Outside Broadcasting (OB) is the electronic field production (EFP) of TV or radio programme: usually covering news, sports and other events, from a mobile remote broadcast television studio or van. The camera and microphone signals are fed to the van/truck equipped with a production control room (OB van), to process it and further transmit it. In today’s time, many events happen outside the confines of a studio and thus, cannot be shot inside a studio. This is where OB is summoned. Sports events, live functions, indoor concerts and performances, are typically covered using OB facilities. This type of production forms the basis of the majority of locally-produced airtime.
“Outside Broadcast trucks are mobile broadcast units and are able to broadcast from most any remote location. They are used in many live and prerecorded events, both: indoor and outdoor. Typical use would be at remote locations away from broadcast stations – such as arenas or sports stadiums,” said Dipesh Makwana, regional sales manager, Riedel Communications Middle East.
An OB van is essentially a mobile studio. Cameras, vision control, sound mixing, vision mixing and everything else needed to produce a television production – are housed within one vehicle. broadcast quality with the van being used in numerous broadcast programmes.
Some broadcast manufacturers have tried to introduce proprietary standards as a solution for handling 4K/UHD. Thankfully, groups like AIMS and SMPTE, as well as many broadcast vendors, have agreed to adopt the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards. This has given users the freedom to choose the products suitable to their subjective requirement, without having to having to subscribe to proprietary solutions.
The concept of OB can be traced back to late 1920’s. The first large-scale outside broadcast was the televising of the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth, in May 1937, done by the BBC’s first Outside Broadcast truck, MCR 1. After the Second World War, the first notable outside broadcast was of the 1948 Summer Olympics. The Coronation of Elizabeth II followed in 1953, with 21 cameras being used to cover the event.
