BBC WALES BROADCASTS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATES WITH HELP FROM CRYSTAL VISION (July 2005)

BBC Wales has chosen Crystal Vision to supply the interface for the new debating chamber at the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff.

With 60 elected members, the National Assembly develops policies and approves legislation which reflects the needs of the people of Wales. Due to open in autumn 2005 is the new political forum for Wales: a 5000 square metre three storey state-of-the-art building which will include a debating chamber, three committee rooms and increased areas for the public.

BBC Wales Political Unit has had a presence at the National Assembly since 1999. Its main purpose is to provide comprehensive coverage of plenary debates and committee room sessions for live transmission on the Welsh language digital channel S4C2, as well as material for the “Politics Show” on BBC1, “AM.PM” on BBC2 Wales and other current affairs programmes.

The new debating chamber brings nine new ‘inject points’ which require analogue cable equalisation for both video and audio. BBC Wales purchased six dual channel VDA210Ms to distribute the video and three quad channel AADA416FM DAs for the analogue audio, with the multiple channels a key factor in their choice. A DDAA132 monitoring encoder will be used with an outdoor camera giving a panoramic view over Cardiff Bay.

The broadcaster is already using Crystal Vision interface in the existing National Assembly building, including five SYN102s to synchronise the lines between the BBC sites at Cardiff Broadcasting House and the Assembly.

Paul Burgess, Project Engineer at BBC Wales, commented: “We want to make efficient use of limited space so we need sufficient card density in the frames to enable a complex solution to fit in a single frame.”

Located in the Technical Apparatus Room at the National Assembly, the boards are being housed in an Indigo 4 4U frame.