Outside Broadcast NV, one of Europe's most advanced mobile production facilities, has ordered five Leader LV5330 ultra-compact multi-SDI test instruments for incorporation into five of its HD/SD vehicles. The order was confirmed on the first day of IBC2008 following a pre-show engineering demonstration by Diginet, Belgian partner of elQuip BV.

Founded in 1989, Outside Broadcast commenced operations with a six-camera OB truck for the Flemish commercial broadcaster VTM. The company recognised in 2002 that HD would be the standard for the next decade and invested in its first full-scale HD mobile. Outside Broadcast now operates Europe-wide on behalf of a global client list and has built its reputation in a variety of projects from small daily soap productions to large concerts and sporting events.

"We have been using Leader LV7700 rasterisers very successfully in our multi-definition vehicles, having bought nine in 2006 and a further six early this year," comments Ronald Meyvisch, Technical and Operations Manager at Outside Broadcast. "After trying the new LV5330, we realised that it would make an excellent master reference waveform monitor in Units 4, 9, 10, 11 and 14. It is a great little instrument with an easy-to-use control layout and a logical menu structure. It also has useful new features such as CineLite for pre-shoot camera alignment and CineZone for live production monitoring."

"The LV5330 is a very powerful broadcast test instrument Leader is introducing this year as well as being one of the smallest," adds elQuip BV Managing Director Paul Vos. "The incorporation of CineLite and CineZone makes it highly efficient for production staff operating in a live environment where there is no opportunity of a reshoot. The LV5330 enables signal levels as well as waveforms to be kept under tight real-time supervision. It also incorporates a highly versatile toolset for offline maintenance and alignment."

Measuring just 215 x 128 x 63 mm and weighing only 1.3 kg, the Leader LV5330 has a 6 inch XGA TFT screen framed on three sides by clearly labelled pushbutton function selectors, plus three rotary adjustment controls and a forward-facing USB interface. Dual auto-detecting HD/SD-SDI inputs and a switched output are incorporated. The screen can be set to display YCbCr, YRGB, YGBR, GBR or RGB luminance waveform, colour vector, five-bar, surround-sound level, status and video source. Freeze mode allows comparison of different SDI input signals.

Thumbnail picture display can be selected with other multi-display operating modes for easy source identification. Screen shots, personalised presets and software updates can be communicated via an ordinary USB memory stick. Leader's LV5330 is compatible with over 20 HD-SDI/SD-SDI formats, including SMPTE 259M, 274M, 292M, and 296M. Input format, colorimetry, black burst or tri-level external reference input are auto-sensed.

Additional features include signal status and protocol checks, user-settable error monitoring and detection, digital line-selection and menu control storage of 30 front-panel configurations. It can be operated from mains via an optional universal power supply or from a 12 V battery, power consumption being a relatively low 18 W.