CHANNEL NINE USES 48V FOR NINE NEWS VEHICLES (December 2004)

Crystal Vision has supplied Channel Nine, an Australian broadcaster, with special 48V versions of the popular Indigo 2 frame and SW808 routing switch controller.

The new equipment will be used in nine digital news gathering vehicles which are equipped throughout with 48V products for safety and efficiency reasons. The equipment is run off of battery packs, with one vehicle also acting as a 48V generator.

The order was won against tough competition from both local and international suppliers and will provide all of the routing and transmission of the signals back to the broadcast station. It consisted of 54 boards, including nine TANDEM-300s, which were selected for their ability to manipulate audio gains digitally.

The equipment had to fulfil other stringent conditions in order to be suitable for the installation. It needed to be compact because there was only 3U rack space available in each vehicle, it had to be very reliable and hard wearing to withstand rugged road conditions and it had to be easy to use, because when news stories are breaking, every second counts.

In each of the vehicles the 3U rack space was filled with one Indigo 2-48V frame and a 1U SW808 Controller-48V which operates Crystal Vision’s SW808 8 x 8 routing switch. The sturdy Indigo 2-48V frames are particularly good for this installation due to their all-metal construction and card location retention as well as the lower voltage.