TV Trucks & Random Thoughts

The SURVEY SAYS.. 949 TV Production Trucks, Uplink Trucks, and Mobile Audio Recording Units

2011-03-13T08:08:00.034-04:00

After a long design and migration process from a C+/SQL database to an amazing custom MS CRM/SQL system, and after 2 months vetting most of the USA/CAN inventory, we’ve finally published our North America mobile facilities counts. There have been a lot of changes since March 2010, 16 new 3D/HD trucks, 35 SD units retired or sold out of country, etc. There are several very nice new midsized HD trucks added, excellent for those 6+ camera, 8 Ki Pro, ProTools Multi-track Audio recording type concert projects (these are non-sports trucks) as well as, apparently, 3 more 3D trucks, though that information is dubious in my opinion for now. SD, HD, 3D… reminds me of the Best Buy “4D” commercial with the little girl running in circles saying: “you bought the wrong TV silly”.. Dont book the wrong truck silly, if you want the right solutions for your projects give us a call.

WHAT ABOUT SATELLITE UPLINK TRUCKS??
And for the first time we are including Transportable Earth station (TES) aka Satellite Uplink counts, where there have been some major fleet sales, and retirements. We also conducted a survey with TES companies on their current or planned 3D TX capabilities and will continue to update 3D Transmission vendors ongoing. We also saw quite a few new KU/C Combo trucks come on line, which is good because the C Band only fleets were diminishing rapidly, as many old C trucks have been retired (8 former Crawford units retired by Encompass Media). So we continue to do the work to identify all possible providers and their capabilities to service our live event clients. 3D, HD, SD, KU, C Band Microwave.. Anywhere in North America?? No problem!

To view Graphic Image from other websites click here:Click Here:

Updates?? Updates??? Who has time!!

2011-01-22T05:51:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss in posting news/info on this blog, but have been linking occassional TWEETS over on the left side there.. I am going to update this site very soon, as now that our massive CRM project is completed, and shall post the most accurate count of all mobile/remote TV Production Trucks in the world man, the world!!

Eagles NFL @ Kansas City

2010-08-26T18:12:00.001-04:00

PMTV is providing turnkey HD Production services for the Eagles Television Network for Friday nights Eagles vs Kansas City Chiefs broadcast. PMTV provides HD TV Truck, C Band transmission services, 38 freelance TV crew, Sideline Cart, Telestrator, Score Bug, Dekko CG systems, Virtual Down and Distance system, and full pre production, venue survey, network coordination services. PMTV's Sr. VP Rob Schmoll and Production Manager Winfield Clark are on site for the production. For more info on PMTV & ETN click on http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/sports/philadelphia-eagles

Gone to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I come..

2010-08-26T18:05:00.001-04:00

Gone to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I come.. Speaking of KC!! PMTV is providing HD transmission services for Bellator MMA from Kansas City Live, airing Live tongith on Fox Sports Net, and a highlights show airs Saturdays on NBC.. for more info click on http://bit.ly/duWmKi

NFL Football Exhibitions underway

2010-08-20T10:09:00.002-04:00

NFL preseason underway... PMTV has provided TV Trucks, Crews, Transmission and above the line production services for 331 NFL preseason games since 2002. Week one we covered Eagles vs Jaguars (Home and Visitor Broadcasts) Titans vs Seahawks, with a dozen more games upcoming.. Check out this video clip featuring Directors HotMic in the mix, clip is at bottom of page:
http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/sports/philadelphia-eagles

7/17 Star Boxing PPV @ Tropican AC NJ

2010-07-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

PMTV doing Star Boxing PPV Saturday @ Tropicana AC NJ, Tua vs Barrett.
PMTV is providing TV Truck, Crews, Satellite Transmission, etc.
For event info go to: http://bit.ly/9uXa01

Antiques Roadshow #100 in the can man

2010-07-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

WGBH produced Antiques Roadshow #100 this past weekend in Miami. PMTV has been the mobile facilities provider for every shows since inception, dating to 1997. Congratulations to all our colleagues at WGBH! We baked a cake too!

3 New Video Clips, PMTV production services events

2010-05-12T16:11:00.001-04:00

Posted new video, Eagles vs Patriots with Directors Hot Mic in audio stream, check it out:
http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/sports/philadelphia-eagles

Posted video clip from the USAF Veterans Musical Tribute w/ Irish tenor Ronan Tynan and blues dynamo Shemekia Copeland, PMTV provided 12 Camera/VTR HD TV Truck and support services:
http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/entertainment/usaf-concert

Posted video clip from Tennis Channel special "Ivan Lendl Return of a Champion" PMTV provided HD production services, TV Truck and Crews, Camera Rigs, etc.: http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/sports/caesars-tennis-classic

146 HD Trucks in North America and counting

2010-04-29T12:18:00.000-04:00

As I wrote in my tweet earlier today, I was reading the very good information in the SVG "Whats What in Mobile Production" survey, which admittedly is focused on the larger fleet operators, and that the PMTV TV Truck database currently has 146 multicamera HD Mobile units on file. Then again we track TV TRUCKS voraciously as it's our inventory knowledge per se, and our database includes all viable units that can provide our clients with a best solution. Not all HD shows need $10mil solutions (build price not rental price hahah) so even a 30' "Industrial" HD level gear truck has a value to certain projects.
p.s. our "SD/Analog" truck count is a staggering 338 mobile units of every size/shape/vintage/power for a total HD+SD+Analog "fleet" of 483 TV Trucks in North America..

PMTV @ NAB

2010-04-11T06:18:00.001-04:00

PMTV's Rob Schmoll, Kevin Tully and Stan Leshner will be in Las Vegas for NAB 2010, email Rob if you would like to schedule a meeting, rschmoll@pmtv.com

PMTV @ Super Six Boxing for ARD & World Feed

2010-03-30T13:01:00.001-04:00

PMTV weighed in at the Super Six World Boxing Classic featuring Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham in the main event. PMTV provided Broadcast Production services for ARD Network Germany and World Feed Transmission services for Sauerland Event the worldwide distributor for the event. For ARD Network PMTV provided an HD Television truck, TV Crews, HD Satellite Uplink trucks, Satellite Transponders, Teleport relays, fiber transmission services, venue site survey, technical management and production coordination services. PMTV has provided production services to ARD Network on numerous World Cup and Olympic events over the past 20 years. For more info and some great photos go to: http://www.pmtv.com/portfolio/sports/international-boxing-production

3D Television Production Trucks growing

2010-03-21T07:50:00.000-04:00

GAME CREEK GOING 3D.... I read an article that MSG will soon be broadcasting NHL games in 3D with 3Ality Digital and Game Creek Video providing the 3D Technology and Television Production Truck respectivley for the productions. So that makes THREE 3D trucks in the 3D strean per se, Game Creek/3Ality, NEP/PACE and AMV/? More to follow..

Out of the TV TRUCK Museum, now back at work!

2010-03-16T09:14:00.004-04:00

So in addition to our ACTIVE working TV Truck database.. We also keep track of all trucks that are for sale or have been retired and gutted etc. One reason for this is that some of these trucks eventually get sold, and we revive them, link to new owner company record, update the specs, evaluate the truck and give it a Class ranking. Well lo and behold found out this week that 3 trucks we had as "retired" status have actually been given a new lease on life, excuse the pun. Former MVP Canada units Delta 1x, 2x and 5 are currently being leased y our colleagues at CBC. We have used the Delta trucks many times in the past (thru Gentlemen Bill Graham at MVP) and hope to booking them for appropriate events now that they have been have revived. As full capability SD trucks are dwindling down it's good to know of 3 additional resources that our SD clients can have access to.. and that bumps our current USA/CAN working TV truck count to 493... -bp

PMTV 3D TV Launch with Black Eyed Peas in Concert

2010-03-12T17:40:00.008-05:00

Check out link to photos from one of our recent events. PMTV provided HD TV Truck, microwave and fiber transmission services and crews for the debut of new 3D LED TVs by a major manufacturer, and the Black Eyed Peas performed.

3D Cameras look like...

2010-03-12T14:35:00.004-05:00

Click on image to view large size in browser

PMTV Pass Database Screen Shot

2010-03-11T06:47:00.004-05:00

This is a screen shot of our current PASS database GUI, this screen is from Mobile Units tables, Game Creek FX HD Audio tab (Unit 149 of 667) We are migrating to MS CRM/Sharepoint soon which will greatly enhance this element of our service, ability to pin point best choice for projects, availability, etc. **Click on image to view complete image in browser window.

PMTV photos from various events

2010-03-10T10:33:00.001-05:00

I added a link above to our picasa photo webpage.. Photos from various PMTV productions. http://picasaweb.google.com/PMTVUSA/

TV Trucks North America update

2010-03-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

Ok so I amend my TV Truck count... we also have some of the "Support" trucks in our database, but those don't count as they're not involved in actual production, used for extra space on site, storage, transporting over weight gear, etc. So our TV TRUCK count for North America is 480 units from all categories..

TV Truck rankings are subjective but based on specific criteria, vintage of gear, numerical counts of standard inventory carried on truck, # Cameras, # VTR/EVS, make/model of Switcher/Routers, Audio Console, Comms systems, Size/Dims, etc. Examples of HD-A1 units would be NFL "A" game trucks like Game Creek FX HD or NEP Supershooter 18, etc. more later...

TV Trucks and Random Thoughts

2010-03-09T08:57:00.001-05:00

NEW BLOGGER.. lets see... today's count for North American TV production trucks, the survey says.... 490 TV trucks (i.e. vehicles with tires, a switcher and 2 or more cameras, VTRS, CG, Audio, etc. These counts do not include Production/Uplink units although some are fully capable of a 5-6 camera,EVS,HyperX booking..

From PMTV's PASS database, Mobile Units, as of March 9, 2010

TV TRUCK TOTALS NORTH AMERICA BY RANKING/CLASSIFICATION
2 3D Mobile Units... how many by 2012?? and WHO'S PAYING FOR IT??

137 HD Units, all sizes/configurations
= 89 HD-A1 full specs trucks network show capable
= 16 HD-A2 ranked units, less overall numeric gear counts
= 19 HD-A3 ranked units, less is less, small 4-5 camera shoots
= 16 HD-B ranked units, 2-3 cameras, not sports capable
All of these trucks work in the HD world depending on event spec, budget, locations, etc.

SD WORLD
14 SD-A1 ranked trucks, still viable for many shows, but low numbers indicate a die off.. 5 years ago there were 120 SD-A1 units on the road
55 SD-A2 level trucks, less than Kalypso switchers, older EVS and cameras
76 SD-A3 less gear, older gear, etc.
107 SD-B1/2/3 ranked trucks, basically based on less numeric gear counts
85 C ranked trucks, some still viable for 2-3 camera shoot, etc.

Still waiting for the SNG industry to ramp up to HD Production capable units, currently only 10 HD production capable units (i.e. HD Switcher 5+ cameras, EVS, HD CG, etc.. will blog our SNG counts at a later time..

Thoughts about the Vancouver Olympics. Watched approx 50 hours, overall great coverage, kudos to Host Broadcaster and NBC..
one other thought... Did CNBC change their name during the games to "CURLING.. NOTHING BUT CURLING" ??? :

For more information about the us go to PMTV's website at: http://www.pmtv.com/