In this Product In-Focus, we take a deeper look at the Nationwide Video 12G SDI 4K Fly-Pack.
Nationwide Video, a leading provider of cross-rental equipment to the rental and staging industry, has expanded its inventory with the addition of 12G SDI 4K Fly-Packs—pre-wired mobile video production units. The Nationwide 12G Fly-Pack encompasses two racks—a 12G Switching Rack and a 12G Engineering Rack, along with a flight-cased FOR-A HVS492OU Control Panel, which is required for control of the two racks. Nationwide’s tagline for these 12G Fly-Packs is pretty clever—“A Production Truck In Two Cases.”
As a foundation, Nationwide put their trust in FOR-A products. They have implemented FOR-A’s MFR-4100 routing switchers, HVS-1200 video switchers, and FA-9600 multi-purpose signal processors. There are a number of standout features that end-users will appreciate. With their knowledge of how people work with, and how they use this equipment, the Nationwide team has put in touches that users will value. For example, Video Engineers will appreciate the rear-mounted 12G monitor to quickly verify patches and signal paths, as well as the rack-mounted PC/KVM for configuring system components.
A True 12G Switching Solution
“The Nationwide 12G Fly-Pack, at the end of the day, is a Nationwide solution for true 12G switching,” explains Kevin Ring, National Training Manager with Nationwide Video, who took some time to walk me through this Fly-Pack solution. “We, of course, sell and rent à la carte equipment, where you make your own systems, but we also try our best to provide full-fledged solutions. With 12G, there’s a lot more to it than just switching. Obviously, we know that at the engineering level, the bandwidth is so high that you could get a lot of jitter issues with the signal and the bandwidth. We really want to make sure that our system is spec’ed for broadcast as well as live events.”
The NW team did their due diligence when designing the new 12G Fly-Pack and specifying equipment. Ring explains some of his testing process for choosing the right products to be at the heart of this new solution. “When we looked at all the different options and varieties of equipment, I sat with a 12G scope and looked at the quality of the signal going through different types of systems. We found that FOR-A had the cleanest signal coming through all the systems that we explored. We looked at not only the cleanest signal, but also looked at the easiest to use as well. FOR-A checked all the boxes. By using FOR-A as the ecosystem behind our Fly-Packs, we found that their ability to manage, convert, transmit, and output 12G was rock-solid. When people are jumping from HD to 4K, there are a lot of variables. They of course need to have 4K projectors, 4K cabling, and now, of course, 4K switching. We want to make sure that regardless of the solution they choose for the other elements, that the signal they’re able to generate is going to be the cleanest signal to give them the highest likelihood of success. So, by going with the FOR-A systems, we found that to be the key.”
12G-SDI Single Cable Solution
Nationwide selected the FOR-A live production package primarily based on the company’s extensive real-world experience transitioning customers from HD to 12G-SDI 4K video. “12G-SDI single cable solution has become the standard for live concerts, sports, and corporate events,” states Satoshi Kanemura, President of FOR-A Corporation of America. “The rapid transformation to 4K for live events is being made possible by the availability of advanced 12G-SDI products designed with the flexibility to handle 3G-SDI and HD signals as well, upscaling them to provide a seamless experience for the audience. That’s why we’ve continued to expand our line of solutions to provide an easy upgrade path for live-event producers looking to further their use of 12G in the future.”
The 12G transmission standard allows users to transmit a 4K signal through a single cable, for easier transport, simplified setup and operation, intuitive workflows, and fewer points of failure in the signal chain. The flexibility of FOR-A’s routing switcher, video switcher and multi-purpose signal processor work well together to create a smooth, easy migration path to, and selection between, 3G and 12G.
Ring, and Nationwide, feel that their 12G Fly-Pack stands out from other fly-packs in the industry. “There are quite a few things that make our product stand out, what really stands out is that we’ve really thought about the live event rental industry specifically,” says Ring. “When I used to work for production companies, I would patch my racks completely differently than I would as a dry hire rental house. The key is we want people to not have to change and alter their workflow—and their comfort level—when they use our system. By having direct I/O patching, they can patch it any way that they like. More importantly though, every single unit in this system is full 12G. There’s no down conversion. There’s no 3G interfacing. A lot of 4K racks are still using 3G scopes. It took us some time, but we truly have an absolute 4K system across the entire board.”
Powerful Core Equipment
The versatile FOR-A MFR-4100 routing switcher lets Nationwide clients choose support for 12G/6G/3G/HD/SD-SDI, or DVB-ASI signals via a matrix of eight video I/O cards with nine channels per card, while auto-signal detection removes concern about incoming signal formats. Features like SDI input signal error detection, jitter cleaning, front panel control, SNMP support, and redundancy assures a stable system, while matrix partition capability, GUI-based configuration, versatile crosspoint control, and available interface expansion units improve usability. Designed for integration with FOR-A’s video switchers, multi-viewers, and signal processors, this 7RU-sized routing switcher also offers connectivity with other products through Ethernet or serial ports via common control protocols.
The FOR-A HVS-1200 video switcher delivers 12G-SDI support as standard with 10 inputs/10 outputs, 1 M/E; 2 DVEs in 4K UHD with four DVEs optional; or 40 inputs/10 outputs, 2 M/E, and 16 DVEs in HD mode. To expand these capabilities, FOR-A’s MELite™ technology adds 1 additional M/E in 4K UHD or four in HD mode for AUX transitions. Special FLEXaKEY™ keyers operating separately from standard keyers may be freely assigned to M/E or AUX busses. This flexible design smoothly handles a variety of signal formats for hybrid production in live events, making it convenient to switch between HD and UHD, or to migrate from HD to a 4K UHD environment. It has a built-in web server enabling monitoring and control from a PC or mobile device. This is packaged in a compact 3RU form factor that makes it ideal for a mobile Fly-Pack.
The FOR-A FA-9600 multi-purpose signal processor includes numerous processing functions, but also adjustable color correction on the front panel—critical for accurately color-matching LED walls and other displays. The FA-9600 is designed for live HDR broadcast production, with two 3G/HD/SD-SDI inputs including a frame synchronizer, HDR and Wide Color Gamut support, and conversion of multiple formats, including 12G/4K UHD/1080p/HD/SD. Its 12G-SDI terminals provide support for 4K production (with optional software), while an optional expansion card offers four additional channels of 3G-SDI I/O or six channels of 12G-SDI distributed output. Built-in LUTs—as well as support of 3D LUTs for SDR-HDR, HDR-HDR, and HDR-SDR conversions in mixed SDR and HDR production environments is also included.
On Board Convenience
Everything is networked together in the Nationwide 12G Fly-Pack, and they’ve included a KVM computer inside of it. “From one central standpoint, you’re able to use software to configure the entire system,” says Ring. “Going through computer software allows you to set everything up in one central location. Another thing that we’ve done as a convenience, just based off experience in the field, is we’ve included a 4K monitor on the back of the rack where all the patch panels are. You can test your signal without having to walk around to the other side of the rack to check the results. It’s just little things like that, the conveniences that we planned in, that we’ve found by doing multiple racks over the years of being in the field. We thought of every convenience that you would want.”
“We are excited to partner with Nationwide Video to bring 12G-SDI workflows to the live event marketplace,” says Kanemura. “As 4K production becomes the norm for concerts and corporate events, 12G offers an easy and familiar upgrade path for existing baseband infrastructures, with ergonomics and workflows that make our products reliable and easy to use. We look forward to a partnership with Nationwide that enhances and supports both our businesses and our customers.”
For further information please visit: https://nationwidevideo.com/gear/12g-sdi-fly-pack/
