“We’ve had a number of customers who asked us about building a new 1080p/HDR unit, and after rallying our team we decided to build a 4K-HDR mobile unit instead," said George Orgera, President/CEO, F&F Productions. “There is a lot of uniqueness about GTX-18, but what matters the most to our clients is that it offers a complete 4K experience throughout, and our clients are happy to have a one-stop mobile unit that can produce 4K-HDR, 1080p-HDR, 1080p, 1080i, 720p.”

The new truck also includes a full complement of Sony HDC-4300 4K camera systems with Fujinon UHD lenses.

The 64-fader Calrec Artemis Beam console now on board GTX-18 uses Calrec's exclusive Bluefin2 FPGA technology, with 13 Calrec Hydra2 I/O devices and eight MADI I/O units providing seamless fiber-based signal transport. One I/O box is deployed in a booth kit that can be set up anywhere on location to deliver audio feeds from announcers. Other I/O units are part of stage boxes for use in live entertainment venues.

The truck recently rolled into Anaheim, California, for its first show, a UHD broadcast of the UFC fight between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier for AT&T Entertainment/DirecTV viewers, on July 30th.

Bill McKechney, vice president, engineering, F&F Productions, said the Artemis' smaller, more accessible footprint makes it perfect for a mobile installation, and production crews are automatically comfortable with the desk.

“Most freelance engineers automatically know Calrec and can just arrive and start setting up the show, and the ones that don't can come up to speed really quickly,” he said.

With the Hydra2 networking box in the booth kit, the audio engineer in the truck can use the Artemis to store all of the settings and mix the sound from the booth, just as if the announcers were sitting in the truck. This gives F&F the flexibility to put the announce booth anywhere in the venue that makes practical sense.

Following the UFC fight in Anaheim, GTX-18 headed cross-country to Charlotte, North Carolina, for CBS/DirecTV's UHD coverage of the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club August 7th-13th. After that, the truck will go to Miami for Telemundo’s live broadcast of the “Premious Tu Mundo” (“Your World Awards”).