HKJC selects Snell Kahuna 360 for HD upgrade
One of the world’s largest horse-racing organisations, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), has chosen Snell Kahuna 360 multi-format SD/HD production switchers as part of a major, multi-phase upgrade of its broadcasting centre to support HD operations.
The HKJC, which produces a total of 9,600 hours of TV programming every year, selected the Kahuna 360 switchers to replace an array of aging vision mixers.
The weekly schedule includes more than 36 hours of programming, including pre- and post-race programme and infotainment content in addition to live coverage of twice-weekly race days. Carried by several Hong Kong SD and HD channels as well as pay TV and satellite services in seven other countries, the HKJC’s broadcasts reach more than 3 million viewers every week.
After a stringent evaluation and procurement process, Kahuna 360 scored highest in technology and price/performance, as well as its ability to provide multi-format inputs and outputs for both SD and HD. Another critical factor in the HKJC’s selection of Kahuna 360 was its resilience and ability to auto-fallback seamlessly with no visible interruption in service.
In phase one of the switcher upgrade, two Kahuna 360 4 M/E mainframes were integrated with HKJC’s existing multi-viewer and TSL tally control systems. Since each Kahuna 360 mainframe can support two or more control panels, four separate programmes are produced simultaneously. One mainframe serves as the field programme mixer to produce a clean TV feed from over 40 HD cameras plus playout sources during the live race coverage. The other Kahuna 360 is the master programme mixer, combining the clean feed output with playout and bilingual data superimpositions to deliver the programme feed in both Chinese and English for the ATV Home Channel. Kahuna 360’s support of multiple layers and keyers as well as its DVE capabilities has been essential to this requirement.
In addition, Kahuna 360 will be a central component in phases two and three of HKJC’s HD migration, which includes the design and build-out of a new broadcast centre.
Oonagh Chan, head of broadcasting services for HKJC, comments: “With such a busy programming and production schedule, reliable and state-of-the-art production switchers are a critical element in the HKJC broadcast environment. Kahuna 360 is truly an all-in-one solution, with the scalability we need to evolve our operation into the future, As a longtime user of Snell switching, conversion and playout equipment, we are keen to acquire solutions that offer high quality and reliability as well as value — and we know we can depend on Snell’s first-rate support organisation.”