SAM: Snell Advanced Media

Today's broadcast and media facilities require smart, adaptable, and straightforward solutions as they transition to digital, HDTV, and 3Gbps operations, and as they seek to deliver content to a variety of platforms in direct response to consumer demand. With these needs in mind, Snell will showcase a variety of products at BIRTV 2011 that enable more flexible media handling in live production, playout, infrastructure, media restoration, and transformation environments. In addition to the Snell stand 8A07, the company's award-winning products — including Kahuna multiformat production switchers — will be on display with channel partners EVS (stand 8A35), CSS (stand 8A02), and CFEC (stand 1A236).

 

 

The Snell Kahuna 360production switcher will be highlighted at BIRTV 2011. Kahuna 360 breaks away from the tradition of fixed M/Es, fixed resources, and fixed formats while supporting 16 simultaneous broadcast productions and a mixture of SD, HD, and 1080p in a single mainframe. Kahuna 360 has up to six M/Es and seven keyers per M/E, as well as a sophisticated 3D DVE package. Snell also has equipped Kahuna 360 with the company's Make M/E technology, which makes it easy for the operator to leverage available mixer power and create a tailor-made M/E — selecting inputs, keyers, stores, DVE, and outputs — for a specific output requirement and, as a result, free up resources to users for other productions.

 

The new timeline controller adds scene-by-scene restoration control to Snell's Archangel Ph.C – HDreal-time film and video restoration system. In addition to real-time restoration processing, the timeline controller allows users to apply processing on a scene-by-scene basis, rather than to all parts of the sequence equally, and to change filter parameters on the fly rather than at breaks in processing. As a result, the user can selectively increase or decrease the amount of processing applied to the content depending on the defects present in each scene.

 

Snell's Alchemist Ph.C – HD, with Emmy® Award-winning Ph.Cmotion measurement technology, will also be on display at BIRTV 2011. Featuring 1080p capability, the system empowers users to deliver content to any broadcast standard without compromising picture quality or clarity. The new Version 5.1 software release for the Alchemist Ph.C – HD adds an enhanced Dolby® E Authoring option to the system's existing Dolby E transcoding and decoding capabilities, thus supporting encoding (PCM>Dolby E) with more comprehensive audio routing control.

Also on display at BIRTV 2011 will be the Sirius 600and Pyxisrouting switchers, ideal for both small and medium routing applications. The Sirius 600 is a format independent router range offering unprecedented flexibility and total system redundancy making it ideal for the most "mission critical" uses. Both switchers are also compatible with Snell's Centraand Auroraexternal control systems, offering a range of highly flexible router control features. Sirius 600 frames can support any combination of analog, SD, HD, and 3G signals, and these formats are configurable in any combination of eight channel input or output blocks, up to 256 x 256 in one frame with further expansion available by combining frames.

 

Snell will also showcase its MV-Seriesof multiviewers at BIRTV 2011. Designed for a range of applications including control rooms, studios, and OB trucks, the MV-Series offers users highly versatile and configurable viewing capabilities. The system accepts up to 64 video inputs, in a range of analog and digital formats including 1080p, which are complemented by powerful audio metering and monitoring of up to 16 channels per tile. Other audio monitoring enhancements include the ability to monitor discrete AES, analog audio, or Dolby® AC3 inputs. Snell's Centra control system offers a flexible control environment for the MV-Series and routing, allowing router control and MV layout recalls and alarms on a single user-configurable GUI.

 

Providing integrated, scalable control and monitoring, Centra offers a variety of new features that simplify use and further unify control and monitoring across all media operations. The system extends support for Snell products including the MV-Series of multiviewers, as well as more third-party control protocols to further expand its reach. New tools have also been incorporate — including wizards for router configuration — that speed and simplify installation of routing and modular installations. Centra is easy to understand and use, thanks to an intuitive graphical user interface that is complemented by new features including a salvo snapshot, graphical editing of tie-lines, and a variety of drawing and navigation widgets.

 

The latest IQ Modularframe offers increased processing density, distributed reference, and advanced control and monitoring capabilities. With RollCallcontrol and monitoring fitted as standard and full SNMP control and monitoring functionality over Ethernet, the new frame interfaces seamlessly with both Snell and third-party control and monitoring systems. While any IQ module can be installed in the frame, the advances in the new frame design continue to support the growing range of IQ modules including the latest 3G fiber solutions and the new range of conversion, synchronization, and advanced audio processing modules.