Multi-format HD/SD Switcher Deployment Is First in the Country
READING, U.K. — Feb. 8, 2011 —MediaCorp Pte Ltd, Singapore's largest broadcaster, has chosen Snell's Kahuna HD/SD multi-format production switcher as a central element in the company's migration to HD operations. As the first Snell Kahuna installation in Singapore, the system provides seamless mixing of SD sources into HD broadcasts from MediaCorp's newly refurbished, state-of-the-art Studio 4.
"The Snell Kahuna is a very important part of our HD roadmap because it is enabling us to make a smooth, cost-effective migration to HD broadcasting," said Ronnie Chng Tee Kwang, vice president, MediaCorp Pte Ltd. "We needed a system that could easily switch between HD and SD operations and integrate SD material without requiring external upconversion. Kahuna's versatility and superior technology based on FormatFusion make it an extremely valuable member of our production team."
MediaCorp first used Kahuna for its HD and SD coverage of the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games, held in Singapore in August 2010. Installed at the MediaCorp Youth Olympic studio and production hub at the Marina Bay Sands, the system performed so well in a fast-paced, live production environment that MediaCorp chose Kahuna for the HD upgrade of its Studio 4 facility for production of a wide range of dramas and music and sports programs. Though these programs will be broadcast in HD, they still will draw from many sources that exist in SD and other formats, thus making Kahuna's multi-format capabilities crucial. In addition to Kahuna, Studio 4 features a Snell Sirius 620 48x48 (expandable to 128x128) 3G/HD/SD re-clocking routing switcher.
"MediaCorp was the perfect company to introduce our Kahuna to the Singapore broadcast community," said Naresh Subherwal, president, Asia/Pacific, at Snell. "We're pleased that Kahuna played such a prominent role in the broadcast of the first-ever Summer Youth Olympic Games, and that the platform is helping usher in a new era of HD programming for Singapore's most prominent broadcaster."
About Kahuna:
Kahuna from Snell is the world's first and only true multiformat SD/HD production switcher. Thanks to a Snell 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/crossconverters in the live production environment, as well as the cost and the signal path delay associated with these products. Kahuna has the smallest 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.
