Snell has all angles covered with IBC plans

Live production sport users heading to IBC can check out the new lower-cost Kahuna 360 Compact advanced production switcher. It offers the functionality of the popular full-size Kahuna 360, including seven keyers per M/E, resource sharing with Make M/E technology, and FormatFusion3, which supports any format in and any format out. The compact and cost-effective 6U chassis gives users the ability to support SD, HD, and 1080p (single link) functionality for a smooth and cost-effective migration from HD to 1080p and ensures Snell’s award-winning production switcher technology is accessible to an even wider audience. Easy to deploy and equipped with the familiar Kahuna interface, Kahuna 360 Compact is ideal for trucks and studio-based productions.

Showing in Europe for the first time at IBC2012 is Snell’s new KudosPro signal processing platform. KudosPro has a stylish form factor, boasts unique processing density (up to four channels of conversion in 1U), and offers superb quality frame rate and format conversions at an extremely attractive price point. Performing 3Gbps, HD, and SD standards conversion (frame rate conversion), as well as up-, down-, and cross conversion, the KudosPro platform offers a cost-effective range of converters to suit all applications including international program exchange; content repurposing for Internet, TV, and Blu-ray™ distribution; and high-density teleport and satellite distribution.

Snell also will offer new features to the ICE Channel-in-a-box systems. With a focus on incorporating more of the channel into the box, Snell’s ICE now includes integrated 3D and 2D graphics and CG functionality with timeline editing control and the ability to populate fields from Morpheus automation schedule events, as well as external data sources. Complementing ICE’s HD and SD simulcast capabilities, the addition of a delay server provides the ability to record the output of a channel for delayed playout services. ICE also offers variable-speed playout and audio processing.

Snell will also introduce new user interfaces that make Morpheus even easier to use and allow a single operator to monitor the highest number of playout channels. The company says Morpheus v3.0 boasts full virtual machine support that facilitates lower space and power requirements while improving system resilience.

For those with media asset management concerns, Snell has introduced Momentum, what it says is a breakthrough in workflow automated media asset management and resource planning. Momentum delivers maximum control and flexibility to media and broadcast operators, enabling them to reduce operational costs by allocating resources more efficiently and making content more accessible.

Signal routing will also get an update as Snell will showcase the new advanced hybrid processing (AHP) technology built into the company’s Sirius 800 series of large-scale, multi-format expandable hybrid routers. The new 15RU Sirius 830 will be on display featuring high-performance modules for flexible routing of SD, HD, ASI, and 3Gbps signals. New embedded audio and AES/MADI processing modules with AHP facilitate embedded audio routing, audio track swapping, and processing on all inputs and outputs. This allows users to route any combination of embedded, discrete, and MADI sources and destinations. AHP provides the most powerful and flexible processing available, offering huge space and cost savings when compared with traditional hybrid routing.

Snell will also feature the Alchemist Ph.C-HD motion-compensated standards converter with a new file I/O option that simplifies integration of the HD standards converter into file-based workflows, and also with additional processing modes that yield even better performance for film-rate conversions. This file I/O option incorporates Snell’s new FileFlow technology, which allows users to realize the efficiency benefits of end-to-end tapeless workflows while maintaining the exceptional conversion quality and real-time processing delivered by Alchemist Ph.C-HD.

The IQ line of 3G modules is also getting some new additions to provide translation between common 1080p50/60 standards and to allow these high bandwidth signals to be efficiently transported over existing SDI infrastructure. New modules include a 3Gbps format translator that provides signal translation between SMPTE 372M dual-link and SMPTE 425M single-link sources, allowing signal integration into a single system standard. For sending 3Gbps signals over the same distances as HD-SDI, Snell has developed a series of modules that can compress the 3Gbps signals and send them over standard HD-SDI copper infrastructure.

Lastly, look for Hyperion, a signal monitoring technology that helps operators to monitor content more efficiently and, in turn, ensure that contractual and legal obligations are met. The technology’s combination of subjective and extensive monitoring, including low bit rate IP video “confidence” thumbnails, with user-definable graphical warnings and alarms, provides operators with live system data in a way that allows large and complex operations across multiple sites and continents to be simply and reliably monitored on a 24/7 basis. At IBC2012 Snell is introducing its range of 3G-capable Hyperion monitoring solutions engineered to meet the need for increasingly advanced monitoring capabilities in a multi-format system environment.