CRYSTAL VISION’S SYNAD-E IS A WINNER FOR SURROUND SOUND TRANSMISSIONS (October 2005)

Germany’s largest Free-TV corporation ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is the first customer to receive Crystal Vision’s unique synchroniser SYNAD-E.

SYNAD-E was developed in response to this particular customer’s requirement to broadcast certain programmes in surround sound. The ProSiebenSat.1 group has six TV stations in total. ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion, the group’s general contractor for all production concerns, broadcasts programmes transmitted on 11 channels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA. The purchase of this new Crystal Vision product will enable them to meet their commitment to transmit particular programmes in surround sound, for example Blockbuster movies and Champions League matches.

Many broadcasters, including ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion, transmit programmes encoding the 5.1 channels of surround sound in a single AES stream of Dolby E, which is a form of audio compression. A second AES feed then contains a standard audio stereo pair, both for end users without a surround sound decoder and to make it easier for the broadcaster to monitor the audio. ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion’s broadcast infrastructures will only accept a single audio group and here a problem arises: embedding these two types of audio into the one group makes them difficult to synchronise because Dolby E data is processed differently to standard audio.

SYNAD-E was designed to solve this problem for ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion. It separates the Dolby E and standard audio, synchronising both types in the appropriate way and then recreates the audio with the delay matching the video, correctly coping with any video frame drops or repeats. The only way to do this without SYNAD-E would cause disturbance to either the Dolby E data or the standard audio. SYNAD-E gives no discernible disturbance to either type of audio.

ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion’s intention was to standardise on a Dolby E compatible synchroniser throughout their whole facility. Following extensive in-house testing, 12 SYNAD-Es were purchased through Crystal Vision’s German distributor SHM. Statesman software will be used to set up and control the SYNAD-Es housed in 2U frames, which will then be located in the two main transmission areas. The evaluation of the SYNAD-Es within ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion’s system tested the synchronising capability for normal video and for video with Dolby E and confirmed that this exclusive Crystal Vision product successfully fulfilled all their requirements. Already a Crystal Vision customer, ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion had previously purchased a number of SYNAD124s, the first video synchroniser in the world able to process two groups of audio and the predecessor to SYNAD-E.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is not the only organisation to have evaluated SYNAD-E this year. Following very thorough laboratory testing, SYNAD-E received Dolby approval on the 2nd June 2005. Crystal Vision is a member of the Dolby E Partner Programme and has previously had products assessed in the Dolby laboratories.

Based at Whittlesford near Cambridge in the UK, Crystal Vision provides digital keyers and a full range of digital and analogue interface equipment including converters, decoders, encoders, distribution amplifiers and audio embedders to the professional broadcasting industry worldwide.