CBS News upgrade with Quartz

A compact Q128 serial video router from Quartz was recently installed at CBS News' London facility.
Configured as a 128 x 96 matrix, the Q128 is at the heart of the bureau's newsgathering and production area, replacing analogue equipment and increasing the on-site routing capacity.
Located in Knightsbridge, the CBS News Bureau consists of two studios plus eight linear and non-linear edit suites. The Q128 is handling a wide variety of signal sources including BT Tower links and multiple satellite outputs as well as European and transatlantic lease circuits.
Occupying just 12U, the Quartz Q128 SDI router employs front-access hot-swappable modules in blocks of four for easy maintenance and is expandable from 32 x 32 to 128 x 128 in the same frame.
The Q128 will be used to route a pool of equipment, including satellite receivers, VTRs, standards converters, vision mixers, cameras, monitor stacks and aspect ratio converters. Management of the routing equipment is via a Quartz SC-1000 system controller, with user control from 25 customised intelligent Quartz control panels.
The SC-1000 is designed for applications where control of the transmission chain cannot be compromised. It can be equipped with a single controller or, in the case of CBS, a dual controller with redundant power supplies. Each controller and power supply is individually accessible from the front of the frame and supports hot-swapping to ensure zero disturbance to the controller in use.
Quartz' Intelligent Control panels were customised for the CBS installation with focus on user-intuitive operation. The panels were functionally required to provide access to any control area with multiple destinations by a maximum of three keystrokes, one of the many facilities offered by the CP-1000.
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