CRYSTAL VISION INTERFACE IN BBC STUDIOS & POST PRODUCTION'S FIRST 1080 50P STUDIO (September 2010)

BBC Studios and Post Production is upgrading its Studio Six to be the UK’s first 1080p50 HD studio, with Crystal Vision selected as the exclusive interface supplier following the purchase of 137 boards by UK systems integrator ATG Broadcast.

Studio Six is the fourth permanent HD studio at BBC Television Centre in London. BBC Studios and Post Production has seen customer demand for HD increase, with the BBC launching a simulcast of BBC One in High Definition this autumn and ITV HD now fully up and running. It is investing in a further HD studio to support the volume of work. BBC Studios and Post Production can also deliver HD from all of its other studios using HD flyaway equipment, which includes Crystal Vision’s 3Gb/s up and down converters and synchronisers.

The studio will be able to handle and display all HD formats, including 1080p50 and dual link, with the installation of a dual link 1.5Gb/s and single link 3Gb/s HD video infrastructure.

19 Up-Down-A 3G up/down/cross converters will be used for up conversion of SD equipment to HD, with seven Q-Down123 used for down conversion of HD to SD. Ten of these converters will be routable through the matrix for any additional equipment.

Five SYNNER-E 3G and two SYN102 synchronisers will be used on incoming and outgoing HD lines to and from the rest of the world.

16 3GDA distribution amplifiers will be used for test signals and general distribution feeds, with 20 analogue video distribution amplifiers distributing both signal pulses and PAL floor feeds.

17 ADDEC-210 decoders, four ALLDAC encoders and eight MON210 monitoring encoders will be used for the conversion of DVDs to SDI.

26 TANDEM 3G audio embedders/de-embedders will be used to feed audio to and from the VTRs or servers, with an AADA416FM analogue audio DA used for production talkback to cameras distribution.

Four Dual 3G-DL and four Dual DL-3G dual link converters will allow the studio to convert from dual link to 3G for single stream transmission and vice versa. The main studio design is dual link to cater for stereoscopic production as well.

The Crystal Vision equipment will be controlled using the Statesman PC control software, with the frames located in the TC6 apparatus room. The refurbishment is due for completion in early September.