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Creative Technology Satisfies Demands of High-End Multiformat Production With Snell & Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD Production Switcher
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Creative Technology Satisfies Demands of High-End Multiformat Production With Snell & Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD Production Switcher

First Live Presentation Hire Company in U.K. to Purchase Kahuna System

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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. -- May 20, 2008 -- Creative Technology (CT), a London-based provider of audio-visual services for all types of live events, has purchased a Snell & Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD production switcher to meet the demands of the high-end live presentation market. The Kahuna's unparalleled handling of multiple formats and its robust range of effects and processing capabilities give CT greater power and flexibility in creating a striking visual presentation. CT's new SD/HD Kahuna, which is being used primarily for projects in the corporate and music markets, made its debut for the international production company Imagination and its end clients Land Rover and Jaguar, for their press shows at the Geneva International Motor Show.

"We work with blue chip clients that demand the highest quality presentation tools and images," said Matt Lewns, senior project engineer at Creative Technology. "Because our clients are involved in a wide assortment of projects on a global basis, we must be able to provide flexible equipment with the functionality required by a mixture of event and format types. The Kahuna's ability to mix formats and resize images is extremely valuable, and integrated color correction and still store options improve our live production workflow significantly while adding substantially to the quality of the on-screen result."

At the Geneva International Motor Show, the Kahuna was used for consecutive press shows, one in SD and the other in HD. The Kahuna's ability to mix sources allowed the production team to send one M/E in HD to one LED wall and the other M/E in SD to the second wall without wasting valuable time reconfiguring the system. The Kahuna features numerous integrated tools ranging from high-end conversion to robust DVE effects. To address the challenges of working with a variety of displays, CT customized its Kahuna system with options including input and bus color correction, output color correction, and an integrated still and clip store.

Displays such as LED walls and plasma screens can have different color properties, causing the same feed to look different on the two displays. Added color correction capability allows CT switcher operators to send different corrected feeds to different displays with confidence. It also allows the CT team to color-match displays while keeping any recording color-matched, as well. The Kahuna's still and clip store enables operators to display stills without the need for an external graphics machine.

"Leaders in high-profile, live event production increasingly are turning to the Kahuna for fast, flexible multi-format switching and output of dynamic HD and SD content," said Joe Zaller, vice president, corporate development at Snell & Wilcox. "When image is everything, as is the case in live presentation, the Kahuna offers critical live production capabilities from a single intuitive interface. Creative Technology's selection of the Kahuna for live presentation applications demonstrates the switcher's value in delivering just the right look and feel even in high-pressure production environments."

About Kahuna
Kahuna from Snell & Wilcox is the world's first and only true multi-format SD/HD production switcher. Thanks to a Snell & Wilcox technology called FormatFusion, Kahuna enables simultaneous SD and HD operations in the same mainframe and on the same control panel. This vastly simplifies the HDTV transition for broadcasters by eliminating the need for external HDTV up/down/cross converters in the live production environment, as well as the cost and the signal path delay associated with these products. Kahuna has the smallest-size mainframe, lowest weight, and lowest power consumption when compared with other large switchers, and it has been integrated with dozens of third party products including routers, servers, automation systems, and controllers.

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