And with that the front of my rack is full though I still have 16 Us available on the back that I’m sure I’d fill up if given the chance.
Venue Racks
I’ll be making 2 venue racks. The first will will be connected to the trailer via two 500M MTP Trunk Cables. Each trunk carries 24 Single Mode Fibres allowing for twelve Camera or twelve network connections. It will also have another UniFi Switch 24 PoE Gen2 to provide connections to the Mesh Access Points, PTZ Cameras and Dante Stagebox.
The Other Venue rack will hold the Dante Stage box (connected to the first venue rack via a CAT6 Cable) and six 8 Chanel Microphone Splitters. The splitter will split the inputs (e.g. microphones, DI Boxes etc.) so that the venue can have a signal they can mix for the in house system and the trailer can have a separate signal to mix for the broadcast. I’ve also included two splinters for the outputs from the trailer so the house can have a mix of any outputs we create should they want them.
Cameras
For me the cameras are a no brainer really. I’ll be going with the BMD URSA Broadcast & Fuji LA16 Lens kit sold on CVP. I’ll pair these with a few accessories including the shoulder mount kit, viewfinders, V mount batteries, tripods and cables. The great thing with these cameras is that they can be used for recording too giving them a duel purpose.
The Cost
So this is the bit where my imaginary credit card screen in agony as I tot it all up and see what we come to. I know I’ve missed a few things like the close to 100 short SDI cables, the reels of CAT6 cable, the power sockets, Power Cable, the HVAC system and a few other things too. But for a starting point I don’t think Ive done to bad for half a days research. So without further ado here is the price list.
That’s a lot of twos. I kind of wish that I was 42p cheaper to make it all twos. As I say there are a few thing missing and I plan to add them in a second part to this post in a few days.
What do you think of my Trailer? Is it the right Layout? Do I have the Right Gear? What am I missing? Let me know in the comments bellow.
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