Snell Systems Integrated Into CTV OB's HD Truck

Broadcast television system design and integration specialist Neil Wilson Enterprises (NWE) has integrated Snell routing and control systems at the heart of a newly refurbished and upgraded HD unit for CTV Outside Broadcast (CTV OB), one of Europe's largest and most respected independent OB companies.
CTV OB's "OB4" is a unique quadruple expando, originally engineered and integrated by NWE for the light entertainment market, and it is the last of three CTV OB units converted by NWE to meet the demands of HD production and broadcasting.
Neil Wilson, Engineering Director at Neil Wilson Enterprises, said: "In the highly competitive UK OB market, it's important to keep downtime to a minimum and so the key challenge was to design and build a system that fully satisfied customer requirements within the tight delivery schedule specified.
"To achieve this goal, we needed a routing system that met our performance specifications while minimising installation hassles. The Snell systems fit the bill, as they are priced keenly while still offering a full level of resilience and redundancy backup, an important factor now that OB design has become reliant
on routing infrastructure."
Within OB4, a large 576 x 576 Cygnus HD video router is coupled with a powerful 192 x 192 Sirius 256 AES/EBU audio router, commanded by an updated Aurora Control system with refurbished control panels from the original truck design and new control panels from the Snell 6700 and 6276XY range. Snell's Cygnus and Sirius routing systems enabled a smooth installation, integrating and operating just as expected. The multiformat routers enable seamless operation in either the HD or SD domain with very rapid conversion between the two formats.
NEW also upgraded the truck to include HD signal monitoring and Dolby 5.1 digital audio support that satisfies today's extensive multichannel audio requirements. Because the new Snell systems support a convenient upgrade path to 1080p (3 Gbps) operation, CTV OB can easily adopt its truck to 3 Gbps as dictated by customer requirements.
Wilson added: "We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Snell for more than 15 years, and we have always found the company's products to be well-made, reliable and equipped to meet our clients' expectations.
"Ease of configuration, reliable performance and responsive support are crucial in getting complex systems like these up and running in a short timescale and we enjoy all of these benefits when working with Snell and the company's wide range of solutions."
Further information is available at: www.snellgroup.com.
(KMcA/BMcC)