CTV Outside Broadcast invests in Leader master reference test instruments
CTV Outside Broadcast (OB), a Euro Media Group company, has chosen Leader LV7300 and LV7600 rasterizing waveform monitors as master reference instruments for its OB3 and OB12 OB trucks.
Occupying a half-rack width 1U form factor, the LV7300 is a 4K/HD/SD HDR rasterizer designed for use in studios, trucks, post production facilities and playout suites.
“Leader test instruments have proved highly reliable, efficient and operator friendly right back to our first purchase of LV7770 multi-SDI rasterizers six years ago,” commented Paul Francis, CTV’s CTO. “Some of the projects we work on are massive in scale, taking in feeds from well over 100 cameras. High precision monitoring of HD and UHD signal flow is vital, both to achieve accurate matching of incoming feeds and to ensure that we are maintaining the full available dynamic range from source right through to output.
“This latest purchase comprises 12 LV7300 and two LV7600 instruments. Both models can be fully operated from the front panel which, combined with their compact size, makes them ideal for use in OB suites. We normally assign the output to a multiscreen display where it can be viewed easily from any part of a production suite. The LV7300 and LV7600 have a very similar control menu structure so operators can move freely between them. The resultant measurements are precise, repeatable and can be copied off to USB memory for easy logging or sharing,” Francis added.
Said Thameside TV sales manager Chris Margrave-Gregory: “These instruments fully live up to their reputation as the Swiss Army knives of the broadcast video and audio production industry. Leader’s LV7300 in particular packs more features into its size than practically any broadcast-grade test instrument on the market while still maintaining the highly robust build quality which is essential in any product taken out on the road. Both of the LV7600 units include the SER03 16-channel audio display option and one also has the SER05 10G IP input and analysis module. We pre-installed these accessories as plug-ins. All 12 instruments can be upgraded to 4K when required via Leader’s ZEN-series software unlocking path.”
Cinezone and Cinelite come as standard on both products, continuing Leader’s long heritage of providing products that support operational and engineering test and measurement requirements within a single instrument. It provides full support for SD-SDI right up to single-link 12G-SDI sources, including HD-SDI and 3G-SDI. The standard feature set includes HD-SDI up to 12G-SDI signal generation, SDR and HDR signal monitoring, video signal waveform display, vector waveform display and source image display with high sensitivity focus detection.
Multiple displays can be operator-configured for simultaneous viewing on the rasterizer output screen. Optional features include eye pattern and jitter measurement, closed-caption monitoring, CIE color chart, high dynamic range measurement, built-in test pattern generation, focus assist, customisable layout, tally interface, 4K/UHD operation and 12G-SDI interface.
Housed in a low-profile 19 inch 1U form-factor for easy rack or desk mounting, the LV7600 rasterizer provides all the facilities needed to seamlessly monitor UHD/HD/SD SDI as well as video over IP signals. It includes a broad set of engineering-related features including test pattern generation, eye pattern display, jitter measurement, closed-caption monitoring, CIE color chart, high dynamic range measurement, focus assist, operator-configurable screen layout, tally interface, 4K/UHD operation, 10G IP input and 12G-SDI interfaces. SMPTE 2022-6, SMPTE 2022-7 and the recently published SMPTE 2110 protocols are all supported. The LV5600 also incorporates Leader’s intuitive Cinezone and Cinelite which are familiar to many content production staff.