Mexico. TV Azteca presented its new HD5 mobile unit, equipped with state-of-the-art technological equipment, prepared for the realization of 4K content, both internal to the television station and for external productions. The new mobile development has equipment from companies such as Sony, Canon, Evertz, Riedel, Solid State Logic, among many others.
During the presentation, held in Mexico City, Pedro Carmona, Director of Technology of TV Azteca, highlighted: "It is a moment of great joy for TV Azteca. You might think that it is one more mobile unit and that the company has several, but it is much more than that and it is a very great pride from start to finish."
He highlighted the fact that the unit was designed, built and integrated 100% in Mexico: "First, the truck is made by Mexican engineers in Oaxaca. It is an expandable truck, since while traveling it has the normal dimensions of the box of a trailer. When you reach the destination, a button is pressed and the unit expands allowing a very considerable space inside, and an optimal and very correct work site is implemented."
On the equipment it contains, he said: "Although we do not broadcast television in that definition, we do have many capture processes in 4K, which allows us a better quality in our HD content. The irons that process the signals have 4K processes based on IP distribution, that is, it is not wired with copper, but with optical fiber. They are the highest technologies."
Humberto González, Senior Marketing Manager of sony Mexico's Professional Solutions Group, said: "This mobile unit was built in-house; obviously, the engineering part is very important, because it was a joint work between Sony engineering and TV Azteca engineering. Each and every piece of equipment was tested before being mounted on the unit and doing all the integration work that was required. It's a tailor-made suit."
He added: "We have participated in integrations of this type in other Latin American countries, in countries such as Brazil with TV Globo and here in Mexico with Televisa, we have mobile units with them. There is something that is being developed in Argentina and now this development with TV Azteca."
For his part, Julio Fernández, general director of Cinetransformer, the Mexican company in charge of the construction of the mobile unit, said: "TV Azteca asked us to work on a design to make an expandable unit that would give them an ideal space to work and install the equipment; obviously not only is it itself the unit that expands, but there is a lot of design behind it. There is double floor so that the cables go underneath without getting hurt; there are air conditioning ducts, for different video audio cables, electricity."
He noted that this mobile unit "really is a pretty complex engineering job. Obviously there were some stumbles along the way, which we managed to adapt, not correct, but hey, improve, and finally this is the result. It is the first Mexican mobile unit, perhaps, of this category, of this quality, and in combination with the engineers of TV Azteca, I think it is a great unit in the international arena," said Fernández.
Text written by Vladimir Martínez for TVyVideo+Radio.
