German studio MMC relies on Ross Video to equip its new UHD mobile unit

MMC Studios has boosted the capacity of its Cologne (Germany) facility with the addition of a new UHD mobile unit loaded with Vidéo de Ross solutions.

Fabian Leimbach, senior innovation and technology manager at MMC, contacted Ross Video supplier MCI to see how they could integrate their new 4K UHD HDR mobile unit. After looking at several possibilities, they decided on a vehicle built around Ultrix Acuité.

This platform, which supports UHD 12G workflow, combines the Acuité production switcher with the Ultrix AV routing and processing platform. This, Leimbach notes, “gives us the ability to adopt an IP-based workflow in future if we choose. I like that flexibility because IP isn’t always going to be the right choice for us.”

Advantages of Ultrix Acuity

Leimbach stresses that the integration of elements of Ross Video’s Ultrix Acuity is key to achieving his goals: “I can’t think of any other solution that offers such a rich toolset of features in such a compact package – it’s most impressive to have multiviewers, audio embedding/de-embedding, clean/quiet switching and framesyncs all in one place.”

The mobile unit system is accompanied by a secondary Carbonite Ultra switcher, Ultritouch control panels and the Ultricore connectivity control system.

Let’s Dance, first project

MMC Studios‘ new mobile unit equipped with Ross solutions will debut with the UHD production of Let’s Dance for RTL.

Hacik Kölcü, CEO and CTO of MMC Group, believes that “the move from HD to UHD was only possible with our partners from RTL as well as the production company Seapoint.” “Everyone was watching our approach. Even the BBC was aware of the stakes given their top-rated licencing format ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. In producing ‘Let’s Dance’ in UHD for the first time, our technical approach was so carefully planned and executed that we were not only able to make the move HD to UHD, but on top of that move from UHD SDR to UHD HDR in the final show of this year’s season. So, two full technology steps within one season of a show – that is also a really unique technical development for us, and perfect proof of a great production setup,” concludes.