DTV, who's buying what?................................
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The HD-1, National Mobile Television's all-digital, high-definition mobile truck, uses 10 Fujinon lenses — seven 66X and three 20X — with Sony HDC-700 and HDC-750 high-definition video cameras. In a shootout Madison Square Garden conducted, the lenses exhibited the best image quality. The HD-1 was first used at a National Hockey League game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, which was broadcast on the MSG network in the 1080i digital standard.
TCI Media Services of the Monterey Bay, the advertising arm of the TCI Pacific West Division, has selected JVC's 4:2:2 component DIGITAL-S as its in-house editing format. Archiving raw footage economically was a consideration in moving to the digital format. The package included a BR-D85 recorder with pre-read, two BR-D750 editors and a BR-D40 recorder that docks to an Ikegami HL-45 camera for field use. To create effects, the BR-D85 is run through a Pinnacle 601 Aladdin.
Philips Digital Video Systems has delivered the CleverCast PC data broadcasting system to PICKSat, thus facilitating PICKSat's debut of a high-speed multimedia delivery platform over satellite. The system includes a fully redundant IP-DVB Gateway system and PC-DVB digital receiver cards, which are designed to fit into any multimedia PC and integrate into PC software. The CleverCast system allows digital multimedia data to be broadcast at high speeds through digital satellite transmission systems to PCs, followed by transmission to a single user (unicast), a group of users (multicast) or to all users (broadcast). The data is only transmitted to the satellite network once. This push method saves bandwidth and reduces transmission costs.
The Armed Forces Radio & TV Service has selected the Vibrint MPression MPEG-2 4:2:2 production video server to encode digital signals of its first worldwide weather broadcast for satellite distribution to the Pacific, Atlantic and Americas regions. The broadcast allows military personnel and workers in U.S. embassies in remote areas to hear weather reports in English for military locations. MPression encodes a serial digital signal from the weather producer into broadcast-quality MPEG-2 files, which are stored on a hard drive and transmitted over a T1 network. The system has an external breakout box for digitizing the video, which prevents electrical noise from interfering in the encoding process.
Odetics has acquired International Media Integration Services Limited, a UK-based developer of video browsers for the broadcast TV and media industries. The companies have a long-standing relationship and have collaborated on numerous products for the broadcast market. The acquisition gives Odetics expertise in the development and support of integrated solutions for broadcasters.
WPDE-TV, Florence, SC, has purchased a Philips Digital Video Systems automation system for the automation processing of the local broadcast station and its LMA channel. The system comprises an MC-900 automation computer and a media manager computer, which provides media information and acts as a hot backup computer for the MC-900. The system has a multichannel traffic interface to a digital video server and a backup video server. The system also controls a router and master-control switcher.
A Philips automation system also provides the remote control of a new nationwide video distribution system offered by IBM Video Services. The service, which uses advanced digital compression, is delivered through the IBM Global Services asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network and currently links six major U.S. cities. The system is designed to provide a terrestrial alternative to satellite distribution. The Philips WAN-based automation system transfers desired connection schedules from the IBM scheduling system and operates equipment in IBM point-of-presence centers.
OmniAmerica and Dielectric Communications, a unit of General Signal, have signed an agreement under which Dielectric will serve as an equipment supplier for OmniAmerica's broadcast project sites. Dielectric will provide radio-frequency components for digital and NTSC television and FM radio, including antennas, transmission lines, filters, combiners, diplexers, switches and dehydrators.
Snell & Wilcox will provide video and audio processing equipment for DirecTV's new Los Angeles Broadcast Center (LABC) in a deal valued at more than $2.3 million. DirecTV will purchase more than 150 MDD2000 and MDD500 digital video decoders and several hundred Kudos IQ modules, including frame synchronizers, audio digitization and delay, embedded audio inserters, and audio sub-frame routing.
CBS has chosen the Mitsubishi/Tektronix line of second-generation HDTV compression products for terrestrial transmission and return of contribution programming to CBS' New York Broadcast Center. CBS will use the MH-1100EL 4:2:0 HDTV encoder at four stations that have committed to transmit HDTV this month. The full-frame encoder outputs a 4:2:2 compressed signal at up to 100Mb/s.
The Associated Press and Sony are working together to add video editing and video-server control features to ENPS, AP's electronic news-production system. Sony has developed the interface for ENPS based on the open-standard Media Object Server protocol proposed by AP and is helping AP refine and enhance that protocol.
Home & Garden Television (HGTV) has acquired a Cinebase Digital Media Management System to help manage its video, audio and still-images libraries. The system, which is to be implemented within the next 12 to 18 months, will hold an inventory of roughly 10,000 hours of existing video and audio and 20,000 still images, along with unlimited newly created media. The system will support HGTV programming and programming on the Food Network and the DIY (Do It Yourself) Network.
New River Communications, Atlanta, has purchased Panasonic DVCPRO50 equipment for acquisition and playback. The sale included an AJ-D900W camcorder and AJ-D950 VTR.
KARK-TV, an NBC affiliate in Little Rock, AK, recently purchased its 11th Azden WMS-Pro wireless microphone system. KARK-TV also has five Azden WMT-Pro handheld mics with built-in transmitters and 10 JVC KY-19 cameras with S-VHS decks equipped with Azden WMS-Pro wireless systems.
Adherent Systems has signed an OEM deal to supply DiviCom real-time digital video monitoring technology. The deal allows the functionality of Adherent's SV970 Stream View multistream real-time monitor to be integrated with the DiviCom THESYS network management system. THESYS provides complete digital video facility management in conjunction with DiviCom MPEG-2 compression systems.
Leitch's Northeast sales office has relocated to 111 Galway Place, 1st Floor, Teaneck, NJ 07666; 201-833-8083; fax: 201-833-8089; toll-free: 888-835-6424. The office houses the company's national sales headquarters; Richard Cooper, network sales; Rich Zabel, regional sales; and numerous field service engineers.
CBS has chosen NUCOMM for the manufacture, test and commissioning of its dual-channel digital microwave links (STL) to be installed at three CBS-owned stations. Each link will combine the stations' NTSC analog signal and the HDTV signal at the studio and transport them via microwave to the TV stations' NTSC and HDTV transmitters, which are located at a remote site. The TV studio will be linked to the NTSC and HDTV transmitter through a single microwave channel.
ESPN has chosen National TeleConsultants (NTC) to provide design and systems integration for a digital production facility in Bristol, CT. The digital facility will service ESPNEWS 24-hour sports news network. NTC will also design and install the digital infrastructure at ESPN to accommodate future digital facilities. In other news, DirecTV has chosen NTC to provide baseband system design and integration services for the Los Angeles Broadcast Center (LABC).
The ISIS Group will design and manufacture more than 100 RTUs for the DirecTV Los Angeles Broadcast Center (LABC). The RTUs will provide for switching between pairs of incoming video and audio signals from satellite and fiber-optic signal feeds at the LABC. Each TRU is a multilevel 2x1 switcher, consisting of a single channel of video, four channels of audio and five general-purpose interface inputs.
Ocean Way L.A. has purchased a Sony Oxford digital console for the new 5.1 record and mix room in its Record One Studio. Another Oxford is already in operation at Ocean Way Nashville. The studio complex consists of seven music mixing/scoring rooms. In addition, Sony's DADR-5000 digital audio disk recorders will be installed in Todd-AO's facilities around the world.
Paxson Communications has ordered Magni Systems AVM-510T automated video monitoring systems for 40 of the 87 stations in its PAX TV network. Paxson's engineering group in Clearwater, FL, will remotely monitor transmitter signals at the 40 stations.
TASCAM has sold 39 digital dubbers to Skywalker Sound, a division of Lucas Digital Ltd. LLC. Skywalker Sound will use MMP-16 units to play back material edited on its WaveFrame and Pro Tools digital audio workstations. MMR-8 units will serve as master recorders for pre-dubs, mix stems and final mixers.
Tektronix and Avid Technology have announced the integration of the Tektronix Profile video server and the Avid NewsCutter news editing system. The integration of the systems allows material to be acquired entirely in the DVCPro format, edited and broadcast.
Enterprise Post, a division of Enterprise Studios, has expanded its AMS Neve Capricorn digital consoles on THX Stage A and in Studio M. The addition of 24 fader strips and a third AFU Control Section on the Stage A desk and 96 paths in each console gives each console 256 channel paths, allowing the company to work on large-scale movies.
NTL has secured satellite service contracts from Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and the new Littlewoods/Granada joint-venture home shopping channel to uplink digital TV news, entertainment and home shopping channels to the first shared multiplex on the new Astra 2A satellite. The eight-year deal with TBS will see NTL supply a turnkey solution for the end-to-end distribution of three channels: CNN, the Cartoon Network and TNT. NTL will uplink Turner's new digital TV broadcasts to Astra 2A for broadcast direct-to-home across the UK from a common multiplex open to other broadcasters transmitting on the same transponder.
Philips Digital Video Systems will supply DVB/MPEG-2 compression equipment to Canal+ Nederland, the Dutch arm of one of Europe's pay-TV operators. TokenMux and SimulCrypt satellite broadcast systems were delivered for the August launch. Canal+ Nederland will use two systems uplinked in the Netherlands and one via a SDH link in Luxembourg. Philips will produce DST 5816 MPEG2-DVB compatible receivers for end-users.
The Ampex DST 712 library will provide the main near on-line storage for the London News Network (LNN). The system will allow LNN to store more than 450 hours of video.
New Century Productions, Allentown, PA, has ordered a Calrec 60-channel Q2 dual in-line analog console. The console will be installed into a 53-foot OB vehicle, NCP III TV Truck, with expanding sides in January 1999.
KSHB-TV NBC 41 in Kansas City, MO, has upgraded its audio system with an Orban Audicy VX digital audio workstation. The workstation is used by KSHB and sister station KMCI Channel 38 for full-length programs and for sweetening audio on advertisers' spots.
Cue Corp., the parent company of QTV, O'Connor Camera Support and Autocue, has acquired Data Center Management (DCM), a supplier of newsroom automation systems.
Fox Sports will use Discreet Logic's Frost broadcast graphics system and Vertigo Computer Solutions' Producer external control applications as the graphics platform for the Fox NFL Sunday show. Fox will use frost for the 1998/99 season pre-game, game break, halftime and post-game shows from Fox Sports' Los Angeles studio. The system is integrated into Fox's Central Scoring System by Vertigo's Producer application. Run-time control of the on-air and preview frost systems is provided by a Producer product called the Playout Manager.
ABC Hollywood has installed a 48-input AMX Neve Libra audio production console. The console is installed in Studio PP2 at ABC's studio facility. The room is the primary post-production room for all of ABC's TV programming and promotional programming originating from ABC's West Coast studios.
The Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDF) has announced a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to launch RTNDF's News Judgment and Ethics Project. The project is intended to encourage high standards of electronic journalism and to enhance the public's confidence in the electronic news media. The three-year project features the following program elements: creating a prominent national project advisory council, sponsoring a national benchmark survey on the public's perception and news directors' opinions of the local broadcast media (year one), holding 18 regional public forums on journalism integrity, developing new training materials, including an in-newsroom ethics curriculum and example story tape to be used for newsroom discussion of ethical issues, and carrying out a second national survey on public attitudes about journalism (year three).
Gerry Pesavento, former director of sales and marketing for DiCon Fiberoptics, has formed Alloptic, a supplier of fiber-optic network products. Alloptic, which stands for all-optical networking, is a supplier of fiber-optic network equipment, including optical network switches, WDMs, fiber monitors, wavelength converters and other custom fiber-optic networking products. The company's address is 2215 Alto Court Road, Davis, CA 95616; 530-759-7865; fax 530-759-7866; info@alloptic.com; www.alloptic.com.
Encore Productions threw a celebration for the grand opening of Casino Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The "License to Thrill" celebration included 6,000 celebrity and VIP guests and featured a water and stunt spectacular in the rotunda of the casino as well as live music, light shows, acrobats and pyrotechnics.
Digital Audio Research (DAR) has appointed Romco Trading as its distributor in Kuwait. Also, the Elixir Artistic Production & Distribution Company of Cairo, Egypt, has upgraded its existing SoundStation Gold system with DAR's Genesis operating software complemented by additional storage and processing facilities.
Keytech, S.A., a Sony Broadcast & Professional Latin America authorized reseller, donated a Sony Trinicom 5100 SuperSite system as part of a project for Argentina's National Communications Commission. The system will be used to help those stationed at the Marambio Air Force Base keep in touch with distant locations for a variety of applications. Before videoconferencing, communication with the outside world was limited to short-wave radio. Scientific, business and personal communications will now be more direct.
Stanford Telecom has gained approval for its STEL-2176 subscriber-modem modulator/demodulator chip and STEL-9257 headend demodulator assembly as fully compatible with the MCNS specification. The approval was gained through the PICS Proforma process, developed by CableLabs. The process is based on a conformance checklist of tests that must be executed to determine product performance.
DirecTV has signed commercial programming distribution agreements with 10 leading restaurant/bar chains. The restaurant chains will offer DirecTV programming in more than 500 locations nationwide. As part of the agreements, DirecTV will support the commercial establishments via marketing and advertising campaigns. The restaurants chains include Chili's, Macaroni Grill, On the Border, Hooters, El Torito, Chi-Chi's and Bertucci's.
Harris Corporation has delivered its first two high-definition ATSC MPEG-2 encoding systems. Both KGO-TV, an ABC-owned and operated station in San Francisco, and WBNS-TV, a CBS affiliate in Columbus, OH, have received Harris Flexicoders fully configured for high-definition television. Flexicoder is capable of HDTV and SDTV encoding in both interlace- and progressive-scan formats. The KGO unit will operate at 720p, and the WBNS unit will be operated at 1080i. The Flexicoder will encode all 18 ATSC formats. The Flexicoder was developed by Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies, with input from Harris. The system incorporates a number of interfaces to ensure compatibility with current and future components in the evolving DTV air chain.
IMMAD ECVS has installed 390 of Tally Display Corporation's under-monitor displays as part of its SAR network monitoring system at EchoStar's Satellite Broadcast Facilities, in Cheyenne, WY. The SAR system is a multi-channel audio and video monitoring system developed and supplied by IMMAD ECVS. The system outputs various status messages to the TDC display, causing the display to change color or display format in response to the message.
People
Chyron is restructuring its sales organization supporting North and South America. Richard S. Hajdu, vice president, sales, Americas, will head a new sales organization. Bruce Levine (East) and Ryad Kahale (West) are the two area sales directors. Two new positions have been added to support broadcasters and program producers in dealing with digital systems design issues: Terry Barnum has been appointed director of business development, distribution systems; Bill Hendler has been named director of business development, DTV systems. The restructuring also includes recasting dealer agreements into a new Channel Partner Program, which provides incentives, co-op advertising, and training in digital systems sales and installation.
Tektronix, Beaverton, OR, has appointed Michael Oliveri vice president of U.S. sales and marketing within its Measurement Business Division (MBD).
Steve Wong will be Leitch's regional sales manager for the southwestern United States. Wong will cover southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.
TASCAM, Montebello, CA, has appointed Michael McRoberts product-planning manager.
Paul Ito will be president of Otari (U.S. operations), whose headquarters in Foster City, CA, will move to Los Angeles.
Bill Harland will be Midwestern regional sales manager for Acrodyne Industries, Ottawa, IL.
James A. Frezzolini, an inventor and pioneer in the development of professional equipment for the TV newsgathering industry, died Sept. 13 at the age of 92. Frezzolini was the founder of General Research Labs, a division of Frezzolini Electronics, and honorary chairman of the board of Frezzolini Electronics. Frezzolini developed the "Big Bertha" sports camera, portable camera lighting, 16mm sound-on-film news cameras, power converters, rechargeable battery packs, chargers and the means to integrate these items into portable newsgathering. The Big Bertha was featured in a newsgathering exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum.
Joseph French is director of a new engineering solutions business unit at Columbine JDS, Denver. The unit will be responsible for all CJDS products in the broadcast engineering marketplace.
David Johnsrud has been appointed engineering manager of Telemetrics, Mahwah, NJ. Johnsrud will manage all phases of new product development for the camera control and robotics product line.
Peter M. Tarca has been named president and chief officer of Vibrint Technologies, Bedford, MA.
Eleven award winners were recognized Oct. 30 at the SMPTE Honors and Awards Reception on October 30, in Pasadena, CA. The recipients were William H. Smith, Honorary Membership; Paul R. Beck, Herbert Farmer and Rene Villeneuve, The Citation for Outstanding Service; Sherwood Woody Omens, The Eastman Kodak Gold Medal; Peter Z. Adelstein, The Fuji Gold Medal Award; Jim Frazier, The John Grierson International Gold Medal; Ronald W. Jarvis, The Technicolor/Herbert T. Kalmus Gold Medal; Katherine Cornog, The SMPTE Journal Award; David K. Fibush, The SMPTE Journal "Certificates of Merit"; and Etsuro Saito, The Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal Award.
Dolby Laboratories, San Francisco, announced the appointment of Tom Daily as marketing manager of broadcast products. Dolby will serve as primary liaison with broadcast networks, stations and systems integrators. |
