Red House Streaming, a subsidiary of CP Communications, has officially rolled out its second mobile production vehicle to support the company’s growing schedule of live-streamed productions. The compact unit is equipped with broadcast-quality video gear and a Dante audio infrastructure, providing a professional streaming control room with a hybrid HD-SDI and IP production workflow to support a wide array of events.
Red House Streaming developed the 16-foot Spark HD to offer an affordable standalone mobile production solution for high school and college sports, corporate events, and concerts and festivals among other live-streamed events of varied budgets. With its onboard SRT encoders and data transmission capabilities, Spark HD can establish a network connection to deliver live streams from locations that lack reliable internet connectivity.
A 24-input Ross Carbonite production switcher and vMix machines for graphics and replay provides plenty of power as a mobile production trailer. On the audio side, Spark HD has a Yamaha TF-5 audio mixer, and its Dante infrastructure supports 64 channels of bi-directional audio through integration with external Dante subnets. Spark HD also comes complete with an RTS OMS intercom system and supports intercom trunking through RTS RVON and TIFF telephone interfaces.
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“One of our first projects involving Spark HD was a live boxing event in Florida that involved supporting five transmission formats and required a large cluster of replay devices,” said Kurt Heitmann, CEO, CP Communications and Red House Streaming. “Spark HD shined as our transmission trailer and as a B Unit for specific production elements, including graphics. It is a compact unit that packs plenty of punch to supplement our largest REMI productions.
“But Spark HD mainly exists to provide our customers with an affordable solution to professionally produce live-streamed events—a core and continually growing part of the Red House Streaming business."
Heitmann noted that Spark HD has been in demand as an onsite production control room, and in some cases his customers have selected Spark HD over a more traditional flypack unit due its affordability. He points to a recent special event at a Tiger Woods PopStroke location, a Florida-based chain of family-friendly golf and outdoor dining destinations.
“Mike Billingsley, owner of video production Action Television, called us and asked for a vMix flight-pack with some PTZ cameras. We offered Spark HD as an alternative, and that gave him a controlled environment for a turnkey production that included extra cameras, a fiber backbone and even a generator,” he said. “That essentially sparked his production, and he got much more value out of his efforts to produce and deliver a more compelling live production for a very affordable price.”
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Red House Streaming’s ability to meet different client budgets is strengthened by the company’s thoughtful infrastructure. For example, corporate AV events that don’t require replay gear can still leverage the hybrid HD-SDI and IP workflow to produce and record events without the extra bells and whistles required for live sports production. “Spark HD can support everything a traditional broadcast workflow requires at a lower cost,” said Heitmann. “We have a traditional broadcast switcher yet can manage the audio workflow, graphics and more through our Dante network and vMix system, which keeps costs lower for the client. In the end, they still achieve the same high-quality result for live productions.”
