Crystal Vision Assist With Studio Upgrade

Crystal Vision has provided a number of products as part of an upgrade to Studio B at BBC Northern Ireland in Belfast. The contract was in conjunction with systems integrator Dega Broadcast Systems.

As part of the continuing development of BBC regional output, Studio B – which is primarily used for regional news and magazine programmes, including Newsline – was being upgraded to HD. Virtual studio and augmented reality capabilities were also included in the upgrade.

For the project, the entire technical infrastructure was replaced, with much of the underlying technology provided by Crystal Vision. A total of 106 modular boards were included in the contract, including a number of 3Gb/s-ready HD distribution amplifiers, audio and video processors, and up and down converters.

For the virtual studio capabilities, three Safire 3 chroma keyers were included. The Safire 3 delivers high quality and high precision keying at resolutions from SD to 1080p. It is ideal for applications such as augmenting a live output with virtual graphics and set extensions. The studio infrastructure also includes 11 SYNNER 310 synchronisers and 11 ViViD 3G video delays to ensure a match between live and virtual elements.

The 106 modular boards are housed in 14 Crystal Vision Indigo 2SE 2U frames which are controlled and monitored over SNMP, with a VisionPanel touch-screen interface.

The upgrade of Belfast Studio B is now complete, with the studio on air.

John Cleaver, Dega, said: "The Crystal Vision Safire 3 chroma keyer is one of the great unsung hero products: a really good keyer which is highly affordable and with simple set-and-forget functionality. It is a perfect choice for a news studio where complicated routines and unreliability is just not acceptable."

www.crystalvision.tv

(JP)