RaceTech Slates Three HD Trucks for Completion by March

UK horseracing-television-facilities company RaceTech is installing digital matrix intercom systems into the three new HD trucks it currently has under construction. The vehicles are due to come into service during the first quarter, with the intention that they will work on Channel 4’s coverage of the Cheltenham Festival in March, making it the first major horseracing event to be screened in HD by the broadcaster.

The trucks will replace three existing scanners in RaceTech’s fleet of six. Each of the HD units will feature a Trilogy Commander digital matrix intercom, which can be used to build communications matrixes of up to 576×576.

A feature of the system is the Pathfinder configuration software, which was a selling point for RaceTech Senior Engineer Chris Clark: “The guys at Trilogy gave us the opportunity to try out the software, and we were immediately impressed with the breadth of facilities available as well as its intuitive design.”

The trucks were commissioned by independent sports channel Racing UK and are being designed and built by systems integrator Megahertz Broadcast Systems. Each is 12 metres long on a rigid-body MAN 26T chassis and will have two expanding sections: an 800-mm area to the main production suite and a 1,000-mm platform as an outside walkway along the whole length of the vehicles to give access to all three entrances to the suites.

The trucks will contain VT and Vision Control departments, with additional production areas for RaceTech and Racing UK operations. A 96×96 HD/SD Evertz router will be at the centre of each unit, with capacity for up to 10 triax and three wireless cameras, 12 XDCAM decks, and a video server.

Other equipment will include a Grass Valley Kayak HD vision mixer, Chyron HyperX3 real-time 2D/3D character generator and graphics system, and a Yamaha DM1000 audio console.

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