Archive for July 13th, 2012

Santa Monica, Calif., July 11, 2012 – RPA, the largest advertising agency headquartered in Los Angeles, and the third-largest independent agency in the country, announces the promotion of Joe Baratelli, previously EVP, Executive Creative Director, to the position of EVP, Chief Creative Officer, reporting to Bill Hagelstein, President and CEO.

Baratelli’s direction is instrumental to RPA’s 360-degree fully integrated approach that creates interest, participation and conversation across all media channels, including TV, digital, social and beyond.

Baratelli will continue to oversee all creative work for Honda, Farmers Insurance, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Tobacco Free CA and several others. He was named Group Creative Director in 2010 and then EVP, Executive Creative Director last year.

“With Joe at the creative helm for nearly a year, RPA has had a slew of grand-slam campaign successes for a variety of clients. This elevated title fully recognizes Joe’s countless contributions to RPA’s culture and creative reputation,” said Hagelstein.

Recently, Baratelli oversaw memorable work such as Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” Super Bowl spot, part of the bigger, all-new CR-V Leap List campaign. Following this launch, CR-V has set a six-consecutive-month sales record. He also led the “Million Mile Joe” digital campaign that was recognized by the One Show Interactive and CLIO awards.

For Farmers Insurance, Baratelli guided the launch of the University of Farmers® campaign in September 2010. Since then, Farmers has moved into national consciousness and experienced success in three critical areas: creative breakthrough, brand linkage and unaided consideration.

Baratelli’s leadership of recent projects includes the Newport Beach Film Festival, Intuit Small Business’s “Get Business Growing,” Tobacco Free CA and La-Z-Boy campaigns starring actress Brooke Shields.

Baratelli has been with RPA since the agency was formed in 1986, originally joining as an Art Director working on Honda projects. He has helped create such iconic campaigns as the Gold EFFiE® Award-winning “Too Much Good Stuff” campaign for ampm convenience stores and Honda’s “Power of Dreams” corporate campaign.

Baratelli’s work has been recognized by the One Show, EFFIEs, ADDYs, CLIOs, Art Directors Club, “Communication Arts,” the MiXX awards and J.D. Power awards for best automotive website for the last five out of six years.

Visit RPA

About RPA
RPA, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., is a leading independent advertising agency. RPA builds momentum for brands by offering its clients truly integrated campaigns that resonate throughout its disciplines, which include traditional advertising, interactive, and direct and event marketing. RPA’s client list includes American Honda, both the Honda and Acura brands, ampm, ARCO, Castrol, California Department of Public Health, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Farmers Insurance Group and Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. For more information, visit http://www.rpa.com.

More info: TRUST 646 452 3388 (NY) 310 451 5153 (LA) trustcollective.com

Three-time Emmy-nominated music series, The Artists Den, has turned its attention to Robert Plant and his latest Band of Joy, and Nola Pictures is getting the word out ahead of the Blu-ray and DVD release with a pair of engaging promos. Through multiple split screens, the spots deliver a perfect blend of performance and interview footage, showing the resilient Plant rocking away as he muses on the history of his seminal group, Band of Joy.

“Robert Plant and the Band of Joy are mining the confluence of great American musical traditions,” noted Nola executive producer Charlie Curran. “In the interview material Plant comes across so genuinely engaging, generous and friendly and obviously in love with what he’s doing. It made perfect sense to let him tell the story over the performance footage.”

Nola Editor Sean Vonlembke took the lead on the project, selecting the songs and interviews to feature that told the stories and the visual material that worked best with the tracks. He also designed the graphics in both spots. “The split screen let us show more of the band and the details of the concert footage with more momentum,” noted Vonlembke. “It really gave us the opportunity to feature shots we otherwise wouldn’t have had time to use.”

The Artists Den, which produced the concert, approached Nola to use their short-form expertise to package the spots into compelling :30 and :15 promos. A promotional success, the spots have earned heavy rotation, airing on both VH1 and Pallidia multiple times per day.

Visit Nola Pictures
View Media

Credits
“Live from the Artists Den”
Produced by: The Artists Den
Executive Producer: Mark Lieberman

“Band of Joy” Promos
Executive Producer/Creative: Charlie Curran
Editorial/Graphics: Sean Vonlembke
About Nola Pictures
Founded in 2005, NYC-based Nola Pictures is a full-service, multi-disciplined media services company with affiliates in France, Canada and Chile. Nola features a diverse roster of multi-dimensional directors, designers and producers who have created award-winning content for ad agencies, film and TV studios, and corporate clients.

Nola offers turnkey production solutions from shoot through editorial and post. Nola’s mandate is to provide a supportive creative environment with production flexibility and efficiency for our artists and clients. The Nola team has contributed to projects for brands such as AT&T, Dell, Pfizer, Nissan, Budweiser, Givenchy, Puma, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble, Wyeth, Weis, McDonald’s, Sundance, Cadillac, Ford, VW, Toyota, American Express, Carolina Herrera, Samsung, Time Warner, Viacom, Nike, ESPN, Johnson & Johnson, Lowe’s, Volvo, and Verizon among others.

About The Artists Den:

Live from the Artists Den is a three-time New York Emmy-Nominated music television series that features popular recording artists performing in non-traditional settings throughout North America.

Featured artists have included Adele, Kid Rock, Ben Harper, Robert Plant, Regina Spektor, Ringo Starr, Ani DiFranco, Raphael Saadiq, Aimee Mann, David Gray,Corinne Bailey Rae, The Black Crowes, Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, and Elvis Costello. Featured venues have included Graceland, the first art museum in America, a Masonic temple, a former Archdiocese cathedral, a 1930s silent movie theater, the worlds oldest merchant sailing vessel, The New York Public Library, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

More info: TRUST 646 452 3388 (NY) 310 451 5153 (LA) trustcollective.com

Using a strategy initiated at last year’s shows MADI was the name of the game at the 2012 Summer X Games in Los Angeles as ESPN continues to streamline its broadcast imprint. Using fiber-optic cabling over an embedded-audio approach to connect all the venues within a 27-acre radius in downtown LA—as well as all of the submixes, communications, and audio transmissions—offered more inputs, smoother transmission between venues and a more efficient and compact layout. Spec’d by ESPN’s Senior Technical Audio Producer Kevin Cleary and supplied by Hi-Tec Audio this year—with onsite support from Group One’s Technical Sales guru Taidus Vallandi and Chris Fichera—four DiGiCo SD10Bs were placed in key locations. Three handled effects sub-mixing for Motocross, Big Air Ramp/Rally Car, Street, Park & Vert Events feeding two Calrec Alpha desks via MADI at 48kHz located in an ESPN SS32 and Denali Summit remote trucks. International feeds, using the other SD10B, created from a separate mix gathered from all the venues for ESPN International, are sent to the main router also via MADI.

Blue Sky full-range monitoring components were paired in tandem with the DiGiCo consoles at every location—with SAT 6.5s or SAT 5s set up alongside SUB 8s. This is the second year that DiGiCo consoles have submixed both Winter and Summer X Games, with Blue Sky systems on site for nearly eight years of events.

Seven DiGiCo SD Racks-—totaling 368 channels overall—were stationed around the venue (approximately 3500+ feet) and linking back via redundant Optocore fiber loop carrying 448 audio signals.

“The X Games audio production crew has settled in on a winning combination with the DiGiCo consoles,” explained Fichera. “DiGiCo SD10Bs in the critical submix positions integrate seamlessly to several DiGiCo SD Racks connected via Optocore located around the venue and is a system that can be replicated over and over again for consistency and ease of operation. The submixers are happy because they’ve learned the console, are comfortable using it, and it makes the whole flow of the system work easily. This cost-effective and consistent package can be replicated anywhere in the world for any ESPN broadcast events.”

“I think the neatest feature of the DiGiCo SD10Bs is the ability to have MADI interfacing to the trucks and Optocore to the SD Racks,” offered ESPN’s Shawn Peacock, who handled 200 inputs and used 96 channels for both the Big Air skateboard and Rally Car events. “In this configuration—with the distances between events within the venue and around downtown LA—that is the thing that really allows us to pull this off. The ability for us to talk across MADI and have these interface boxes as far as they are is huge.”

International mixer Chad Robertson agrees. “The MADI capability is very handy and is becoming more common, especially on a console at this price point and footprint. Also, the Macro buttons come in very handy and the monitoring section is very robust, which is very advantageous. Overall, the SD10B is easy to use and intuitive, plus it’s been convenient to have all of us submixers on SD10Bs at the event. With everyone on the same console, we can compare notes and help each other out if we have any issues or questions.”

Over at the motocross track, it was Devin Barnhart’s second year on the SD10B. “One feature I used a lot last year and again in this event is the multiband compression. That helped a lot on the ramps because the sound coming off the metal ramp is a very high-end, kind of cheese-grater sound, but with the multiband compression, I was able to pull down all of the top-end frequency without losing the rumble of the motorcycles. That’s a great feature of this console. Also, it’s hard to distort the pre-amps. Last year, I wasn’t able to go back and pay attention to what my actual pre-amp levels were… By the time the event starts and you’re throwing up 40-plus microphones and motorcycles start spinning around, you’re just trying to catch up as fast as possible.”

Marc Cochi built snapshot sessions to handle the roughly 166 mics total (80 for Park plus 86 for Street/Vert) on his SD10B. “I’m using one side of the desk for inputs, kind of like a recording desk, with outputs and cameras on the other side. I’m then mixing off control groups because with that many microphones you really can’t follow them around. The console is really easy to use and it sounds great. That’s what I love about it. In television, and sports TV especially, routing is the biggest issue; sonics come second. The SD10B has got easy routing and it sounds great, and I’m pushing it hard. It’s weird to set gain structure for a guy slamming a bike into a metal rail; it’s just not a normal thing. So if the pre’s don’t handle it you’re in trouble. But these do and they sound great doing it.”

For a more in-depth snapshot of X Games’ audio intricacies, see Dan Daley’s coverage here: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2012/06/29/x-games-live-big-sound-from-a-more-compact-set-up/

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 13, 2012… This summer, the biggest broadcasting event in history will take place – the 2012 Olympic Games in London – and, as with other international sports events before, Lawo digital consoles will play an important role in conveying the sporting action to an international TV and radio audience.

One of the key participants in the complex production network is Finnish broadcast Yleisradio Oy (YLE), a regular broadcast partner of the International Olympic Committee, which will be producing 400 hours of TV programming and more than 300 hours of radio for audiences in Finland, plus client broadcasters in Sweden and Denmark. more

OptCal Serves as a Handy, On-Location Resource for FUJINON Lens Customers Worldwide

Wayne, N.J. – FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Optical Devices Division released a new version of its OptCal Select-a-Lens calculator, which adds support for a variety of languages, including German, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese. This new app is available for use on iPhones and Android devices, as well as iPad mobile tablets.

Customers can access OptCal v4.1 for free. The new, multi-lingual version became available on the Apple App Store and Android Market as of yesterday, July 11th.

Developed in 2005, OptCal is a tool that takes the guesswork out of lens selection. It helps photographers calculate various lens formulas—such as field of view, angle of view, and depth of field—and it can compare those values when switching between lens formats and camera image sizes. OptCal will allow the user to calculate formulas for 2/3-inch, 1/2-inch, 1/3 –inch, PL mount and CCTV c-mount lenses for broadcast, digital cinematography, and security applications.

“We’ve made OptCal v4.1available in several major languages to ensure that videographers and photographers worldwide can use this utility to full advantage,” explained Thom Calabro, director, Marketing and Product Development, FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Optical Devices Division. “Videographers worldwide can now use OptCal in their native languages to determine how different lenses and focal lengths will impact shooting variables, such as the field or angle of view and the image size at a given distance. And the ability to access it using the most popular mobile devices on the market means that it’s available whenever and wherever they may need it – especially when shooting on location.”

About Fujifilm
FUJIFILM North America Corporation, a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation consists of five operating divisions and one subsidiary company. The Imaging Division sells consumer and commercial photographic products and services including film, one-time-use cameras, online photo services and fulfillment, digital printing equipment and service. The Electronic Imaging Division markets consumer digital cameras. The Motion Picture Division provides motion picture film, and the Graphic Systems Division supplies products and services to the printing industry. The Optical Devices Division provides binoculars, and optical lenses for closed circuit television, videography, cinematography, broadcast and industrial markets. FUJIFILM Canada Inc. markets a range of Fujifilm products and services. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmusa.com/northamerica, or go to www.twitter.com/fujifilmus to follow Fujifilm on Twitter. To receive news and information direct from Fujifilm via RSS, subscribe at www.fujifilmusa.com/rss.

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including electronic imaging, digital printing equipment, medical systems, life sciences, graphic arts, flat panel display materials and office products, based on a vast portfolio of digital, optical, fine chemical and thin film coating technologies. The company was among the top 17 companies around the world granted U.S. patents in 2011, and in the year ended March 31, 2012, had global revenues of $27.8 billion*. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmholdings.com.

* At an exchange rate of 79 yen to the dollar.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

FUJIFILM Optical Devices Division, 10 High Point Drive, Wayne, New Jersey 07470. Phone: 973-633-5600. Fax: 973-633-5216. Web site:www.FUJINON.com

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA — InfoComm 2012 proved an overwhelmingly successful stage for Matrox Graphics Inc. to showcase its latest and greatest products. Both established and brand-new AV solutions shared the spotlight as well as a common thread of high-performance functionality.

For more information, visit Matrox Graphics or contact us directly.

Two Christie® MicroTiles® displays are stopping moviegoers in their tracks when they walk into the Cinemas Guzzo IMAX® theater lobby at the Mega Plex Marché Central 18 in Montreal. Les Cinémas Guzzo (“Guzzo”), one of Canada’s leading independent chains and the largest privately owned cinema chain in Quebec, has more than 151 screens in 12 theater complexes.
.
The eye-catching displays – one in a 6 high by 11 wide archway, and the other centered just past the archway in a 3 wide by 6 high array – draw audiences into the theater itself with captivating content produced by Arsenal Media, who specialize in digital content creation and concept development with Christie MicroTiles. Once customers walk under the arch, the interior Christie MicroTiles wall greets them with a large movie poster with movie trailers playing inside the poster.
.
Everyone Loves the Christie MicroTiles Display
Vincenzo Guzzo, executive vice president, Cinemas Guzzo, was immediately impressed with Christie MicroTiles.
.
“I saw them for the first time at CinemaCon 2011 and I had never seen something so bright, crisp and sharp – and those are the most important things for me,” he said. “Arsenal Media produced some very interesting and complex content that runs on the MicroTiles. Everyone loves it and, in particular, the younger crowd who has said it’s really cool. The MicroTiles makes a lot of people just stop and take a minute to look at the whole display. Once they walk through the arch, they stop and stare again at the movie trailers playing inside the movie poster.
.
“The Christie MicroTiles, out of all comparable products, are probably the best because not only are they so bright and crisp, they can they be built into irregular shapes and are practically seamless.”
.
For visually appealing displays, Christie lobby advertising solutions – including Christie MicroTiles – offer high brightness, high-resolution technology that captivates audiences with lifelike, vibrant colors. Combining the strengths of both DLP® and LED technology, Christie MicroTiles can reproduce 115 percent of the NTSC color gamut and exceed standard LCD flat panel color output by more than 50 percent. Christie MicroTiles automatically self-calibrate for color and brightness with built-in sensors monitoring each LED’s performance. Throughout the life of the display, each tile detects its neighbor and adjusts its image to optimize the overall presentation.
.
Integrator and Content Provider Contribute to Success of Project
“Our company did the consultation for the construction and electrical work necessary, plus the actual installation and calibration of the MicroTiles,” said J.P. Berardini, branch manager, Genesis Integration, Inc. “Guzzo wanted an archway because they want moviegoers to feel like they are walking into ‘an experience,’ not just a movie theater. Genesis helped create a 3D-like experience with both the archway and the interior array and it works because of the MicroTiles.”
.
“This installation is a perfect fit from both a shape and strategic perspective,” said Angela Tanzi, vice president of operations, Arsenal Media. “We supported the configuration concept by leveraging shape and creating content that generated a very impactful point of focus for the arch. When customers enter the GUZZO-IMAX theater, they recognize right away that they’re up for an enhanced visual and cinematic experience.”
.
In November 2011, Les Cinémas Guzzo (“Guzzo”) announced that all its screens, support and services were converting to digital with Christie. The contract includes the Christie CP2000ZX, Christie CP2000-SB, Christie CP2210, Christie CP2220, and Christie CP2230 projectors. The agreement also includes the upgrading of 27 screens to the Christie CP4220 and Christie CP4230 4K projectors. The conversion will be completed in the spring of 2012.

XL Video supplied 400 square metres of its latest Pixled F-12 LED screen – configured as 12 screens, ten of which moved – plus cameras, PPU and crew for the Stone Roses seminal homecoming shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park.
The three sold out nights saw 78,000 people a night witness the most talked about and hotly anticipated band reunion of the century .. and the pressure was on for all involved to contribute to one of the most memorable shows of the year.

The amazing F-12 screen – currently available only from XL Video – was specified by show director Paul Normandale, who has also been using it on Coldplay’s current world tour
A nine camera IMAG system – mixed by Phil Woodhead – was at the essence of the visual look and feel for these concerts for a number of reasons. It reinforced the iconic moment of the band playing live in their original line up again after 22 years, making a massive statement in popular music history and ensured that the huge crowd no matter how far away could all grab a slice of the action!
Normandale and Woodhead have worked together on the Kings of Leon for some time, and Normandale knew that Woodhead’s trademark intelligent, raw mixing aesthetic would be ideal.
The band, played on a bare stage apart from a drum riser – no frills, no dressing, no nonsense – just simply banging out some great sounds!
“As you can see we still got it!!!” yelled Ian Brown after a few songs to a tumultuous crowd reaction. The vibe hit the nail on the head!
The video playback content was derived from various original artwork and paintings by guitarist John Squire, which Normandale commissioned video artist / producer Judy Jacob to animate.
The video looks were all based on this unique material which was stored on a Catalyst media server system and output to the screens, together with six feeds from Woodhead’s camera mix by Glen Johnson.
The key to the distinct blurring of the content and IMAG was the application of Video Dust, a new highly flexible DVE software optimised for iPad front end control and intuitive use, which has been developed by Woodhead and is marketed through his company, Thundering Jacks.
The 12 screens dominated the wide vista of the performance area. Upstage was a rear letterbox strip of F-12 measuring 30 tiles wide by 5 high. Side stage left and right were two screens each, 10 wide by 5 panels high, and on the onstage edges of the front wings were another two screens a side, 9 panels wide and 5 high.
All of these moved into a series of different positions throughout the show on a Kinesys system, offering up a dynamic palette of different looks.
At the very edges of the stage were two large portrait F-12 surfaces measuring 17 high by 11 wide.
Apart from providing maximum impact, one of the beauties of the screen set up was that the stark contrasty and largely monochromic IMAG images of the stage action could be showing on the end screens, while more content driven mixes, merges and subtleties could be playing out across the rest.
Once again, the phenomenally bright F-12 provided an ideal surface and compliment to the stage and natural lighting elements of the show, 60% of which was performed in daylight.
The IMAG sources included three additional Sony HXC-100 HD cameras for Heaton Park including a pole-cam, which were added to the one touring with the band’s festival rig, plus three Bradley Cam-Ball 2 robo cams, which were operated by Woodhead. Two mini-cams (already on the tour), bringing the total of camera channels to nine for Heaton Park.
XL Video supplied three of their most experienced regular freelance camera operators to Woodhead’s great delight – Larne Poland, Robyn Tearle and Steve Jones – who worked with Al Wright, the FOH camera op for the festival tour.
Woodhead used a standard XL Video Kayak mixer switcher and applied all the Video Dust treatments before sending his feeds into the Catalyst.
XL’s crew of five for Heaton Park was led by chief Stuart Heaney, where they joined the festival touring crew of three. The get in was Monday morning for the first show on Friday, with everything going “Extremely smoothly”, according to Heaney, the main challenge being the sheer scale and quantities of screen involved.
XL’s Project manager Jo Beirne comments; “Many of us at XL have fond memories of The Stone Roses back in the day, and we are delighted to have contributed visually, both to these shows, and their current on-going festival run’’.

At IBC 2012 Crystal Vision will be unveiling its first new chroma keyer for five years on Stand 2.B11 along with the latest multi-functional interface products designed for embedding, synchronizing and routing 3Gb/s, HD and SD signals and the company’s first venture into Dolby E decoding with a very neat solution.  
.

Crystal Vision will be previewing its new real-time chroma keyer, Safire 3, at IBC – with a significant increase in performance and features making it ideal for all live virtual productions, from studio to sport. Working with 3Gb/s, HD and SD sources, Safire 3 is suitable for the most demanding applications and joins the existing Safire HD 2 and Safire chroma keyers to become the new top of the range product. The enhanced chroma keying uses an extremely sophisticated algorithm, giving excellent results with minimal sensitivity to camera noise. New key processing features add even more realism to the key, with shaping and softening of edges, key noise reduction, color spill processing and two-dimensional compensation for uneven illumination of the backdrop with separate corrections for linear and radial lighting problems. Crystal Vision chroma keyers have always been known as the easiest to set up, and Safire 3 brings an improved auto-setup which can use multiple points on the backdrop as well as on the foreground object – such as the presenter – to set up the optimized processing. 
.
Safire 3 includes functionality – color correction and video delay – previously provided by separate products and useful for aiding system integration. Foreground color correction enables adjustment of the foreground after the key has been extracted but before it is combined with the background, allowing the look of the foreground to be matched to the background to create a natural-looking composite. Also included is foreground delay adjustment up to ten frames, ideal for offsetting the delay caused by the graphics generators, while correct timing is ensured by input synchronizers and an analog reference. Safire 3 maintains the special features which make it ideal for inserting graphics on to sporting surfaces during live events. Safire 3 continues to form part of a space-saving modular system, with this single height 100mm x 266mm module allowing up to 12 chroma keyers in 2U alongside any other interface products. Inputs and outputs are accessed by using the RM50 frame rear module. Due for release in October and with demonstrations available at IBC, Safire 3 will be introduced with control from the Statesman PC control software, with a dedicated control panel available towards the end of 2012. 
.

Crystal Vision launches its most powerful audio embedder/de-embedder to date with TANDEM 310 – a combined embedder and de-embedder for 3Gb/s, HD and SD sources with the ability to embed and de-embed a mixture of up to four groups of AES and two groups of analog audio at the same time. TANDEM 310 is Crystal Vision’s first embedder able to decode Dolby E as well as the company’s first 3Gb/s-capable embedder for analog audio – making it ideal for studios where microphones make analog audio popular. TANDEM 310 embeds and de-embeds external audio by fitting up to two audio piggybacks to the main board. The HD-AIP2 piggyback is used for embedding two analog stereo pairs or four mono channels, the HD-AOP2 for de-embedding two analog stereo pairs or four mono channels and the DIOP4 for embedding or de-embedding four AES stereo pairs, with four bi-directional AES ports available on each piggyback and the engineer able to select whether to embed or de-embed each channel independently. Analog and digital piggybacks can be mixed to create a hybrid system – ideal for those using analog microphones with digital audio mixers. Shipping in August, other features include full audio routing, audio and video delays, audio and video processing and integrated fiber input/output connectivity. 
.
TANDEM 310 can be fitted with the new DBE-D Dolby decoder top board, allowing a Dolby E signal in the embedded video input (or from an input piggyback) to be decoded and either output as analog or AES audio (via an appropriate piggyback) or re-embedded. The DBE-D includes a stereo down mix, which mixes the multiple audio channels within the 5.1 surround sound down to a single stereo pair for easier monitoring. The DBE-D is perfect for those embedded audio applications where the audio within the Dolby E stream needs to be processed in some way, or where the Dolby E needs to be decoded before transmission. 
.

Crystal Vision will be launching a second new embedder/de-embedder at IBC, designed for price-sensitive or space-sensitive applications. The dual channel TANDEM 320 works with 3Gb/s, HD and SD and provides economical embedding and de-embedding for one group of analog audio or two groups of AES per channel, while allowing 24 channels of embedding or de-embedding to fit in 2U. Using the HD-AIP2, HD-AOP2 and DIOP4 audio piggybacks, the features include audio routing, audio and video delays and audio and video processing. 
.

SYNNER 310 combines multiple functions on one board to save engineers money and rack space as well as simplify system designs. SYNNER 310 is a video synchronizer, tracking audio delay and embedder/de-embedder for 3Gb/s, HD and SD sources and up to two groups of analog and four groups of digital audio, with the additional ability to decode Dolby E. SYNNER 310 can both synchronize incoming video signals which are not locked to the local reference and compensate for timing delays within the video system, and includes cross-locking, full horizontal and vertical timing adjustment and ten frames of video delay for matching any big system delays. The internal audio delay tracks the video delay, running the audio fast or slow to ensure the video and linear audio stay correctly timed and to avoid lip sync errors. SYNNER 310 can embed and de-embed both analog and digital audio, using the HD-AIP2 and HD-AOP2 piggybacks for embedding and de-embedding analog audio and the bi-directional DIOP4 for embedding and de-embedding AES. 
.
Ideal for Dolby E users, SYNNER 310 can synchronize video containing a mixture of Dolby E and linear AES in the same audio group, includes guardband alignment and can also be used to decode Dolby E by fitting the DBE-D Dolby decoder top board, which allows a Dolby E signal in the embedded video input (or from an input piggyback) to be decoded and either output as analog or AES audio (via an appropriate piggyback) or re-embedded. Shipping in August, other features include full audio routing, flexible audio delays, audio and video processing and integrated fiber input/output connectivity. 
.

IBC also sees new features added to the Safe Switch 3G fail-safe 2 x 2 routing switch, which uses a full framestore synchronizer on each input and loss of reference protection to guarantee a clean switch and which can be used either for planned maintenance switches or as an intelligent emergency transmission switch. Safe Switch 3G can now cope with signal path delays of +/-25 frames between the two inputs. The backup feed will often be routed through less processing equipment and therefore arrive several frames earlier than the main input and, with this new feature, input timing differences greater than one frame can be corrected by delaying the earliest arriving input by up to 25 frames in one frame steps. Input timing differences up to one frame will continue to be automatically corrected by the existing on-board framestore synchronizers. The second customer-requested new feature means that Safe Switch 3G can now choose from 17 different fault conditions to automatically trigger a switch. It can now be set to switch on frozen Ancillary Timecode within the video stream, switching either immediately or after a delay of up to 120 seconds. 
.
Based at Whittlesford near Cambridge in the UK and with an office in the USA, Crystal Vision provides digital keyers, picture storage modules and a full range of interface equipment including converters, synchronizers, distribution amplifiers and audio embedders to the professional broadcasting industry worldwide.

www.crystalvision.tv