THE SOLUTION TO LARGE LIP-SYNC ERRORS (September 2011)

New from Crystal Vision is AVDELAY 3G – an audio/video delay designed for correcting large lip-sync errors on incoming 3Gb/s, HD or SD signals containing up to four groups of embedded audio.

The audio and video delay are independently adjustable, allowing the user to change the relative audio/video timing by several seconds in either direction. Large changes can be accommodated because the board provides ten seconds of video delay in SD, five seconds in HD and two seconds in 3Gb/s, along with ten seconds of audio delay.

Explains Managing Director Philip Scofield: “Having both audio and video delay on this product means that we can cope with the lip-sync being out in either direction. If the audio is earlier than the video, then you can use AVDELAY 3G to delay the audio to let the video catch up.”

The source is viewed on a monitor with any adjustments made by eye. The video delay is adjustable in seconds and frames. The audio delays are adjustable in seconds, video frames and milliseconds. There are four separate audio delay settings and each mono audio channel can be assigned to any one of them, or to bypass the delay completely.

Three default buttons allow the operator to set all the video and audio delays to 0, 1 or 5 seconds, giving them a useful starting point for making their adjustments. The audio will jump instantly to the new delay setting, allowing the user to rapidly correct lip-sync errors.

AVDELAY 3G provides sophisticated handling of Dolby E audio, which is automatically aligned with the guardband of the outgoing video. Dolby E can be assigned to the four audio delay settings in the same way as other audio, and the delay applied to the Dolby E will be the delay setting rounded to the nearest time that gives the correct guardband alignment.

It is easy to give AVDELAY 3G integrated fibre input/output connectivity – while still only using a single frame slot. The motherboard is simply fitted with either the FIP fibre input option which is used to receive an optical input, or the FOP fibre output option which is used to transmit an optical output. Having the fibre integral to the board reduces the need to use additional rack space for separate fibre optic transmitters and receivers, and also brings financial savings.

AVDELAY 3G is a space-saving 100mm x 266mm module which fits in the Crystal Vision frames alongside any of the other products, with 12 boards fitting in 2U. The one 3Gb/s, HD or SD input and two outputs are accessed by using the RM62 frame rear module.

The usual control options are available, including board edge switches, an active front panel on the frame, a remote control panel, GPIs, SNMP and the Statesman PC software.

AVDELAY 3G will be shipping in September, and was developed following a request from a broadcaster who knew of Crystal Vision’s video delay expertise demonstrated in the best-selling range of ViViD video delays.