Elquip reports productive 2005 for leader in Europe

"After years of deliberation and procrastination, European broadcasters have at last bitten the bullet and begun serious investment in HD," reports Paul Vos, Managing Director of elQuip, European Master Distributor for Leader Electronics.
"And it won't be a simple 1080i model. The future of broadcasting and postproduction will involve a mix of 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 625, 525 and sub-SD formats. Given the fast pace of LCD screen development as well as the impending introduction of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, broadcasters worldwide know they need to migrate from SD or risk losing audience share."
Leader itself has lived up to its name with three completely new analysers making their European exhibition debut at IBC. In addition to being easy to use, the latest Leader products conform to a uniform control interface which makes them very easy to learn and to operate. They are not just standalone units but interconnectable systems that can be integrated to operate over very wide networks.
The FS3019 remote signal analysis software allows the performance of remote HD-SDI and SD-SDI equipment to be checked via a standard internet connection. This means an engineer can perform detailed checks of a broadcast module or a total system, regardless of its location.
Leader's new LV7700 rasterising HD/SDI analyser employs almost the same front-panel controls as the portable LV5750 and studio-optimised LV5700A. Waveform monitor and vectorscope functions are provided, including cursor measurements, filters, gain and timing control. Line-select capabilities allow detailed signal examination.
Also introduced this year, the LT292 digital line checker detects, displays and logs transmission errors in HD-SDI and SD-SDI signals.
All major high definition production and transmission video formats are supported, including three variants of 1080i, six variants of 1080p, five variants of 1080Ps and two variants of 720p. It is fully compatible with 625i/50 and 525i/59.94 SD.
Key contracts won by Leader during 2005 included an order from Kodak for equipment to be used in a newly-opened telecine suite at Boyana Film Studios, Sofia. Russian television broadcaster, Channel 7 (Tele-Shere), selected Leader test equipment for the central apparatus room at its Krasnoyarsk headquarters.
Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe chose Leader technology to check the performance of HD broadcast cameras arriving from the Sony manufacturing facility in Atsugi.
Axon Digital Design also chose Leader equipment for use in the development of its Synapse range of modular broadcast equipment.
(CD)