bji e's inside: state-of-the-art still stores plus ... · when we set out to produce the best...

BJI E's INSIDE: STATE-OF-THE-ART STILL STORES WIVE MORE BANG FOR THE BUCKPLUS: STATION SPENDING SURVEY; TESTING RF; AUDIO FOR VIDEO GUIDE

u'llirI11111111111111111111111111111111WIIIM11111111111111111111 NM=I Ell 111111111111111111MMIll IIIIIMINIMMIIMEME111111111a ri r:rinnrnrrorrrifin orPlr 11777:11T1177117T: 111111111111111 11131111 MI mil 11 1 1111111111 1111 1111 111Ilr1llr4'11161111 I I MI 111111 1111rilri111111111111111111111 1111 MINIM nil EA II 111111 1111 111.11

1111MONNI :1111111111111111111111101 .711.JULY.1990AN ACT III PUBLICATION $3.00 .

..

Arov`, IMEMIIIIIIIIIIIIIME

I

. 11111111111111111Hr

MOVINGCLOSER TODIGITALNEW BOXES BRIDGE THE

GAP BETWEEN

TODAY AND

TOMORROW

imm

mmU

am7

=Mradis,WeinWrairttINW r lk" 3 4° 5

* ROHDE& SCHWARZPing. otio

0 414

.,40111104

.r

f- f-wt 410111411 - SAW 1410

I MIN

(- I-IAA MINI-

61

nab 411

( 1m014'

011000

I.arcw

44

0

0

1n, 1111111111

0 in, Ml 1, IS.,

r

. ANIS -e r141.11

MM.

c

A SUPERIOR TV DEMODULATORNEEDN'T COST AN ARM AND A LEG!

At Rohde & Schwarz we've been sell-ing high performance TV demodu-lators for years ... and saving ourcustomers thousands of dollars overcompetitive units. Our latest EMFseries features envelope and synchro-nous detection. There's a Q signaloutput for ICPM measurements andan internal zero reference pulse foraccurate modulation measurements.The EMF series also provides a wide -band (120 kHz) aural output.

Three feature -packed models tochoose from: Model EMFT. Synthesized all -

channel receiver including CATV to550 MHz. (Frequency is selected bychannel number ± 100 kHz AFC).Switchable SAW filter for adjacentchannel requirements.E Model EMFK. Single channelcrystal -controlled receiver with a sen-sitive and selective front end for offair reception.

If you are willing to passup Q -signal outputs, theEKF2 series offers syn-chronous demodulationand optional wide -bandaural output at 1/3 lesscost.

Ei Model EMFD. The precision TVdemodulator for every transmittersite.

Check with us to arrange for a dem-onstration ... and keep your armand leg!

4:*ROHDE&SCHWARZ4425 Nicole Drive, Lanham, MD 20706Telephone: (301. 459-8800

In Canada:Rohde & Schwarz Canada Inc.Kanata, Ontario, K2K 1X7Telephone: (613) 592-8000

Outside Nortb America:Rohde & Schwarz HeadquartersMuhldorfstr. 15, D-8000 Munchen 80Federal Republic of GermanyTelephone: (089141-29-0

Circle 100 on Reeder Service Card.

11,1E:

w

wI-

elavisioirtuJuly 1990

Dear TELEVISION ENGINEERING Reader:

As you know, BME's TELEVISION ENGINEERING is written for television engineers andtechnical decision makers. Each month, it focuses its editorial on the needs of engineersin TV broadcast, teleproduction, cable, and corporate/institutional environments.

Because we'd like your feedback, comments, and input on the magazine, we're invitingreaders like you to tell us in 50. words or less what makes TELEVISION ENGINEERING anessential read. What do you like most about the magazine? How does it help you in yourjob? How can it be improved to even better serve your needs?

Thank you in advance for taking a few moments to help us set the future direction ofTELEVISION ENGINEERING. Please fold this questionnaire in half, staple or tape it, anddrop it in the mail. Postage is pre -paid for your convenience.

Yours truly,

C42:71Peter CaranicasEditor -in -Chief

PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE

NAME

TITLE

COMPANY

ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP

TELEPHONE NUMBER

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO 00363

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE NEW YORK, N.Y

ACT Ill Publishing 401 Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10157-1225

Attn: Jennifer Ware

NO POSTAGE NECESSARY

IF MAILED IN THE

UNITED STATES

1...1111.11.,,11.11,111111....11111.1.11.111111.11

ARK.ELO/CBS/DVM/TOL/EHT/BRZ:MOX:AIT/NEM/SLA;ETKJLVI:ETK,FCF,FQC,FMT.BFT.ITV:KVR.KVU,JOH.BUT.IVM-ISV-7

TVNZCCTVVOKTTVRAIKBCBTQ-7

WITFKJTVWISNWCVBWAKAKSTSWJCL

WTVHKG BTKRGVKTXSWSLSWHMEWJZY

KPIXKSEEKRMAWOFLWATLWHOWGN

VVVIZWGALKOATWUTRWCETWSYXWCAU

These stations had to pay usto get on this list.

STW-9BCV-8KBSCSSRBBCWABIWCCBWETMWXXIKEZIWTAEKSFYWCFEWTTW

WIPBWTVJKGUNKCOYWHCTWMAZWBALWBFFKSPRWPTZWHYYKLRNKTMDKODE

WETKKHJKARKWYAHWTTVKFMEKLTVWSFAKPNXKICUKSBWKCNCWRCWXEL

What we mean, of course, is that they all have purchasedAmpex switchers, and we don't exactly give those things away.But what's more important is what the TDs and directors atstations like these are saying about our switchers...

"We can configure the switcher any way we choose, fast!Between live news and some spot breaks we have only 30seconds to change TDs, directors, everything! With Century wecan do it, with time for a sip of coffee to spare?"

"Key clip level, gain level, etc., are all stored per sourcein the Century's key memory-we never have to adjust a keyon -air?"

"We store all of our switcher setups on the same diskwhere we store our program options. Then we can pop the disk

WTVWWPSDKPLCWJZKMOVWFIEWHASKLFYWDSUWMARWLOSWXIIWRGBWBNS

WNEPWVIAWISWSMVKCOSKPRCKTRKVVWCPWYFFKBTXKFDMKSATKVUEKSL

V V L -1L -J,.1

VVVTVKVVUKPHOWHMMWAVYWXEXWOWKKBDIKWHYWTVTWGNXWAVEWECTWMHTKWTVKABYWSAVWBTVWFMYWC POWCIVKUTVKUSAKXLYKXASKWCH

in and have our entire switcher ready, bingo, for the wholeprogram...with all the panel memory setups... in 3 or4 seconds!"

So if you're considering a switcher for your broadcastfacility, get the full story before making a decision. Call1-800-25AMPEX for a poster and an information kit.

AM PEX© 190 Ampex Conmralion

BM-070-CENB

BETACAM

11111107

registered trademarks of Sony.

When we set out to produce the best

image acquisition tool for field production, we

knew the competition would be heavy. Which is

exactly why the Sony BVW-400 comes out on top.

No other imaging device puts such

extraordinary performance into such a compact,

lightweight camcorder.

The BVW-400 Betacam SP® camcorder is

engineered with Sony's most advanced CCD sensor

technology-the Hole Accumulated Diode (HAD)

768 FIT chip. So you can shoot video with 700

lines of resolution. With virtually no vertical smear.

At the same time, the BVW-400 weighs

only 15 lbs. It's just 15 inches long. And its low

profile offers an unobstructed peripheral view.

There's also an optional adapter for simul-

taneous Betacam SP® recording on an external VTR.

All this performance in such an easy -to -

handle package will give you a degree of creative

flexibility that you've never had before.

Of course, when you consider Sony is the

originator of one-piece technology, a camcorder

this good should come as no surprise.

For more information about the BVW-400,

call 1 -800 -635 -SONY.

After all, while a camcorder should be

designed to weigh as little as possible, its perform-

ance should never be taken lightly.

SONYBROADCAST PRODUCTS

Donald BellAudio TechnicianKDKA-TV2 PittsburghWestinghouse Broadcasting

Charles Fagan IIIOperations ManagerKDKA-TV2 PittsburghWestinghouse Broadcasting

®

auditronicz inc.Auditronics, Inc., 3750 Old Getwell Road.Memphis.Tennessee 38118 901 362 1350

Circle 101 on Reader Service Card.

"Auditronics' 900 does just whatwe need for television audio,""and does it OUR way," says KDKA's Charlie Fagan. "Other manufac-turers offered consoles, but they'd force us to conform to their wayof doing things."

"Auditronics asked. 'What do you need to be able to do?,'and we told them. 'The 900 will do it,' they said. And it does. Wewanted to be able to manage our Utah router with simple, one -buttoncommands from the console. The 900 computer does that, and givesus 64 preselect setups, with switching from live -to -live, back-to-back,different studios, different wall boxes, all without missing a cue. Andthe router interface was a simple five -wire RS -232C hookup to the900's computer," says Fagan.

"This Auditronics 900 is the best board the station has everhad," says Don Bell. "I especially like its physical layout; everything'seasy to reach. It's got all the features I need, and some added touchesother boards don't have."

Fagan says, "Auditronics' mix -minus lets us manage up toeight satellite feeds and assign them to any of 20 IFB circuits withouttieing up aux sends or sub -groups on the console.

In short, the technicians working our 900 console love it,and when they're happy, so am I."

For information on the Auditronics 900 console CharlieFagan selected for KDKA-TV2, call toll -free 1-800-638-0977. Doit today.

itm I

TOyisioo higitieering

MOVINGCLOSER TODIGITAL

r".".

On the Cover:Digital conversion devices.Left, from top: Accom 122;

Accom 221; Sony chip used forerror correction, encoding and

decoding; Faroudja decoder andencoder. Right, from top:

Abekas A20; Alpha Image 300;BTS XD DC decoder and CD 7encoder. Photography by Marc

Rosenthal. Story on p. 26.

33 Color correction at thePost Group in Hollywood.

B11ESommiernssomommoorsummommENNENENNENE tr immorourmENNI sionnomunwromme

rTTTr1907T7M1 inr.17vrirrrlr.EN F71MN I I I 11 1111E111111 111111111 111 111111

1111111I 11 11 Aril 111111INE11111111M1v111111M111111'JI111111111 1111 :1

JULY 1990 VOL. 26, NO. 7

Features

26 Digital ConnectionsAs long as digital and analog co -exist,managing the equipment interface will be amajor concern among TV engineers.

32 Freezing Images With HotTechnologyNew technology is greatly extending thepower and versatility of still -store systems.

38 RF Test & Measurement:Delivering the GoodsAttracting today's finicky viewers requirestop-quality programming-and a top-qualitysignal.

42 Station Equipment Buying 1990Television Engineering continues itsexclusive study of purchasing trends amongTV stations. This month: changes inequipment purchasing budgets in 1988,1989and 1990.

44 New Technology Buyer's Guide:Audio, Part IIA supplement to our April audio -for -videodirectory, cross-referenced by productcategory.

38 Inspecting RF line at KUVN-TV.

TELEVISION ENGINEERING/July 1990

26 Touchscreen-controlled routing switcher.

7

110

12

7:R 8106:13114RE850 2:

Show Panasonic Broadcast Systems your busiestlog, your toughest break. We'll make your day, andwe'll make it easier.

Over 50 systems operate worldwide withPanasonic's M.A.R.C. -relied upon to handle everyscheduled playback from I.D?s, spots and promos toprograms and network. M.A.R.C. works elegantly withtraffic systems from Bias, JDS, Columbine or Enterprise,and finds trouble long before it hits air. As -run logsdocument what ran, when, and if not, why not.

The M.A.R.C. is one tough customer. Its superior

Panasorpc Broadcast Systems Company held Dopes (Northeast) Was ,nylo DC /703, 759-6900 (Southeast)Norcross. GA /404)925-6172.(Mtclwest)Arboglon Hevhts IL (708)981.7325)(317)852.3715 (Southwest),orr Worth rx (B17)685-1132. (Western)BurOani, CA /818)5624501,(Northwest) (408)866.7974 Pens Service, Thence, Inforrnsoort: I wa 222-0741

1/2 -inch MII image quality, its street -smart software andits advanced Matsushita robotics make the M.A.R.C.unbeatable.

Panasonic's M.A.R.C. stays ahead technologically.Optional VTR interfaces control three outboard 1 -inchVTR's; a new Off -Line Cassette Dub System enablesdubbing material onto MII cassettes with minimaloperator entry.

So, go ahead. Sit down at M.A.R.C!s keyboard, andlet M.A.R.C. make your day.

Call toll4ne (ROO) $88-1967 Ext. 15 for mote Inf ormetion and receive FREE Intormathte video cassette. "The Prof enigma I's Guide toComponent Vldso Systems."

Bas Cdumbkne and Enterpr.se are Wrner. el., respect. Ovone,

Panasonic Broadcast Systems Company. One Panasonic Way. Secaucus. NJ 07094 (201)348-7671

PanasonicBroadcast Systems


RJRE

killY10:P0 FIJI 1 L : IEditor In Chief

PETER CARANICASTechnical Editor

WILLIAM A. OWENSSenior Editor

JOHN F. KINGManaging Editor

T. GWEN GRIFFITHCopy Editor

JENNIFER L. GREYContributing Writers:

EVA J. BLINDER, DAN DALEY,CLAUDIA KEINZLE, TIM McCARTNEY,

TOM SOTEREditorial Assistant

ALLAN T. CONYER

Art DirectorDON KROGMAN

Production DirectorNICK TARTAGLIA

Assistant Production ManagerMARK MATEROWSKI

Group PublisherKEVIN J. CONDON

Northern District Sales ManagerWILLIAM P. DEY

Southern District Sales ManagerPAMELA S. VAHTER

Western District Sales ManagerDAVID DUNAWAY

Associate Circulation DirectorMARIA DI PLACIDO

Assistant to the PublisherANNETTE VIERA

Sales AssistantsCHRISTINE RENEE CALI

MANDEA PERME

ACT III PublishingPresident

PAUL DAVID SC1LAEFFERChief Operating OfficerROBERT C. GARDNER

Senior Vice President & Group Publisher,Technical Group

KEVIN J. CONDONSenior Vice President,

Operations and PlanningMARTHA LORINI

Director of Editorial DevelopmentPETER CARANICAS

Vice President, Finance & AdministrationSAM SCHECTER

Director of Marketing & CommunicationsJENNIFER WARE

Director of CirculationSTEPHEN F. WIGGINTONDirector of Manufacturing

CRAIG C. BALICKACT III Publishing

401 Park Ave. So., New York, NY 10016(2121545-5100 Telex: 64-4001

Fax: (2121696-4215Also publishers of:

World Broadcast NewsCorporate Video Decisions

Electronic MusicianMix

BME's Television Engineering (ISSN0005-32011 is published monthly by

T/BpAACT III Publishing. BME's TelevisionEngineering is circulated without

charge to those responsible for television station andteleproduction facility operations and engineering,and to those responsible for specifying and authorizingthe purchase of equipment used in television facilitiesin the U.S. and Canada. These facilities include VHFand UHF TV broadcast stations, cable TV systems, TVnetworks, corporate TV operations, audio and video re-cording studios, teleproduction and postproductionhouses, consultants, etc. Subscription prices are $36one year, $50 two years. Overseas: $50 one year, $75two years. Air mail rates on request. Copyright 1990by ACT III Publishing, New York City. Second classpostage paid New York, NY, and additional mailingoffices.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to BME'sTelevision Engineering, P.O. Box 6056, Duluth, MN55806.

/OP

Columns & Departments

13 ViewpointBroadcasters today are paying for the excessivederegulation that marked the 1980s.

14 UpdateTektronix Slumps . . . . Sony Cuts D-2 Tape Price. . . . Milken "Guilty" Plea Not the End of Junk -Bond Woes . . . . Digital Microwave Focuses onVideo with New Division . . . . The WeatherChannel Offers Public Traveler Services

20 ATV WatchSikes Speaks Out On HDTV

22 Audio for VideoCPN -TV Puts Florida On The Digital Map

48 New ProductsThis month, Television Engineering continues itsfeatured coverage of products introduced at NAB90.

61 Advertisers Index

62 Currents: A Guest EditorialFade to Black: Old -Boy Hiring Network

15 Akio Kobayashi is president ofHitachiDenshi America.

dismzmi

Editorial Advisory BoardJAMES BARTEL, Chief Engineer, Post Effects, ChicagoRICHARD EDWARDS, VP/Dir. of Engineering, Guy Gannett Broadcasting, MiamiNEIL FELDMAN, President, Video Post & Transfer, DallasROBERT FREY, Director of Engineering, Pacific Video Resources, San FranciscoPATRICK HOWLEY, President, Post Perfect, New YorkSTANLEY KRONQUEST, Chief Engineer, HSN Telemation, SeattleJOSEPH MAHEDY, Chief Engineer, Charlex, New YorkKENNETH D. MILLER, VP, Engineering, Capitol Video, Washington, DCROBERT MURCH, VP, Engineering, WPIX-TV, New YorkWILLIAM NAPIER, Dir. of Engineering, WBTV, Jefferson Pilot Comm., CharlotteFRED STEURER, VP, Engineering, Pulitzer Broadcasting Co., St. LouisROY TRUMBULL, Assistant Chief Engineer, KRON-TV, San Francisco

TELEVISION ENGINEERING/July 1990 9

Panasonic FieldRecording

- al 9 e

Panasonic® makes it easierthan ever to carry away the

performance of SVHS. By offeringyou the smallest, lightest and mostversatile SVHS dockable VCRavailable. The Panasonic AG -7450.It delivers field recording with nostrings attached.

Now you can combine the highperformance of Panasonic's 300CLE,200CLE and F70 CCD Cameras

with the AG -7450. To create aone-piece SVHS camcorder systemdesigned for one -person operation.Because everything you need forhigh performance field recordingsits right on your shoulder. Whichmeans greater mobility andflexibility when shooting. TheAG -7450 can also be used as astand-alone field recorder withan optional 14 -pin VCR adaptor.

And even though the AG -7450weighs in at a mere 7.5 pounds, itdelivers heavyweight performance.Because it provides you with allthe exceptional recording andplayback characteristics youdemand. Like the economy oftwo-hour recording on a singlecassette, Y/C signal separationwith over 400 lines of resolutionand a signal-to-noise ratio in

Iv*

With No StringsAttached.

excess of 47dB. So there's no needto "bump" your original footagefor post production.

In addition, the AG -7450provides street smart features.Like an antirolling system tocompensate for gyro error on thevideo head. Four channel audio(two hi-fi and two linear) withindependent level controls. Andan optional vertical interval/

1100110 Nat

I I

no4 I I "

0000

; .

longitudinal time code (VITC/LTC)generator/reader that docksdirectly to the back of the unit.

So if you're looking for alightweight dockable VCR thatperforms like a heavyweight, takea good look at the AG -7450. Youwon't have to look any further.It's Panasonic field recording.With no strings attached.

0.11

X

Elt1103142.960

4/1

For more information and your local dealer,call your nearest regional office.Eastern Zone (201) 348-7620Central Zone: (708) 981-4826

Southern Zone:Dallas Region: (817) 685-1117

Atlanta Regior: (404) 925-6841Western Zone:

Seattle Region: (206) 285-8883Los Angeles Region: (714) 373-7275

PanasonicProfessional/Industrial VideoCircle 1103 on Reader Service Card.

Here are some of the majorthemes and features you'll findin Television Engineeringover the next six months:

AUGUST, 1990CLOSES 7/9

Imaging Technology Special Buyer's guide to digital video effects systems What to look for in color monitorsPLUS: NAB's best products; The UHF tube revolution;Station equipment buying patterns

Rill

TeIDIOM

SEPTEMBERCLOSES 8/8

Double Theme: Mobile TV/Audio for Video SNG trucks in today's newsgathering AES preview: Sounds of the futurePLUS: Paint systems; Video test and measurement report;Inside a major New York post facility

OCTOBERCLOSES 9/7

SMPTE Issue/Focus on Post -Production Annual SMPTE preview A new look at random-access editingPLUS: New S -VHS products; Studio -transmitter links;Chicago teleproduction facility profile

NOVEMBERCLOSES 10/9

RF Engineering/Studio Automation Transmitter newbuilds Buyer's guide to robotic camera systemsPLUS: New products from Video Expo; Florida TV studio profile;Interview with top technical decision -makers

DECEMBERCLOSES 11/8

SMPTE Review/Focus on Digital Technology New products from SMPTE The coming of the digital studioPLUS: Cart systems report; Inside a major cable network'sfacility; Educating TV engineers

JANUARY, 1991CLOSES 12/7

Excellence in Engineering Annual Special issue: The 4th annual Excellence in Engineering AwardsPLUS: New SMPTE products, part II;Report on microwave systems To reserve space, call (212) 545-5100.

Broadcasters todayare paying for the

excessivederegulation that

marked the 1980s.

VIEWPOINT

sk 10 different broadcasters why they're in the doldrums,and you'll get 10 different answers.

Here are 10 at random: VCRs, negative Nielsens, pay cable, lousy program-ming, a slow ad market, basic cable, less leisure time, pay -per -view, Fox, andrunaway programming and production costs.

We'd like to venture an 11th: deregulation.The wave of deregulation that swept government policy when the Reagan

Administration assumed office encouraged a new type of investor and owner toenter the broadcast business. To them, station ownership was purely an invest-ment, not the "public trust" stipulated by the Communications Act. Their mo-tive in purchasing stations was to make quick profits on the heels of fast appre-ciation and a rapid turnaround. They had less commitment to theircommunities than to the corporate bottom line.

The elimination of station holding rules and the easing of restrictions on sta-tion ownership coincided with the availability of junk bonds coming from asimilarly deregulated financial marketplace. The result: a frenzy of stationtrading. As Television Engineering technical editor Bill Owens points out inthis issue's "Update" section, Drexel Burnham Lambert alone provided over $7billion in financing for the broadcast and cable industries.

The loose regulatory climate of the '80s also allowed station operations to be-come highly leveraged-only to collapse under the weight of their own debtwhen harsh economic conditions returned. Stations owned by Milt Grant andTVX were the most visible victims.

But the '80s are over, and the '90s are starting off like the hangover after awild party where money was the main intoxicant. In Washington, the HUDscandal has exposed enormous financial abuses that took place under the noseof a happily oblivious administration. And throughout the country, the mas-sive collapse of the savings and loan industry exemplifies the worst that canresult when regulators are shorn of their power-or look the other way.

Fortunately, the deregulatory craze has run its course, and the talk in Con-gress and the FCC now centers on re -regulation. We hope this new climate,coming in the wake of Drexel's collapse and the drying up of the junk-bondmarket, will lead to a resurgence of commitment to operating stations in thepublic interest. In the long run, responsible broadcasting can only benefit thebottom line.

Peter CaranicasEditor in Chief


UPDATETektronix's Friedley Resigns . . . . Sony Cuts D-2

Tape Price . . . . Milken "Guilty" Plea Not the End ofJunk -Bond Woes . . . . Digital Microwave Focuses onVideo With New Division . . . . The Weather Channel

Offers Public Traveler Services

Television Products Are Not Part ofthe Tektronix Slump

Television products are selling well despite ageneral slump at Tektronix, according to acompany representative.

The slump includes two waves of layoffs,revenue losses, and a decline in stock price. Ac-cording to the Wall Street Journal (May 30,

1990), Tektronix took a net loss of $25 million for its thirdfiscal quarter ending March 3, and will take a $70 millioncharge against fourth-quarter earnings to help pay for re-structuring the company. Meanwhile, stock prices are atan all-time low, according to the Journal, and 1,300 em-ployees will be laid off by August. Those 1,300 join nearly1,400 ex -employees who were cut by the end of the last fis-cal year-and the total of 2,700 represents almost 20 per-cent of the Tektronix work force prior to layoff activity.

Among the departed is David P. Friedley, president andCEO of Tektronix since 1987. Friedley resigned underpressure from the board of directors because financial per-formance was not meeting expectations, reports JeanineNavarra, a Tektronix spokeswoman. "The board of direc-tors felt it was time for a change," she says. Robert W.Lundeen, chairman, will serve as interim CEO, and Wil-liam D. Walker, a director, will be interim president.

"We expect to fill the position and hire a new presidentin three to six months," says Navarra, who adds that thecompany is searching both inside and outside Tektronixfor a replacement. (Friedley had been promoted from hispost as VP and general manager of the CommunicationsGroup.) "We are not excluding any discipline. We mayhire a broadcaster, if he is the right person for the job. Nodecision has been made."

Navarra says that Tektronix's television industry prod-ucts are doing very well, but that a soft market and poorfinancial performance in other areas has hurt business. InApril, Friedley complained that Tektronix had been hurtbadly by a downturn in the defense industry, a major cus-tomer.

In all the swirl of financial woes, a rumor began circu-lating that Sony was ready to take over Tektronix. Navar-ra says that Tektronix did talk with Sony about the GrassValley Group, a prime Tek subsidiary. But no sale willtake place because there was no agreement on price, re-

ports the Journal.

As part of its restructuring efforts, Tektronix will mergethe Communications Group into its Visual SystemsGroup. The Communications Group includes the Televi-sion Products Division and the Grass Valley Group sub-sidiary. Several of the company's other business lines willbe shut down or sold.

Tektronix has a distinguished history. Founded 47years ago, it made its name with the first oscilloscope, andthen created the waveform monitor and the vectorscope. Itreceived a handful of Emmy Awards for its technologicaladvances-some of which were major factors in the cre-ation of color television. At that time, Tektronix test andmeasurement equipment could be found in almost everybroadcast facility in the world.

"We are very optimistic about the future, and about theability of the people in place to get the job done," Navarrasays. "In spite of the recent changes, our customers willnot notice even a blip in service."

-Tom Soter and John King

--"1"""m".1111111111111111MINIE

Sony Cuts D-2Tape Price 20PercentIn a move aimed at over-coming a "barrier" to thepurchase of D-2 tape, SonyMagnetic Products Compa-ny dropped D-2 prices inthe U.S. by 20 percent as ofJune 1. Andrew Mougis,VP, Professional Tape Divi-sion, says that with D-2tape almost two times theprice of one -inch, "there ap-peared to be a barrier" toD-2 purchases.

Even with the pre -Juneprice, demand for D-2 tape

had been mushrooming, ac-cording to Sony. "SonyMagnetic Products has ex-perienced dramatic growthin sales of D-2 tape," claimsMougis. Sony says the for-mat is selling at 20,000pieces a month this year -20 times the monthly fig-ure for last year. Sony ishoping the price reductionwill add fuel to the fire ofU.S. demand.

Meanwhile, "pricing inJapan is much more closelyaligned" between one -inchand D-2, according to Mou-gis, who says that prices forone -inch and D-2 there are

14 July 1990/TELEVISION ENGINEERING

about the same. The U.S.prices for D-2 will now beabout 1.4 times the price ofone -inch. Mougis revealedto Television Engineeringthat Sony's ultimate goal isfor D-2 prices to be on aboutthe same level as one -inchworldwide. However, hesays the recent price cut isa major move and will be"the last move for sometime."

The Sony cut is bound tohave an effect on pricing byother D-2 manufacturers.Mougis says it will "forceother manufacturers to getin line" on pricing.

Sony, which has "greatlyexpanded metal -tape pro-duction over this pastyear," is ready for the ex-pected increased demandfor D-2, says Mougis.-John King

Junk -Bond KingCops Plea AsBroadcastersFace FundingGap"Because of the tremendousamount of publicity thathas surrounded this case, Iwish to make clear that myplea is an acceptance of per-sonal responsibility for myown failings and actions,and not a reflection on theunderlying soundness andintegrity of the segment ofthe capital markets inwhich we specialized."

On April 24, 1990, withthose words, Michael Mil-ken pled guilty to six felonycounts in the securities in-vestigation which broughtdown Drexel BurnhamLambert Inc., the broker-age where Milken headedjunk-bond financing opera-tions.

For much of the 1980s,the names of Milken andDrexel have been linkedwith the type of financingcalled junk bonds, a high -risk financial instrumentthat depends upon rapid in-creases in corporate earn-ings or the sale of corporate

assets to pay back the in-vestors. With the death ofDrexel, the market hasclosed what had been a ma-jor avenue of finance for thecommunications industry.

In the period 1985 to1989, Drexel provided over$7 billion in financing forbroadcasters and cable op-erators. Although it willtake some time before thefull impact of junk financ-ing will be known, one neednot look far to see the tip ofthe iceberg.

In mid -April of this year,the holders of junk bondsthat were issued to financethe purchase of eight tele-vision stations by Univi-sion Holdings agreed to ac-cept an early redemption ofthose bonds. Included inthat group are the holdersof $165 million in junkbonds underwritten byDrexel, who will receiveabout 55.3 cents on theface -value dollar, for a totalloss of over $73 million.

The majority holder ofUnivision is HallmarkCards, which purchased thegroup of eight stations con-trolled by Spanish Interna-tional CommunicationsCorp. The purchase was fi-

People on the MoveAkio Kobayashi, new president of Hitachi DenshiAmerica, aims to make the company more cus-tomer -oriented, and has plans to integrate video,

image, communication and computer technologies . . . .

John Storyk, internationally known studio designerand architect, is currently applying his talents atCrawford Post Production of Atlanta . . . . To helpcoordinate DSC's sales efforts, Chyron now has itsDSC digital sales group reporting to Lawrence Mincer,Chyron's VP, North American Sales. Meanwhile,Chyron sub Aurora named Katcha Burnett as its in-ternational sales manager,and Gary Attanasio as itsNortheast regional salesmanager . . . . CEL Elec-tronics of Saffron Walden,England, has appointed F.Wesley Dixon to VP, U.S.operations in CEL's newly -established U.S. office inKansas City, MO . . . .

Sony's Videoconferencingand Satellite Systems Divi-sion named Thomas Volkas its systems integrationmanager . . . . Grace &Wild Studios has promoted Patrick Mathews to filmtransfer supervisor, and added James Wilson to theirfilm transfer staff . . . . The NAB has promoted MichaelC. Rau to senior VP of science and technology . . . . Wil-liam A. Winn, with experience as sound designer forPBS Great Performance specials and as senior audioengineer for "USA Today on TV," has joined AtlanticVideo, Alexandria, VA as audio engineer . . . . Joe Al-len, former publisher of Act III Publishing's Corpo-rate Video Decisions, is now executive VP at Manis &Company, a New City, NY advertising, marketingand public relations firm . . . . Coronado, CA residentDon Reynolds is commuting on the Coronado BayBridge these days to his position as product managerfor Dynair of San Diego . . . . Cable TV Laboratories(CableLabs) recently made four personnel moves: Ste-ven Dukes to project manager of advanced network de-velopment; Larry N. Lehman to chair of the Technol-ogies for New Business Subcommittee on theCableLabs Technical Advisory Committee; Dr. Alek-sander T. Futro to director of technology assessment;and Suzanne Nielsen to technical writer for the Labs'Clearinghouse . . . . Philip Lachapelle is the new West-ern regional sales manager, large -screen display prod-ucts for BARCO . . . . Rebo High Definition Studio,New York City, appointed Thomas Leone account execfor NTSC sales.

Akio Kobayashi of HitachiDenshi America.


nanced with junk bonds,with debt service to be ap-proximately $52 million for1989, raised to $79 millionin 1991.

At the beginning of 1989,Univision was projecting acash flow of $62 million.Actual cash flow for 1989was just over $40 million,reflecting a shortfall in ex-pected revenue growth. Un-ivision was unable to meetcash interest payments,and by early April, Hall-mark was threatening toplace Univision into Chap-ter 11 if investors were un-willing to accept its pro-posed buyout of the bonds.

Univision is not the onlybroadcaster built on Drex-el's junk bonds. Between1985 and 1989, SCI Hold-ings, a six -station groupheld by George Gillett andthe investment firm ofKohlberg Kravis Roberts,issued over $2 billion indebt instruments viaDrexel. Recently, SCI ob-tained $160 million in debtconcessions, and $40 mil-lion in new equity from itspartners.

Other broadcasters withoutstanding bonds under-written by Drexel include:Turner Broadcasting, Via-com, Harte-Hanks Commu-nications, Gillett Holdingsand the Telemundo Group.And many others obtainedsimilar financing throughDrexel's competitors.

The use of junk bonds tofinance station acquisitionshas placed a considerabledebt burden on many oper-ators. Revenue growth isneeded to pay the increas-ing cost of debt service.With no growth, or a de-crease in revenue, stationsmust look to cut expensesin other areas to make up

UPDATE

the difference.One chief engineer whose

station was recently pur-chased by an investmentgroup told us that his newowners eliminated what

had been almost a million -dollar -a -year capital bud-get, with most of that di-verted to debt service.However, the investmentcommunity's increasing re-

luctance to support newjunk-bond issues may sig-nal an end to the stationtrading fueled by this typeof financing.-William A. Owens

PPP'-1"."41111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Local ForecastsGo PublicUsing a computer -con-trolled transmission sys-tem, The Weather Channelbroadcasts a national pro-gram that includes localweather updates every fiveminutes. Now The WeatherChannel is using this tech-nology to provide travelerservices in Savannah, FLand Atlanta, GA.

At the Visitor Informa-tion Center on Interstate95 South in Savannah, TheWeather Channel has in-stalled four monitors thatshow the national programas it is being carried in Sa-vannah, Tampa, Orlando

and Daytona. The Harts -field Airport in Atlanta hasan even more ambitioussetup, offering the programas it is being seen in 12 dif-ferent cities, including NewYork, Los Angeles, SanFrancisco and Miami.

The Weather Channelsystem addresses weatherreports for specific areas tothe particular cable carri-ers in those areas, so thateach carrier receives onlyits own local forecast forthe periodic updates. Sever-al screens of data make upthe regional update, includ-ing screens for current con-ditions, rainfall accumula-tion and long-rangeforecasts.

"I don't believe any othernetwork is doing this kindof addressable program-ming," says Richard Roher,public relations representa-tive for The Weather Chan-nel. Information from sev-eral weather -data suppliersis accumulated in TheWeather Channel's com-puter system on an ongoingbasis, and sent up to its sat-ellite, where each cable sys-tem extracts the informa-tion intended especially forit.

Roher says this address-able programming featurealso lets The WeatherChannel work with infor-mation provided by localand state emergency agen-

Visitors to Florida's Information Center can check forecasts for four Florida cities.


cies to give hurricanewarnings or evacuation no-tices on the local forecasts.

Nielsen data puts thenumber of The WeatherChannel subscribers atover 43 million. Besides 24 -hour coverage of nationaland international weather,the station provides specialreports on weather emer-gencies and offers regularfeature programming, in-cluding documentaries.Landmark Communica-tions, a Virginia -based me-dia company, owns TheWeather Channel, whichwas founded in 1982.

-John Kingand Alan Conyer

DMC StartsVideo DivisionDigital Microwave Corpo-ration is specializing. Thesix -year -old company,which designs, manufac-tures and markets high-performance, short -hauldigital microwave radioand fiberoptic communica-tions products and systems,has set up a new branch-aimed at marketing prod-ucts to the broadcast indus-try. Dubbed DMC DigitalVideo, the division will "fo-cus on the concerns ofbroadcasters," says compa-ny spokeswoman AnitaBing. "So much of the tele-vision market is going digi-tal," Bing adds. "At NAB,digital systems were every-where. 'Digital' is a keyword, and digital video isthe market for the '90s."

James B. Murray willlead the way as VP/general

Company NewsElectrohome Limited and Microvitec PLC are in the final stages of phase -in of

their joint manufacturing/marketing agreement for world-wide supply and saleof video monitors . . . . Q -Co Industries, the North American operating division

of Cue Corp., acquired O'Connor Engineering, Costa Mesa, CA, a maker of camerasupport equipment . . . . Tektronix is forging deeper into the animation and imagingmarkets by agreeing to make Media Logic's Artisan desktop presentation systemavailable on Tektronix's XD88/30 and XD88/10 graphics workstations. The Artisansystem features windowing, 16.7 million colors, zoom, pan, flip, scale, rotation, andgraphic primitives . . . . Pacific Video, Hollywood and Dome Productions, Torontoare getting together to license Pacific Video's Image Translation technology in East-ern Canada. The Image Translation process converts filmed TV programs from NTSCto PAL masters . . . . Midwest Communications, Edgewood, KY has strengthenedtwo foreign ties: a two-year extension of its agreement to be sole distributor of A.C.E.(a subsidiary of Carlton Communications, PLC) video switchers in the U.S., and anagreement to market Toshiba's TV2000 Series under Midwest's subsidiary, Town-send Corp. Meanwhile, Midwest has restructured top management organization byassigning a group executive to each of four sectors of the company's business . . . . Col-orado Video and KUSA-TV, Denver are testing Colorado Video's Vertical BlankingInterval (VBI) freeze-frame video -image transmission system. A VBI transmitter en-codes still color images into a single line of the station's vertical interval; a receiverdecodes the signal, any location served by the broadcast sig-nal. Potential applications include weather radar info to subscribers, graphics ex-changes between broadcasters, and corporate video conferences . . . . Otari and Digi-design, Menlo Park, CA, are teaming up to develop a professional digital audiorecorder/editor. The hard -disk -equipped systems will be designed as "plug -and -play"to eliminate configuration problems . . . . AccuWeather continues to grow, havingpurchased Weather Network Inc. along with its PC -based graphics system. Thismarks AccuWeather's third corporate acquisition in the past year . . . . MicrowaveRadio Corp., Lowell, MA has purchased M/A-COM's MAC Division in Chelmsford,MA . . . . Neve engineers from its Digital R&D department were named "ASIC DesignTeam of the Year" by Texas Instruments, which annually chooses a winner amongEuropean and U.S. candidates. Meanwhile, Neve parent Siemens of Austria is retool-ing its image via 30 -second TV spots and print ads in the U.SU.S. . . . In an effort to boostdomestic customer service through direct sales and support, New England Digitalacquired its Midwest distributor, Songbird Digital, Nashville, TN . . . . R/Green-berg Associates should be putting the finishing touches on expansion work for theirNew York City facility by now. Meanwhile, the production company has added Abe-kas, Grass Valley, Sony, Horizon, Colorgraphics and Ultimatte equipment to its digi-tal post department . . . . As announced at NAB, Scientific-Atlanta signed contractsworth $3.5 million for earth -station equipment and services . . . . NovaStar, whichspecializes in audio -for -video projects and is owned by Greg Geddes, who did archivalrestoration work for the movie Bird, is now open for business in Hollywood in the tech-nical operations center of Keystone Communications . . . . John M. Rohrbach, Jr., for-mer GM at KYW-TV, Philadelphia and at WJZ-TV, Baltimore, is now presiding overan executive search firm in Saratoga, CA. The firm, Carabiner Associates, placestechnicians and production managers in the video and cable TV industries . . . . Mod-ern Teleproduction Studios, New York City, produced and did the post work on"Barron's Roundtable 1990," a one -hour cassette . . . . A letter to Eric Wahlberg, Mar-keting Manager, along with $5 to cover costs, will get the video pro copies of Video-tek's "Applications Notes," which cover topics like system timing, SC/H phase, how touse a waveform monitor, and sync signals. Videotek is at 243 Shoemaker Rd. in Potts-town, PA, 19464-6433.

manager of the division.


UPDATE

Equipment Sales

Nelson Mandela's long -silenced voice was heard by150,000 at his February 13 homecoming rally-with a technical assist from Electro-Voice

equipment. Prosound, sole South African distributorfor Electro-Voice, erected the audio system at theSoccer City stadium in Soweto. EV HP6040 horns withMTA-42 manifolds and DH2mt, EV DH1A, and DH2012drivers were used along with Altec amplifiers . . . . The1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle this summer, hosted byTurner Broadcasting System, will use a broadcast hubbeing built by Lude Broadcast Engineering.Equipment from Sony, Chyron, Quantel and Abekaswill be included at the hub . . . . Crawford PostProduction of Atlanta has purchased the firstElectronic Graphics Pastiche Paint System sold in theU.SU.S. . . . Rank Cintel's ADS -2 CCD Telecine is featuredat the new post house Finis in Cincinnati, OH . . . .

Lorimar Studios in Hollywood has installed three SonyAPR -24 analog multitrack recorders as part of amultimillion dollar facility upgrade . . . . IDBInternational's TAT -8 and PTAT-1 transatlanticfiberoptic services have been added to IDB's existingdigital satellite link to London . . . . Toronto's TheCommand Post and Transfer Corporation has added adigital optics suite that includes Quantel's Harry . . . .

Henninger Video, Arlington, VA, recently investedmore than $1 million in digital post equipment . . . .

"Channel One"-the daily newscast for teen studentsfrom Whittle Communications-broadcasts from a $2million Manhattan facility put together by A.F.Associates . . . . A Grass Valley 300 Switcher has beenadded to Kappa Video's facilities in Burbank, CA, andGVG delivered the first DPM-100 Digital PictureManipulator to AMS Productions, Dallas, TX . . . . Dirtand dust problems at WFLA-TV's (Tampa, FL) newtower were solved when the station installed a

Murray is well-known inthe broadcast -transmissionend of the business as presi-dent of Loral TerraCom, aSan Diego -based transmis-sion company, and of Far-inon Video, a manufacturerof transmission equipment.

One of Murray's first pro-jects will be the marketingof the DV series digital mi-crowave radios. Availablein both 18- and 23-GHz fre-quency bands, the DVs are

geared for the transmissionof digitized video and au-dio, integrating codec tech-nology with high-perfor-mance digital microwaveradio.

"Instead of having a sep-arate (plug-in coded, webuilt the codec right intothe microwave," notesBing, who says that broad-cast applications will in-clude use as a link betweenstudio and transmitter, and

CosaTron air -cleaning system from CRS Industries ofTampa, FL . . . . Uplink Ltd. has taken delivery of aMarconi Communications Systems Transattransportable satellite earth station . . . . New York'sBroadway Video uses a Dubner 6k unit to codecharacter generation for Multimedia Entertainment's"Sally Jessy Raphael" program promos . . . . Howard M.Schwartz Recording, New York, has added a Sony DVR-10 D-2 recorder, which will be used to reformat in D-2and re-lay all the audio tracks for vintage "SaturdayNight Live" episodes . . . . Sutcliffe Music, New YorkCity, recently installed a pair of Timeline's Lynx SALtime -code modules; Timeline Lynx keyboard controlunits and Lynx time -code modules have been sold toMaryland Public Television, The United Way andMusifex.

Grass Valley's DPM-100 Digital PictureManipulator wassold to AMSProductions inDallas.


in electronic news gathering, inter-city relay, and earth -station backhaulfeeds.

Will DMC Digital and its productssucceed? If Digital Microwave's fastgrowth is any indication (in the com-pany's first four years, it shipped9,000 digital microwave radios and4,500 fiberoptics terminals, and 1990revenue estimates are $111 million),the answer is probably "Yes." Yet thecompany has made missteps in thepast. In April, the Wall Street Journalreported that Digital Microwavestock plunged almost 50 percentwhen the firm announced that fiscalfourth-quarter earnings fell below es-timates because of "company errors inmanufacturing and selling" a new mi-crowave radio used by communica-tions companies. William E. Gibson,the president and CEO of Digital, toldthe Journal that losses resulted whenthe firm moved from pilot manufac-turing to mass manufacturing of theradios, which were also underpriced.In spite of all that, one real heavy-weight firm seems confident abouthooking up with the fledgling DMC:AT&T Network Systems has commit-ted to a field trial of the DV radio se-ries. -Tom Soter

Dropping In OnMerrill LynchReaders have inquired about theidentity of the teleproduction facilitywhose photo is wrapped around the"drop -in box" on April's cover, illus-trating the story on CAV. It's ControlRoom A at the new Merrill Lynch stu-dios at the World Financial Center inNew York City. Photo copyright is1988 by Washnik.

Television Engineering welcomes yourcomments and opinions. Write to us doEditor, Television Engineeringmagazine, 401 Park Avenue South,New York, NY 10016. You may also faxus at 212-696-4215.

Still setting thestandards.

Sennheiser's dedication to state-of-the-art technology. coupled with qualityengineering, earned our micmpioresan Academy Award*. Senniheisercontinues to set the standard in theindustry, this time with the MICH (0and MKH 70, our newest shotgan -ni-crophcnes. They display all the rug-gedness that you need in audio produc-tion and the reliability that Smahe serhas become famous for.

Sennheiser. The first and las authorityon shotguns

Ask your Se inheiser RepresmtatiNefor a thmon:tration.

*AERINHEISER*SENNHEISER 7:LECTRONIC COLPORA HON6 Vista Drive, PO Box 487, Old Lgne CT 06371

(L03) 434-5190 FAX# 203-: 34-175)Masufactu-ing Plant: D -3(X)2, Wedemark,

Federal Republic of Gernany

Circle 134 on Reader Servte ,:;arc

ATV WATCH

Sikes Speaks OutOn HDTV

By Peter Caranicas

Two Federal qmmunications Com-mission decisigs this past March putthe future of advanced television inthe U.S. into sharper focus.

First, the FCC said that the HDTVtransmission standard it chooses tosupport in 1993 will be a simulcast,not an augmentation, standard. Thismeaes_ that stations will be allocatedseparate HDTV channels and will si-multaneously broadcast HDTV andNTSC programming, rather than be-ing allocated a channel to send a sig-nal that would "augment" theirNTSC signal into an HDTV signal forspecially equipped sets.

Second, the FCC said it would notrule on an EDTV (enhanced -defini-tion television) standard before rul-ing on an HDTV standard in thespring of 1993-a decision that manysay could postpone EDTV develop-ment, if not stop it totally, shouldHDTV become a quick success.

In fact, our June "ATV Watch"looked at both decisions in relation to

NBC/Sarnoffs Advanced CompatibleTelevision (ACTV), an EDTV candi-date. In that column, we also revealedthat Philips Labs expects to have a si-mulcast HDTV system ready by 1991.

This time, we take a more globallook at these crucial advanced -TV de-cisions through an interview withFCC Chairman Alfred C. Sikes.When Television Engineering recent-ly caught up with Sikes, we askedhim to explain the thinking behindthese decisions, as well as to commenton some of the more controversial is-sues surrounding the advent ofHDTV.

Television Engineering: The FCCagreed not to rule on standards forEDTV before ruling on an HDTVstandard. Do you think this will ar-rest the development of enhanced -def-inition systems?Sikes: I hope not, although it couldhave some negative implications. Wewere not pressured enough to con-

clude that we wouldn't choose anEDTV standard. We did, however,rule out the two-step process. We in-dicated that we thought EDTV, interms of both its physical and its eco-nomic characteristics, needs to be ex-amined as this overall measuring andtesting process evolves.TE: In the simulcast -versus -augmen-tation area, you went for simulcast.Was there an overriding reason forthat decision?Sikes: Spectrum efficiency was theguiding reason.TE: So it had nothing to do with theactual signal quality or the technol-ogy involved?Sikes: It didn't. Although I was toldby expert after expert that the devel-opments in the area of simulcast werevery encouraging-in fact, so encour-aging that there had been some slow-ing of the work in augmentation.

This is a process that's hard to getyour hands-or your arms-around.As you narrow things down, you di-rect the process more specifically, andyou expedite it. That's in part whatwe did.TE: In making these decisions, doesthe FCC take into account the impactthey have on American companiesversus overseas companies?Sikes: Let me get into some back-ground on this issue. I came [to theFCC] from the NTIA [National Tele-communications and Information Ad-ministration] in the Department ofCommerce. I worked on HDTV for al-most three years within that context.It's not possible for me to completelyexclude that sort of information frommy mind. Ultimately, however, whatwe must do is make a decision thatserves both the broadcast industry

FCC Chairman Alfred C. Sikes

July 1990/TELEVISION ENGINEERING20

and the consumers well.Now, you didn't ask it this way, but

I'll tell you what I mean. Let's say, forexample, that Zenith had said: "Guys,this [timetable] is six months tooshort; can the FCC make the decisionin the fall rather than the spring of'93?" I might well have cast one votein favor of that.

I have said that the system propo-nents should come to the FCC andpresent-beyond just their system-information on their intentions for re-search and development in evolvinghigh -definition television in the Unit-ed States. Because I am convincedthat research and development hereis going to have an effect on the evolu-tion of HDTV here. If it's done exclu-sively in Asia or exclusively in Eu-rope, it will be done in a differentbroadcast culture. It might be doneskewed for satellite, as some of theearly HDTV research was. So I dothink it's important that the research

"We ruled out the two-step EDTV-HDTV process

. . . [but] EDTV needs tobe examined as this

overall measuring andtesting process evolves."

and development activity continuehere.TE: Would it be fair to say that whilethe interests of U.S. companies are al-ways on your mind, they are not theprimary factor in making these deci-sions?Sikes: That's an accurate expression.I must add that each participant inthis process-whether it be a U.S.,

Japanese or European participant-should be assured of fairness. Ulti-mately, we are going to be judging aseries of objective measurements, andmaking up our mind on the basis ofthose measurements.TE: Are you at all dismayed by for-eign encroachments into U.S. broad-cast -related businesses?Sikes: I'm really not. I am dismayedat the fact that we have as sizable atrade deficit as we have and that wehave had it for so long, and that wetend to be more consumption -orientedand less savings -oriented as a society.I think the foreign competition weface might help us come to grips withsome of the problems we are other-wise unable to cope with. I think someof this is a wake-up call for our coun-try. The worst thing we could dowould be to provide a protective bub-ble, because we would quickly becomeless competitive across the boardglobally.

immenn5011111111111111111

Sonex. Ship Shape Sound.SONEX, when your sound matters. Now available in new sizes thatship UPS. SONEX, the shape that works; in a variety of depths,colors, and materials-plus ceilings, barriers and composites.SONEX, for the truest sound-call today for all the information.

1-800-662-0032(In MN: 612-521-3555)

illbruckMinneapolis, MinnesotaCircle 105 on Reader Service Card.

AUDIO FOR VIDEO

CPN-TV Puts FloridaOn the Digital Map

By Dan Daley

A lot of t gs have changed in theaudio -for- o realm in recent years,and whil e potlight has focused ontec nol ogy, her things have beensh in; as w 1. Traditionally, U.S.

r centers ye been Los AngelesNew Yor- homes to the film,sion, an mmercial advertis-

ndustr ut escalating costs,union contracts and other factors inthese twin hubs have brought new lo-cations to prominence.

One area in particular has showntremendous growth: central Florida.With Disney installations as path-finders, other film companies havefollowed, including MGM and Para-mount. All this activity has made theregion ripe for independent audio -for -

22

video facilities to spring up. One suchfacility is Cable Productions Net-work -TV (CPN-TV) in Clearwater.CPN-TV is a multi -room productionfacility whose high-tech doors openedlast February onto two large shootingstages, two on-line video editingsuites, one off-line suite, and whatmight be the most advanced audio -for -video suite in the state.

Designed by CPN-TV's director ofaudio, Bill Cavanaugh, a 20 -year vet-eran of audio, and audio for video, theaudio suite is based on what he calls"the mother -ship model," in which fulldigital implementation is designed tointerface with an increasingly multi -formatted world, and with an economicenvironment in which outside clients

can't be relied upon as a profit base.The totally digital format of theroom-a Tapeless Studio installationby New England Digital employing aSynclavier 9600 with 48 voices and 48Mbs of RAM, and a 16 -track PostProsystem, as well as Sony D-2 tape ma-chines-puts the equipment list on thecutting edge.

While CPN-TV generates most ofits own productions-commercials,film documentaries and so on-it doesrent out time to other audio (and vid-eo) users, and sometimes exceeds thenearly dozen staff writer/producers ithas for in-house productions. Outsidecomposers can interface their technol-ogy through the MIDInet option onthe Tapeless Studio system, whichcan control up to 128 MIDI -controlla-ble functions simultaneously.

"The MIDInet function is very im-portant to the overall design of theroom," Cavanaugh says, "because Idesigned the system to be able to dovirtually live mixes to video. All vid-eo information is brought in here onD-2 cassettes. We then take the audioinformation from the D -2's digital au-dio tracks and load it into the Post -Pro's disk. From there, I can modifythe audio information in a number ofways; I can also add additional dia-logue, sound effects, library music ora completely original score. Then Ican mix all the audio tracks back tothe D-2 cassette live, and the MI-DInet lets me have tremendous dy-namic control over the effects I use.For instance, I can have a slightly dif-ferent reverb on every snare hit. Thebottom line result is that everythinggets mixed live and stays first -gener-ation digital."

CPN -TV's audio director BillCavanaugh shows off his audio suite.


CPN-TV chose the D-2 digital vid-eotape format as much for its me-chanics as for its digital qualities.Cavanaugh says: "The D-2 cassettehas an incredibly fast wind time; youcan wind through a minute of video inabout a second and a half. That's im-portant when you're already workingwith a random-access disk recordingsystem like the PostPro. I expect thatat some point in the future there'll bea random-access format for recordingvideo. The interesting and ironicthing is that after audio [technology]has lagged behind video for so long,the situation now is that audio has towait for video to catch up. Once thathappens, the recording studio will be-gin to approach the way the humanmind works in that there won't be anytime lapses between inspiration andexecution. The technology will ap-proach the speed of a person's imagi-nation."

Cavanaugh, who is a composer/pro-ducer himself for CPN-TV (and wasalso the bassist for the Outsiders of"Time Won't Let Me" fame in the '60sin his native Cleveland) has tried toincorporate as much control oversound parameters as the present tech-nology will allow into the audio -for -video suite at CPN-TV. The room's48 -channel Neve VR console has theFlying Fader option, as well as full re-call of module statuses as part of theNeve automation system. The NEDPostPro and Synclavier process MIDIinformation at two Mbs internally.The suite's copious outboard, includ-ing a Lexicon 480L digital effects pro-cessor, can be controlled via dynamicMIDI. The D-2 machine is a SonyDVR 10.

The completely digital audio -for -video studio is beginning to manifestitself as a unique animal. While cer-tain basic conventions, such as con-soles, processing and storage systemswill remain in some shape or form,the synergism among them and be-tween equipment and user is chang-ing. "The line between the recordistand the mixer is blurring in video andfilm," Cavanaugh cites as a currentexample. "We can 'nest' a lot of thosefunctions together in a single stagewith the Synclavier and the PostPro.

Literally, we can do mixes as we re-cord the program material."

Another way that this room reflectsthe changing nature of the digitalstudio is in its ergonomic aspects.Cavanaugh says he paid particularand equal attention to both the near -field and far -field monitoring situa-tion. Close -in monitoring is done offWestlake BBSM speakers, while thefar -field is handled by Meyer 833/844

"The future forrecording is definitely

digital, but technology ischanging the playingfield considerably."-Bill Cavanaugh,director of audio,

CPN-TV

speakers. "The room is set up so thateither one person can run everythingwhile also working as composer/musi-cian/producer, or two or three peoplecan comfortably work in here cover-ing those roles," explains Cavanaugh."People are writing differently thesedays. They interface with the equip-ment differently, such as throughMIDI, and they're becoming compos-ers and engineers simultaneously."

Two things that seem to character-ize this new breed of composers andscorers is that they tend to work aloneas often as not, and their engineeringchops are being acquired on the fly onhome recording equipment. Cavan-augh kept this in mind during the de-sign stage of the audio -for -video suiteat CPN-TV. "Methods of composingand arranging are so tied into MIDItechnology now," he says. "The sonicimage is now part of the composition-al element. It used to be that youwould ask the engineer for reverb;now you have more reverbs at yourfingertips and more control over more

parameters of each reverb than everbefore. The people who come to workin this facility are very literate in thisarea, so in designing the room, Iaimed for, and, I think, achievedbuilding an extremely high -end one-man digital workstation."

The one million dollars CPN-TVowner and former magazine publish-er Stuart Arnold poured into the au-dio -for -video suite at the facility is anearly reflection (pun intended) of thefuture of audio -for -video post -produc-tion. It's been driven by what Cavan-augh says is an increased consumerawareness of audio quality. "It usedto be that people would say, 'If wehave any money left after putting upthe drapes., we'll put it into audio.'That can't happen anymore; the manin the street hears things differentlynow. With the advent of compactdiscs, stereo television and things likethat, audio is becoming as critical totelevision as it had been to films.[Even] in terms of content, as we haveto start mixing for video the sameway we mix for larger venues liketheaters. The small screen isn't sosmall anymore."

The future for suites like this one-and for recording studios in general-depends on consumer and profession-al acceptance. In making decisions,Cavanaugh felt a need to be as for-ward -thinking as possible, while atthe same time choosing proven tech-nology. He feels he has done that withthe NED Tapeless Studio, the NeveVR console and the D-2 capability.

But it's more than just a hardwareequation. "The future for recording isdefinitely digital," he states, "buttechnology is changing the playingfield considerably." The use of person-al audio equipment forces studios toramp up their capabilities to makethem distinctly different, Cavanaughsays. Renting out their facilities prob-ably won't cover the studio's cost ofhigh -ticket equipment. "The resultfor the studio business will be lessrental time and more of a need to gen-erate and control actual product."

Dan Daley is a New York City -basedfreelance writer specializing in audiotechnology.

July 1990/TELEVISION ENGINEERING 23

con 1990 Sony Capoionon of Ammo Sony n o reipotied hod

ONETAPE WON'T

BREAK ATTHE FINISH

To be a leader in video, you lr that Keeps you on the leading edge

have to run in the fastest lone of of video production.

all: The path over the tape heads. So yoCre not just buying

Which is why the video leaders of editing, shuttling, jogging-and deadlines. tape, you're running with Sony. That's

TBS choose Sony professional videotape. In short, ifs do or die. Alternatives why world -class video leaders choose

After all, leaders tend b recognize which demand a great support team. the vAcrld-class videotape company.

leaders. For example, at the Goodwill With every videotape, Sony gives Sony. The leader

Games, the producers and engineers know you responsive sales representatives, video leaders follow.

SONYSony tape will endure constant still frame technical support and in-depth research PROFESSIONAL VIDEOTAPE


DtGitTALBy C ONNEcTioNs

As long as

digital

and analog

co -exist,

managing

the equipment

interface will

be a major

concern among

TV engineers.

haven't slept since I cameback from the NAB," says JoeTuckosh, president and ownerof AV3 in New Castle, DE. "Iwent down there with plans todesign an all -component digi-tal suite to offer my clients theideal environment for editing.

But I didn't see a quality componentdigital field recorder being intro-duced. The reality is that D-2 andBeta SP are still the best choices forfield acquisition, and that most exist-ing source material is still found onanalog composite formats, so now myengineers are thinking about ways tointegrate these different formats intoone suite."

AV3, a post -production house be-tween Philadelphia and the Washing-ton/Baltimore area, was designed twoyears ago. At that time, the transitionfrom composite to component was justbeginning. Although many profes-sionals speculated that the digital for-mats, which offered superior picturequality and better post -production ca-pabilities, would quickly replace thepervasive one -inch format, it hasn'tyet happened.

"It was never our intention for D-2,for example, to replace one -inch, butrather to provide greater multi -gen-erational capabilities, as well as be astepping stone for many users to getinto digital," says Rob Corrigan, mar-

keting manager for studio recordersat Ampex. "The hybrid environmentof today's different formats meansthat you can now choose the equip-ment best suited to your particulartask."

As older VTRs show wear, they aregradually being replaced with newdigital VTRs. Stevan Vigneaux,Sony's manager for product develop-ment, says, "We've seen an increasein sales of D-2 VTR machines, andthis is the first year in which Sonyhas shipped more D-2 tape than one -

inch tape. However, there are still alot of one -inch and 3/4 -inch machinesin use today, and the older equipmentis still being supported and marketedby this company."

ERA OF THE HYBRIDSo, for the foreseeable future, thesigns all point to a hybrid environ-ment, where analog and digital for-mats must happily coexist. Vance Pic-cin, freelance video editor andQuante! Harry operator in New YorkCity, comments, "Facility managersare all walking a tightrope, trying tobalance the gear they already havewith their next equipment purchase.They're hedging their bets against ob-solescence. Interface equipment helpsthem bridge the gap between analogand digital gracefully, so they don'thave to start all over."


And according to Craig McCartney,marketing manager for special effectsand graphics at Ampex, "Care has tobe taken in constructing the back-bone system of the facility with equip-ment that ties all the different for-mats together. The parameters of therouting switcher, the length of the ca-ble, and the use of black box transla-tors are some of the important consid-erations when designing a hybridproduction environment, or the won-derful digital signal in your ADOwon't ever make it to the D-2 machineit's being recorded on."

Interfacing analog composite, digi-tal composite, analog component anddigital component formats-and allthe permutations-can get rathercomplex for any broadcast or telepro-duction plant. At a large post -produc-tion facility or high -end graphicshouse, the complexities multiply.

These larger operations are morelikely to produce sophisticated, multi -layered, multi -generational graphicsor animated projects for their clients.

POOL OF FORMATSAt The Post Group Digital Center inLos Angeles, a "pool" of D-1, D-2, one -inch, 3/4 -inch and Betacam machinesis available to four telecine suites,four digital graphics suites, and threeedit bays. Andy Delle, director of en-gineering, custom -designed a touch -screen computer -controlled routingsystem to "patch" the signals auto-matically, as quickly and efficientlyas possible, thus avoiding costly de-lays for the facility's clientele.

"I chose to use a standard bus in-dustrial -format computer because ofits reliability," Delle says. "Obvious-ly, if a routing switcher goes down, itcan be disastrous, especially when

The Post Group's Director of Engineering,Andy Delle, right, with Jay Curtis ofBPME, touring The Post Group's DigitalCenter.

you've eliminated a lot of your patch-ing. The software is all written fromthe ground up, in both 'C' and Assem-bly Language, so we know every as-pect of it. We don't have to worryabout hidden bugs like we would us-ing off -the -shelf software."

The system employs six EGA com-puter monitors, modified with Tek-tronix touch -screens. The user-friend-ly touch -screen monitors displayboxes measuring one by 3/4 inches, ar-ranged menu -style, listing all thesources and destinations. The sixscreens are conveniently locatedabove the VTRs, offering everyone


easy access to them."You touch a source box, then a des-

tination box, and 'take,' " Delle ex-plains. "If you selected the wrongthing, you simply start over. There'salso a color -coded status screen thatshows all the activity in the routingsystem at any given time."

The computer system controls thefollowing: a Utah Scientific DVS -1

digital switcher arranged in threesections (one 32 x 32 for D-1, one 16 x16 for D-1, and one 16 x 16 for D-2); aUtah AVS-1 component analog 30 x20 routing switcher (SMPTE format);a Utah AVS-1 composite NTSC 70 x80 routing switcher; two Abekas A20converters (RGB component analog toD-1); an Accom 122 digital encoder(D-1 to D-2); and an Accom 221 decod-

COMPONENTANALOGMATRIX30 X 20

EN000011,11

03

BEKASAtO

R03 TO 01

AS

11.311 TO 0,

ACCOM122

ENCODER

*

PRIMARY D1MATRIX32 X 32

31

PRIMARY D2MATRIX16 X 16

SECONDARYD1

MATRIX16 X 16

COMPOSITEANALOGMATRIX70 X 80

er (D-2 to D-1).All the VTRs, telecines, production

switchers, and graphics suites arealso on-line. Four Faroujda encodersand three decoders (RGB to NTSC)are all routable. "One advantage tothis is if we think we have a problemwith one of them, we can instantlyswitch another in its place, eliminat-ing a lot of down time," Delle says."With our touch -screen system, youcan see you're selecting an RGBsource, to a D-1 translator destina-tion, taking it into the D-1 edit bay,and the signal shows up there imme-diately, with no patching and withminimal effort. It's proven very reli-able."

BRIDGING BARRIERSTo help bridge the format barriers be-tween component digital and compos-ite analog formats, Accom stepped into market a line of encoders and de-coders, generically called transcoders.AME, Inc., the large Burbank, CA fa-cility, is purchasing 24 Accom D -

Bridge 122 encoders, which go fromcomponent digital to NTSC and PAL,in order to improve the quality con-trol of film transfers.

"The telecine outputs in D-1. How-ever, a great percentage of the workwill end up on one -inch for broadcastor VHS distribution," said Bill Mes-sersmith, AME's VP of engineering."We're attaching the Accom 122 en-coders to the output of every Rank te-lecine and D-1 machine we have, sothat when the colorist does scene -by-

scene color correction of the film, he'llbe able to see on the monitors exactlywhat the colors will look like digitallyencoded."

The Accom 122's internal process-ing is digital until the final analogoutput. Accom VP of marketing andsales Ed Engberg says: "We saw astrong need for developing a qualitytranscoding device that would workwell enough so that you wouldn't beable to tell if the source was archivalcomposite or D-1."

Top, closeup of touchscreen controller;bottom, schematic diagram ofcomputer -controlled routing switcher atThe Post Group.


ROLE OP MONITORSFor those who want to go between theRGB "out" on a telecine and a D-1tape machine, the BTS CD -7 trans -coder is useful. It goes from compo-nent analog to component digital.Conversely, the BTS DC-7-compo-nent digital to component analog-transcoder is useful for going fromD-1 into an RGB monitor or compo-nent analog format.

Doug Buterbaugh, marketing pro-gram manager for BTS, says: "Mostmonitors can take the NTSC output ofa D-2 tape machine. However, you al-ways have to do a transcode at themonitor location if you're using a D-1source, since most monitors have nobuilt-in transcoding capability forD-1. Newer monitors, which featurebuilt-in transcoders for D-1, are justnow becoming available."

At Planet Blue, a high -end graph-ics house in Los Angeles, chief engi-neer Mike Goslin and senior engineerBill Laverty created a custom -de-signed D-1 patch bay for routing com-ponent digital. "When we were plan-ning this facility two years ago, D-1was not that well established," Goslinexplains. "We found digital routingequipment to be very expensive, andserial routers not immediately avail-able for delivery. We knew we wouldhave to devise a digital patch bay forourselves that would be easy to in-stall, simple to operate, and availableright now."

The D-1 patch bay uses slide -latchconnections instead of the screw -down type, allowing the user to con-nect the patch cords and just snapdown the latch. "Slide -latches are notreally great for making permanentconnections, because after a few days,they begin to vibrate apart," Goslinsays. "But because we needed quick -type connections that could bechanged easily and often, slide -latch-es work great for our purposes. Wetook the ends of the digital cables, ter-minated them on a metal panel, andput the slide -latches on the outsides,

Top, BTS DC -7 Digital Component Decoder;bottom, Accom 122 D -Bridge 221 DigitalDecoding System, making the Digital to

Analog connection


along with male -ended cable connec-tors with 25 -pin posts. When we putin the corresponding female connec-tor of the other patch cord, the slide -latch naturally flips onto your thumb,and you push it down into place. It'sbeen very reliable, and we'll probablyadd another panel shortly."

PARALLEL AND SERIALIf Planet Blue had chosen to buy adigital router two years ago, insteadof designing this D-1 patch bay, thefacility would have invested in a par-allel format router. "Serial routing isthe next evolutionary step in trans-mitting the D-1 signal, and we intendto switch to it," says Goslin. "Serialwould obsolete any parallel router webought a year or two ago."

Parallel -format routing requireshigh -quality, expensive digital cable,with 12 pairs of wires inside. "Eachpair carries data and a clock that tellsyou whether there's a high or lowpulse rate," explains Goshn. "Whenyou pull digital cable up around 150feet, you risk altering the length ofthe conductors inside, and the data

can get skewed relative to the timing.If one of the higher -priority bits is af-fected, you don't just get a littlebreak-up, you lose the complete intel-ligibility of the picture. With digital,it's all or nothing."

Digital cable is time-consuming toassemble. By comparison, Mark Ad-ler, chief engineer at Editel, Chicago,notes: "Serial connectors can be as-sembled in 45 seconds, using thesame coax cable, crimping tools andassembly technique that engineershave employed forever, saving on la-bor costs. And since the bits travelone after the other, they don't arrivein the wrong configuration, screwingup the picture. Serial is absolutelymore reliable than parallel."

Not all equipment manufacturershave serial format I/O ports for theirproducts yet, which presents chal-lenges to the older facilities. "Most ofour sources do not have serial outputson them," Adler says. "So, we're opt-ing to run with a hybrid system,where our parallel and serial routersare going to be linked with P -to -S andS -to -P convertors. We're living in a

29

state of conversion, phasing out par-allel equipment and driving towardserial."

The two original D-1 machines pur-chased by Editel have parallel out-puts, and can feed only the Grass Val-ley DHX parallel router. The two newD-1 machines have both outputs, sothey can feed the old Grass Valleyparallel router or the new Alpha Im-age serial router. The Alpha serialrouter currently takes inputs for theKadenza, "but since the Kadenza'sports are still parallel, we need a P -to -

S converter there," says Adler.At Tape House, in New York City,

the decision is to stay with parallelrouting. "Changing over now wouldmean scrapping our digital routingswitcher, which is a costly item, andit would mean modifying the 110 portson every piece of D-1 equipment to ac-cept serial," says chief engineer DaveCorbitt. "So, you're talking severalhundreds of thousands of dollars tochange everything over. If we were

starting from scratch, then it wouldbe smart to go with serial because ofthe economy of design, but we've al-ready invested in the parallel stuff,and it's extremely reliable."

EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINETape House uses a Utah ScientificDVS -1 to interconnect D-1, D-2, BetaSP, one -inch, the Ranks, the Accom221, Kaleidoscope and Harry. "Every-thing you can imagine is on our rout-er. We have factory -supplied panelsthat can connect any crosspoint toany destination," Corbitt says. "Rout-ing the signals around is not the prob-lem in interformat connection. Thatjust takes a couple of minutes. Settingthe playback levels correctly andmaking sure everything is in phase ismuch more involved."

Complex routing systems and in-terconnecting devices are unneces-sary if the number of source and des-tination points is minimal, or ifediting and playback between for-

mats is kept simple. Plus, many ma-jor equipment manufacturers are rou-tinely including analog I/O ports onall the new digital VTRs, allowingeasy equipment interface.

Sony's Vigneaux considers this themost critical point today in equip-ment interface. "All the digital VTRswe manufacture have analog inputsand outputs on them," he says. "Thismakes it very easy for the customer tointegrate digital machines into theiranalog system."

In mid -April, when Viacom beganconverting its Smithtown, Long Is-land playback and uplink facility-which transmits Nickolodeon, MTVand VH-1-to all -D-2, it was a simplematter of "just plugging in D-2 ma-chines where one -inch machines usedto be," explains Scott Davis, seniorVP of network operations for Viacom."Though we don't have a particularneed to go D-1, we did have a desire togo digital."

At WTBS in Atlanta, GA, chief en-

Maxe11 has

2 inchVideo

Floppy Disk

BO Videotape

1/2 inch Hi -Visionfor HD -TV 11111.11palis

1/2 inch VHS -BO

1/2 hiChlIC41016S

..r

1/2 inch VHS Plus

he classics.

1 inch eta!Digital Videotape

KCA-BOa

inchDigital Audio

u-matic Lk}

Communicator/Duplicator

Audio Cassette

U-Matic BC)1/4 inch

ProfessionalRea -to-Reel Audio

77.3

DigitalAudio

Cassette

Digital Audio UDS II StudioAudio Cassette Mastering Tape Audio Cassette

Instant Start

Photo: Bit Milne

gineer Jack Verner says, "The onlyway we really use the digital capabili-ty of our machines is to make dubsfrom one D-2 VTR to another, andthat's done by direct cable hook-upbetween the two machines."

FREE INTERMIXGrass Valley Group also realizes theimportance of easy -access analog I/Oports. "People can get by just fine us-ing the ports on the back of the D-2machine," says GVG product market-ing manager Ken James. "Also, ourKadenza has internal transcodersthat accept and output material fromNTSC, Betacam SP, D-1 and D-2 for-mats."

A spokesperson for Limelite Stu-dios in Miami notes: "We program theinput and output buses on the Ka-denza just by selecting pre-set but-tons. The Kadenza acts as a router,letting us freely intermix betweenformats with no problem."

Another trick for avoiding the

messy transcoding problem is to keepthe digital component signal segre-gated from the digital composite sys-tems. In the graphics suite at WTBS,"The D-1 machine is used solely forgraphics and it never talks to the D-2machines, used for broadcast," ac-cording to Verner. "Graphics done onD-1 leave the suite either on an 80 -megabyte disk, interchangeable withour other graphics stations, or they'retransferred to the still -store system,which can be accessed from any of ourcontrol rooms," he adds.

However, you could just stay com-posite analog until all the dust settlesand the road to digital is more clear.At Center City Video in Philadelphia,chief engineer Christopher Bishop ex-plains, "In our market, we're not get-ting a push from our clientele to go tothe digital formats. For us to be ableto take care of the debt of acquiringthis equipment, we first have to dem-onstrate to the banks that there issufficient demand, or that the compe-

tition is moving in that direction.""Each marketplace and each indi-

vidual business is going to be differ-ent, and some will be driven faster to-ward digital than others," says Sony'sVigneaux. "It's hard to say how far offthe day is when everything will bedigital, but it's coming. You'll have tomake a business decision as to wheth-er it's a reasonable move for you tomake, and how you're going to inte-grate the composite and componentworlds at your particular facility."

But at AV3 in New Castle, the diffi-cult decisions about interfacing for-mats have yet to be made. Accordingto Tuckosh, "If color television hadcome first, everything would havebeen component from the start. Butsince they had to squeeze the colorsignal into the same bandwidth as theblack -and -white signal, it led us tothe whole dilemma we're in.

"Component is the way it shouldhave been right from the beginning,"he says.

And now, heavy metal.

Whatever you're into, Maxell makes a fullline of superior media. Like new BQ betacam tape.And, after a decade of making innovations in metal,we offer new SP metal betacam and D-2 tapes.

These new metal tapes have a ceramicsurface coating to inhibit corrosion, not output.A conductive backcoating to resist dust, static,

1/2 inchBetacam SP

D2 Composite DigitalVideo Cassettes

and instability. With an ultra -smooth bindersystem to make our oxide coatings invincible;even to relentless shuttling while editing.

Of course, all our video and audiotapes, andvideo floppy disks share this level of durability.And technology. But most of all, Maxell shares.your taste-for the very best.

maxell.22-08.Route.208, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410© 1989 Maxell Corporation of America

The still store, which came aboutmore in response to a marketneed than as a demonstration ofthe wonders of new technology,may not be the most glitzy videodevice. But it sure is useful-es-pecially in TV news operations.Just ask any production manager

who's ever had to videotape stills forthe boxes hovering over newscasters'shoulders. And recent advances indigital technology have made stillstores much more sophisticated, andextended their applications into newareas of post -production.

Severalstill stores. A few manufacturers in-corporate them into a multifaceteddevice, such as a workstation, digitalvideo effects device unit or charactergenerator. Yet even standalones areadding more effects capabilities, thusblurring the line between still storeand DVE.

Also, multiple -user needs are get-ting more attention through the useof dual channels, the ability to addkeyboards, and connection to otherdevices. And networking potential isbecoming important, with Leitch Vid-eo actively promoting a distributednetwork called Still File for its DSF-3100s, while Sony is readying formarket a DNS -1000 that can benetworked.

SINGLE USER, MANY USESA post -NAB canvass of still -storemanufacturers turned up nine mak-ers of standalone units, and three oth-er makers who integrate a still storeinto a larger device. Interviews withstill -store users revealed a range ofapplications at stations and post -pro-duction houses. The users inter-viewed ranged from small stationslike KVVU-TV, a Fox affiliate inHenderson, NV, to large post-produc-

FREEZING

IMAGES WITH

TECHNOLOGYBy John F. King

New technology is greatly extending thepower and versatility of still -store systems.

tion houses like The Post Group,which is a 45 -room facility located inHollywood, CA.

In fact, KVVU-TV and The PostGroup have something in common.Both of them use Ampex still stores.The station uses an ESS-5G both foron -air and post -production. The facili-ty, in turn, uses five ESS-5s stillstores in a network.

The ESS-5, which processes imagesin 4:2:2, is designed for single users.(For multiple -user needs, Ampex of-fers an ESS-3 model, which handlesone to 10 users.) With list prices start-

ing at $24,000, an ESS-5 system canaccommodate more than one key-board. Also, the optional dual -chan-nel feature allows one channel for on-

air use and a second for "browsing" orpreviewing. The ESS-5 has a built-inWinchester drive that can store 200NTSC images (160 in PAL format).

The ESS-5G model adds graphicscomposition capabilities to still stor-age. A Compose mode offers color se-lection, cut -and -paste, and luma- andchromakeying, among other features.

At The Post Group, a dual -channelESS-5 serves as central storage for


the network, which grew out of threeESS-5s being used in a telecine suitefor the past 2'/2 years.

Rich Thorne, chief operating officerfor The Post Group, says the still -stor-age network serves as "an editingsource like one -inch tape or a camera.It's a lot easier to deal with ESS thanto roll tape trying to get a still."

While Thorne has arranged a cen-tral net of ESS-5s, Leitch DSF-3100users can choose an Ethernet -distrib-uted network called Still Net (with aminimum of three control units nec-essary for the option). The advantageof a distributed network over a cen-tralized one is that each user in a dis-tributed net has independent accessand control (see Figures 1 and 2). Onthe other hand, sometimes a facilitywill want just one centralized placefor the database of stills.

SIMPLIFYING THE SEARCHEven without the Still Net option,Rex Colby, production manager atKOLO-TV in Reno, NV, describes hisLeitch DSF-3100N as "an incredibleproduct." Like The Post Group,KOLO would videotape still se-

-.411111111""

A colorist at The Post Group in Hollywood uses theAmpex ESS-5T to enhance color correction in film -to -tape transfers.

quences beforethey purchased astill -store unit.

Colby's stationuses one unit withdual channels,mostly for news-cast graphics. Thesecond user canstore graphics, butdoes not have da-tabase access.Each individualstore can be identi-fied by six keywords, and hunt-ing for stills is likelooking for infor-

mation in a personal computer data-base. That means that one key wordmay be enough to find an image. Inaddition, the Leitch, like the Ampex,boasts a 0.6 -second access time for asingle user.

KOLO uses an ADO -1000 for ef-fects because they do not have thecompress option for the Leitch. "Westore the news graphics still as a full -screen graphic, and use ADO tosqueeze it down, then the secondchannel of the still store to save it,"Colby explains.

With 700 Mb available, storagespace is not an issue for Colby. (Leitchsays the DSF-3100N has a basic ca-pacity of 1,500 stills, and up to 10,000with optional disk drives.) Colby does,however, have reservations about off-line storage, which is "an extremelyslow process." Leitch plans to add aSony product for removable storage toreplace the current stream tape,Colby reveals.

He states a key argument for hav-ing a standalone store rather thanone as part of an integrated system: "Iwould have trouble justifying an inte-grated system," he says, "because if

one piece goes down, you lose thewhole system."

STEADY NULOne steady, long-time participant inthe still -store standalone market hasbeen the Abekas A42. While softwareupdates and options have been added,the A42 is the same basic model thatcame out in 1983.

The dual -channel A42 processesimages digitally (in 4:2:2) and offersan optional digital interface for D-2output. A virtual picture -numberingsystem lets the user number picturesfrom zero to 9,999 without having totrack the picture location pn disk. TheA42's built-in 5'/4 -inch Winchester iscomplemented by a streaming tapedrive for off-line storage. Abekas'sdual -channel system lets one channeldisplay pictures while the other canbe used to record, play back or createsequences. Dissolves and cuts can beprogrammed for on -air transitions be-tween the two channels, and a graph-ics compose mode adds layering capa-bility.

Compact size and a price range of$20,000 to $40,000 make the A42 pop-ular for sports mobile units. ABC net-work in New York City; NBC in LosAngeles; KBHK-TV in San Francisco;Nashville Network; KHJ-TV in LosAngeles; KAAL-TV in Austin, MN;and Home Sports Entertainment inHouston, TX are some of Abekas'smost enthusiastic customers.

ABC uses four or five A42s in thefield every week for sports, accordingto Dave Linnick, ABC's manager ofoutside broadcasting. Linnick praisesthe compactness and reliability of theA42 and says it has "sufficient stor-age for what we do in the field." Thestreaming tape proves very useful fortransferring still sequences back tothe studio.


Switching from Arvin Echo analogsystems five years ago made a tre-mendous difference; Linnick saysthere is really "no comparison" be-tween the digital Abekas and the an-alog Arvin. He adds that at the timeit was purchased, the Abekas was "ahead above" other units on the mar-ket. The then -new technology did notpresent stumbling blocks: ABC users"caught on real quick," Linnick says.

SMALLER STILLTwo products that feature compactsize, as evidenced by their names, arethe Aston Wallet and the Rank CintelPocket. According to a source fromPaltex Imaging Systems (a division ofBritish firm Paltex International),the Wallet and Pocket are in fact vir-tually identical machines made byAston; Rank has an OEM agreementwith Aston, and Paltex has takenover distribution of the Wallet. Thechief difference is that the Pocket hasa 601 device built in, while the Walletwill be adding one as an option soon.According to Paltex, the Walletserves a general market while thePocket is being marketed into instal-lations that already have Rank equip-ment (the Wallet will not be sold inthese installations).

Upgraded for NAB exposure, Wal-let's keyboard was extended from abasic keypad to a full -alphabetQWERTY keyboard with functionkeys. In addition, a 105 Mb hard diskwas added to its removable Winches-ter cartridge. The cartridge stores 42images with key signals, and thefixed disk adds capacity for 99 more.

The Wallet/Pocket is not strictlyplain vanilla; it can do some digitalspecial effects and can stack images,which are processed in RGB or Y, R-

Y, B -Y specs. A 100 -image picture se-quence/stack can be built. Paltex says

a built-in process that takes about 20seconds removes NTSC or PAL arti-facts, and three optional processingtechniques can remove interfieldflicker. Once the image is processed,it can be stored clean.

Pocket processes in 4:2:2:4; Walletis 4:2:2. Without the 105 Mb disk,Pocket storage is a bit less, however,with a fixed 40 Mb hard disk driveand a 44 Mb removable one. Pocketstores are output in accordance withthe CCIR REC 601/656 standard; alinear key included with the storedimage can be recalled with the image,if desired.

As with compact size, low price ispart of the marketing package forthese smaller still stores. Pricesquoted to Television Engineering are$22,200 for the Wallet with the 40 Mbhard drive and another $1,200 for the105 Mb drive configuration.

Video Park post house in BatonRouge, LA has one Wallet to free upthe Aurora 280 paint systems in itstwo edit suites. Besides the paint sys-tems, Video Park has three AmpexVPR-300 D-2 recorders, one SonyBeta VTR and two Ampex units, twoSony 800 3/4 -inch machines, four Am-pex VPR-80s and two Ampex ADO -2000s in its suites.

Doug Foval, engineer at VideoPark, says the Wallet saves time and"a lot of pain and agony." A major useof Wallet is for storage of car logos.Prior to having the Wallet, getting alogo meant going through the paintsystem, tying it up-sometimes for

hours-and making everybody's jobmore difficult. With car logos nowstored on the Wallet, access to a logois eased. "We pop in its number, andit pops up," says Foval. Because Wal-let uses removable disks for storage,Video Park even gave one major cli-ent their own disk of stills.

Carousel, Quantel's still -store prod-uct, offers 4:2:2 component digitalstorage, and connects digitally withQuantel's Paintbox to maintain thepicture quality of images Paintboxhas worked over. Main controls forCarousel appear as additions to aPaintbox menu. Because it conformsto CCIR 601, Carousel can also con-nect to other 4:2:2 sources, includingD-1 digital VTRs, the Quantel Harryedit suite, and telecines.

The company touts the storage ca-pacity of Carousel in terms of real-time video: 13 seconds (about 380frames). Carousels can be strung to-gether-up to 16 of them-as onelarge storage device.

Michael Taylor, technical directorof the Effects Animation DesignGroup at Editel, Chicago, has a Car-ousel hooked up with Paintbox in oneroom, and Paintbox and a Harry inanother. "The menu structure withPaintbox is important to our artists,"says Taylor, pointing out that artists"don't have to pause in their thoughtprocess" when working from graphicsdevice to storage device.

Taylor also finds the Carousel to beversatile, explaining that with thecontrol port for external controls, it


can be used as a digital VTR. It alsofunctions as an extension of Paint -box's storage capacity.

Storage capacity of Carousel is,however, one minor drawback forTaylor. A 15 -second commercial, forexample, has to be broken into 10 -sec-ond and five -second segments. ButTaylor likes the speed of RAM stor-age. Also, since rotoscoping and re-touching can be done with the Carou-sel/Paintbox combination, Taylor cancharge clients who need only thoseservices lower rates than he wouldhave to charge for use of Harry.

Another digital unit, Dubner's

Left: Asaca's ADS -300 still store is now available in the U.S. Right: Alta's Centauruscombines digital effects with still storage.

DSS-4, offers 200 Mb of internal stor-age and a 20 Mb removable disk. Ad-ditional disk drives can be added. Thedual -channel (program/preset) DSS-4includes Dubner paint basics and theability to do wipes, dissolves, fadesand cuts. In addition, optional soft-ware can add more painting capabili-ties, along with animation and draw-ing potential.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKCurrent standalone players will haveto "hang tough" with three new mak-ers now setting their sights on theU.S. market:soku and Sony.

New at NAB, the Accom DIS 422rounds out the low -end price competi-tors with prices starting at $19,500. Itstores in 4:2:2 component digital, andhas basic storage space for 100 im-ages. Optional disk drives can expandstorage to 600 images, and a remov-

able media drive can also be added.The DIS 422 has a control panel with31 keys instead of a QWERTY key-board, but the panel includes a track-ball.

Configured primarily as a stillstore for telecine applications, theDIS 422 allows comparison of live,grabbed and stored images throughwindowing or wipes. An Accom ValueTrak feature measures and comparesthe RGB values of selected points ontwo images. Though film -to -tape andtape -to -tape applications are now themost likely uses for the DIS 422, Ac -

is planning other configurations.

BIG GUNSEnter Sony, which is attempting tocombine the versatility of a standa-lone store with the power of archivalstorage. Sony's DNS -1000, announcedat NAB, will be available for deliverylate this year. With this model, Sony

Centralized Multi -User

Still Storage System

Production

Post Production

Figure 1

StillStore

Master Control

Graphics

News Room

Storage

Distributed Multi -User

Still Storage System


enters the still -store market withboth guns blazing. The DNS -1000 in-corporates a few key innovative fea-tures in an effort to provide userswith all they need from a still store.

Though the DNS -1000 comes in atthe higher end of the price scale, Sonysays price and efficiency were twomajor targets. Peter Dare, VP of prod-uct management for Sony BroadcastProducts, says the DNS -100 "providesarchive -quality capability at an af-fordable price." The DNS -1000 in-cludes a WORM (Write Once, ReadMany) disk drive and an optical 51/4 -inch drive.

Sony is banking on the 12 -inchtransportable WORM disk to offercost advantages. With the WORM'sstorage capacity of 1,800 images,Sony claims that use of the device cangreatly reduce the cost of image ar-chiving, from about $4 per still to lessthan 25 cents. Of course, users stillwant to be able to reuse disk space,and so the 51/4 -inch drive takes a re-writeable disk capable of storing 500images. Images will be stored in 4:2:2format whether they enter the systemas composite or component analog.Full bandwidth 4:2:2:4 is available asan option. Four wipes and dissolvesare possible, and an option will addcompression capability.

Another major advanced feature forthe Sony system is the incorporationof mouse technology, innovated bythe Apple Lisa and Macintosh com-puters. A mouse is an alternative tokeyboard entry of commands; it letsthe user move the cursor around thescreen by hand -rolling a device on adesk. By clicking a button on themouse, you can select a menu item.The mouse, along with an Instant Re-call option, lets you send a slide on-line in under .04 seconds, according toSony.

Massive storage needs can be han-dled by a "Jukebox" addition, whichstores 50 WORM disks, allowing on-line access to over 90,000 stills. Andyou can add more than one Jukebox.

Sony will also offer an Ethernet dis-tributed network option for multiple -user potential. Here, too, the capacityis enormous. Each mainframe stillstore supports six users, who canshare 42 disk drives.

Sony revealed two list prices toTelevision Engineering: $47,210 forthe DNS -1000 PAC 1 (an all -digital,single -user system with serial digitalcomponent input/output only); and$93,000 for the DNS -1000 PAC 4 (an-alog/digital, two -user system withdigital component I/O only, with twoA/D and four D/A converter boards toallow analog composite and compo-nent I/O, as well as serial componentI/O).

Another high -end still store isAsaca/Shibasoku's ADS -300, whichwill sell in the U.S. for about $59,000.The unit stores images in 4fsc com-posite digital, and includes a 650 Mbremovable cartridge. Seven optionaldual disk drives can be added. Sixteenplay lists can be created, and "skip"and "back" functions allow scanningthrough play lists prior to on -airtransmission. Switching from onestill to another on -air can be jazzed upthrough three -speed dissolves, wipesor pushes, as well as a plain cut. Trimand positioning of images is also pos-sible, as are image rolls. The ADS -300 is a single -user machine, but canhandle two functions simultaneously:A user can sequence images while theunit is transmitting on -air.

Besides use as a very sophisticatedstandalone, the ADS -300 can servemultiple -user needs through an Eth-ernet local area network. Also, a cartmachine capable of handling 2,400

"I would have troublejustifying an

integrated system,because if one piecegoes down, you losethe whole system."-Rex Colby, Leitch

DSF-3100N user,KOLO-TV, Reno, NV

disc cartridges is available.Asaca also has an ADS -7800 multi-

ple -beam still store for HDTV appli-cations, which transfers images at therate of two high-def frames per sec-ond. Price tag for the HDTV stillstore: $350,000.

INTEGRATED STORESSome manufacturers take another ap-proach to the need for still storage.Rather than offer it in a standaloneunit, they tack it onto another deviceor offer it as a module in a worksta-tion.

Pinnacle Systems, Santa Clara,CA, for example, offers still storagestarting with the 2120 module in its2100 workstation. The 2120 modulelets users store and retrieve up to 280images (180 in PAL). This modulealso provides other capabilities, suchas manipulating live video over re-trieved images. A downstream keyeroption allows tri-level video effects:The operator can key retrieved im-ages and processed video over a livevideo background. The 2120 includesa 31/2 -inch floppy and built-in Win-chester disk drive.

Pinnacle says most customers be-gin to build their 2100 workstationwith the 2110, which is one step be-low still storage. Users can then up-grade through hardware and softwareenhancement to the 2120, 2130 or2140. (The 2130 adds advanced paint-ing capabilities, and the 2140 adds 3-D modeling and animation.)

The 2100 is actually a 1989 up-grade of the four -year -old 2000 series,which also had a still store, the 2020.Walter Werdmuller, VP, sales forPinnacle, says the 2100 offers "thetype of improvement the customerswere looking for," including betterencoding, decoding and filtering, aswell as new sequencing software. The


I1111111111111111111111111

1111111111111111111111111

2100 is a success, with 900 sales, in-cluding at least 300 for the 2120, ac-cording to Werdmuller.

Marc Luedtke, director of opera-tions for KSNW in Wichita, KS, usesa 2020 with the Prizm software optionto produce commercials. Luedtke,who says his station has a "mix ofstuff' and is in a transition period tothe newer technology, explains thatan "old" Harris still store (with eight -inch tape) is being used for on -air ap-plications. An NEC E -flex serves dou-ble duty: on -air and post.

Luedtke likes the versatility of thePinnacle system. "It gives you every-thing in one neat package," he says,noting that he was impressed withthe resolution of pictures when re-viewing the system. "Edges weresharp, moves smooth." Ease of usewas another factor in Luedtke'schoice; he felt the Pinnacle was easierto learn and operate than some otherbig -name systems he reviewed. Hesays the station's production directorlearned the system's basics in a cou-ple of days without formal training.

Perhaps the key feature forLuedtke was the free software up-grades; he knows of at least one othermaker that makes you pay for up-grades. The software factor may bebehind the rapid market changes hehas seen in the past year. "More mak-ers are going to software -driven rath-er than hardware -driven systems.With software, you get to makechanges without buying a board; theysend you a disk. Before, you had to

buy a board or chip."

MALE AND HALECentaurus from the Alta Group, SanJose, CA is billed as a dual -channeldigital -effects and still -store system.Though it fits with the lower -pricedstandalones at $24,500, Centaurus isdesigned to be an integrated solutionto production and storage needs.

Processing format for the Centau-rus is component, offering eight -bitresolution and 14.318 MHz sampling.Centaurus has an internal 60 Mbdrive and a 500 Mb external drive,with a 40 Mb removable disk packavailable as an option. Input and out-put is composite.

That's the storage half. The effectshalf features nine wipes and nine dig-ital effects, including mosaic, mosaicdissolves, posterization, pushes, pullsand strobing. Two -channel picturefreeze and time -base correction goalong with a 4 x 2 audio mixer and adownstream keyer to fill out the mul-tifaceted unit.

Alta admits that the Centaurus isused mostly as a still -storage device,and the unit includes a serial inter-face with the Grass Valley 100 RS422 protocol. That makes it compati-ble with Grass Valley, Paltex, Con-vergence, Sony, United Media andCalaway editors.

But the extra features of the Cen-taurus do give it some added value.Though chief engineer Francis Wil-son of KTRV-TV, Nampa -Caldwell,ID regularly uses the Centaurus as a

Pinnacle2100 Series Workstations providepicture storage and manipulationcapabilities in one package.

still store, he found use for its specialfeatures during a remote from a shop-ping mall.

"We used the Centaurus as a cam-era switcher and also as a special -ef-fects box," Wilson explains. "Whilethese functions are above and beyondour normal application, they are pos-sible because the Centaurus containsa dual -channel TBC/frame synchro-nizer and video switcher," he adds.

OIARACTER STILLChyron unveiled its new Infinit! mod-el at NAB. Basically a two -user char-acter generator, Infinit! sells for$58,500. A video capture board for$7,000 adds the capability to store 80Mb of stills. Wipes, dissolves, pushesand pulls are possible, and an optiontransforms a two-dimensional graph-ic so that it moves in 3-D space. Ac-cording to a Chyron representative,this kind of flexibility is possible be-cause Infinit! treats a picture as if itwere a character.

The integration of still storage,graphics, store management and, ofcourse, character generation shouldmake Infinit! very popular, saysChyron, adding that as of NAB '90, 40Infinit!s had already been shipped.

The still -storage field is gettingcrowded, and it may get even morecrowded soon. Nova Systems, Canton,CT is reportedly developing a standa-lone still store. According to a Novarepresentative, most of the planninghas been done, but market timing andpricing have yet to be worked out.

As with all of the new technologydevices available, it is important tostart with your own needs and workfrom there to avoid paying for fea-tures you will not use. But the newstill stores do offer many possibilitiesthat leave the old technology stand-ing still.


Attractingtoday'sfinickyviewers

requirestop-quality

programming-and

a top-qualitysignal.

TEST &MEASUREMENT:

ou're listening to thehot-rockin', flame-throwin' Z-100, wherewe're going fromworst to first!"

Shouting that slo-gan over the airwaves,DJ Scott Shannon

made good on his promise, takingNew York's WHTZ-FM from a sleepylittle station playing "101 Strings"-

type elevator music to a booming, top -rated powerhouse. Of course, thechange in musical menu was a factor,but the ratings leapfrog over NewYork's other rockers was also drivenby top-notch technology and creativeengineering.

Folks in the radio business have

DELIVERINGTHE

GOODSBy William A. Owens

July 1990/TELEVISION ENGINEERING38

known a little secret for many years.If a radio station sounds better thanany other, chances are it will havemore listeners than any other. WhenMalrite Communications purchasedWVNJ-FM, they added a new anten-na and transmitter, new studios, andtons of signal processing. With newequipment, and new calls, the newlyformatted WHTZ-FM went from"worst to first" in the New York ADIratings in a few short months. Tech-nically, it sounds great.

What does this have to do with tele-vision engineering? If the better -sounding radio station attracts morelisteners, would it not then followthat the better -looking television sta-tion would attract more viewers?What about the better -looking pro-gram? Do more people watch PeterJennings on ABC than Dan Rather onCBS because they think Jenningsdoes a better newscast, or because-in the opinion of many-ABC's videois consistently brighter and crisperthan the dark backgrounds andmoody lighting of Rather's newscast?

Because television advertiserswant their commercials to reach thelargest possible numbers of eyeballs,broadcasters need to use every avail-able technique to attract the greatestnumber of potential viewers. Andmany folks in station managementare finding that the way to do it is todeliver a high -quality, well -engi-neered television signal.

Those who have been in broadcast-ing for a while have heard the line"It's leaving here okay." "It," ofcourse, is the television signal. If it'sleaving "okay," that means that, atleast at the transmission point, thesignal looks good. The old attitudewas that once the signal is "outthere," it's out of our hands and nolonger our problem. Why worry aboutsignal quality, as long as it meetsFCC specs?

In the competitive environment ofthe '90s, station engineers cannottake that kind of position. They needto deliver a high -quality signal, onethat will draw to it today's generationof video channel -grazers. And no mat-

ter what the engineers do in the TVstudio, the place where it mattersmost is that big boom box, the trans-mitter. It had better be a signal worthwatching. And that's the point. Youneed to know that the signal you'reputting out is the very best, and youneed the means to verify that.

With the introduction of digitaltape machines, switchers, effects de-vices, and the associated digital/ana-log and analog/digital converters intothe video chain, more care than everbefore is necessary to ensure the sig-nal's pristine quality.

The video signal does quite a bit oftraveling from its creation at thecamera head or tape machine, untildemodulation at the viewer's televi-sion receiver. At each major pointalong the way-camera control, taperoom, master control, and finally atthe transmitter-high-quality moni-toring equipment is necessary to en-sure that the signal delivered to thetransmitter is exactly the same aswhen it started along the path.

LEAP INTO THE AIRWAVESBut delivering the goods requiresmore than eareful monitoring at onepoint or another. A consistent ap-proach to quality at all levels is neces-sary, but most critical is the end ofthe signal line, where the former com-posite video signal, converted to radiofrequency, begins its final journey upto the antenna, before making thatgiant leap out into the airwaves.

Let's face it, test equipment isn'tvery sexy. Your latest Betacam gearmight blow away the competitor's 3/4 -inch field equipment, and that newcart machine cooking away unattend-ed hour after hour on -air might makeyour controller happy, but top man-agement isn't going to get excitedover the latest box that makes wigglygreen lines. But, if you look at it fromthe standpoint of increasing the num-ber of viewers by improving picturequality, then you're talking a stationmanager's language.

The basic television transmitterconsists of two similar subsystems,one each for visual and aural signal

generation. The transmitter receivesa video input signal, modulates a ra-dio frequency carrier, and amplifiesthe signal to feed the broadcast an-tenna. Also received are one or moreaudio input signals, which are modu-lated into a separate radio frequencycarrier, and amplified to feed thebroadcast antenna.

Just before entering the antennapath, the visual and aural RF signalsare filtered and combined to producea complete, broadcast -ready signal. Acolor notch filter attenuates the 3.58color snbcarrier to meet FCC specifi-cations. Harmonic filters are used tocontrol radiation characteristics ofthe signal, providing attenuation ofthe second harmonic of the visual andaural carrier's operating frequency.Finally, the visual and aural signalsare married via a notch diplexer, com-bined to feed a common antenna.

Of course, that's a simplification.There are differences between VHFand UHF, high -power and low -power,solid-state or tube. Since almost everynew television transmitter is custom-made for its particular application,there are as many variations as thereare transmitter manufacturers andcustomers. And broadcasters using alarge-scale transmitter with severaloperational modes have most likelyadded a switchless combiner to thesignal path, for fast and easy systemreconfiguration.

TRANSMISSION CHECKOUTThe groundwork for a high -qualityRF signal is put into place during theinitial installation of the transmitter,transmission line and antenna. Ac-cording to Walter Pries, field servicemanager for Micro Communications,Inc., careful installation is essentialfor high performance. Pries told Tele-vision Engineering, "Thorough test-ing of the system from amplifier out -

Left: Typical worn inner connector showswear marks and scratches on both innerconnector and insulator surfaces. Right:Inner connector shows no excessive orabnormal wear.


RF TEST & MEASUREMENT

put to antenna is required to providehigh -quality transmission."

Pries suggests a complete checkoutof the transmission line, looking forimpedance mismatches, directional-ity of couplers, and correct tolerancesat elbows, flanges and inner connec-tors. Particular attention should bepaid to transitional sections. This willallow correction of any problems be-fore they can have an adverse effecton the broadcast signal. Pries alsopointed out that all possible signalpaths within a given system shouldbe tested, not just the normal opera-tional configuration. This will ensureoptimum performance in those emer-gency situations when you need itmost.

Once a transmission system is upand running, constant monitoring ofits operation can help spot minorproblems before they graduate intothe Major League. While many havesystems that automatically taketransmitter readings, how manymake a careful study of those read-ings to see what's actually happeningto their system?

Dana Myers, Harris Corporation'slead customer -service engineer and

transmitter operations instructor, be-lieves that a transmission system willlet you know if there's a problem. Ac-cording to Myers, stations should"initially establish a baseline of per-formance data to compare against on-going operations."

A comparison of optimum perfor-mance against day-to-day perfor-mance can help spot trends, particu-larly problems with VSWR. Myerssays it is important to look at the bigpicture: "Some things can changewithout affecting on -air operation."He points out that variations inVSWR could be caused by changes inenvironmental temperature, ratherthan the onset of some problem. In ad-dition to watching the meters, Myersadds that it is important to keep aneye on the on -air signal, emphasizing,"A noise problem, or flashing, streak-ing or break-up in the picture mightbe caused by a bullet heating up."

STORMS AND BULLET HOLESBut a high -quality signal requiresmore than just watching meters andmonitoring off -air. According to JoeZuba, director of marketing for Di-electric Communications, engineers

should know their transmission plantfrom the ground up.

"You need to keep watch for normalwear and tear, and for those acts ofnature that can cause problems,"Zuba told us. You need to watch fortransmission -line damage due toweather conditions, such as lightningstorms or falling ice.

But Mother Nature is not the onlyproblem engineers face. Many believethat television transmission systemsare great for target practice. It'samazing what a small bullet hole inthe transmission line can do to a tele-vision signal. And beyond intentionaldamage are man-made problems thatare unintentional. "Improper tuningor damage in the transport of criticalparts can affect transmission perfor-mance," Zuba notes.

One who believes in careful moni-toring is Ernest Mayberry, a systemsengineer with LDL Communications."Once an RF system is properly in-stalled and operating, we recommendthat the signature profile [return lossmeasurement and time -domain re-sponse] be redone every couple ofyears to ensure proper operation," hesays. "Transmission line and antenna

Left: Taking apart the transmission line for inspection. Right: Inspecting the inner surfaces ofouter and inner line segments.


system installations older than 10years should be checked more often."

The wear and tear, the use andabuse of a transmission system byMother Nature and by man requirewatchful attention by those who

Metal "Shavings"Can Shave RFPerformance

he critical link betweentransmitter and antenna-the transmission line-is sub-

ject to the whims of nature. In thetypical rigid coaxial line, expan-sion and contraction due tochanges in temperature can resultin wear on both the conductor andinner connectors. This wear canproduce metal shavings that con-taminate the line. Over time, thebuild-up of metal shavings on theline insulators could create a cur-rent path from inner to outer thatcould result in a flashover. In addi-tion, with the silver plating wornaway, surface contact is reduced,increasing contact resistance andresulting in greater power loss andpotential local hot spots. All ofwhich can seriously degrade signaltransmission.

The photos shown here were tak-en at KUVN-TV, Channel 23, Gar-land, TX, test site for Andrew Cor-poration's MACXLine, whichutilizes an integral bellows seg-ment built into its inner conductor.According to Tom O'Flaherty,product line manager, AndrewBroadcast Products, the MACX-Line concept represents a "perfectsolution for the problem of conduc-tor expansion and contraction."O'Flaherty told Television Engi-neering that over 25 sites are nowequipped with MACXLine, andseveral operators are consideringthe replacement of their existinginner conductors to improve RFtransmission performance.-W.A.O.

know what to look for in the system'soperation. A well -trained, experi-enced operator can spot those littlechanges in operating conditions thatmight signal a problem.

The first line of defense is thereforea trained, experienced operator, andthe tools to help analyze the availableinformation. Just logging data is of nohelp. Transmitter performance mustbe monitored and compared againstestablished benchmarks. Irregular-ities need to be investigated, andtheir cause determined. A simplecomparison of the input signal versusthe demodulated output can provide awealth of information.

During construction, a variety ofmeasurement instruments are usedto help fine-tune a transmission sys-tem. Key to that process are a spec-trum analyzer and network analyzer.

Of course, few stations can afford tobuy the specialized equipment to dothe kind of testing that an installa-tion crew would do. That's why inmost cases, stations use outside con-tractors for full-scale system testing.And with the smaller engineeringstaffs of most stations, there is littletime to make serious evaluations ofequipment operation.

Perhaps, too, the lack of down timefor testing is a result of the reluctanceof many managers to allow off -airtime for the necessary engineering

functions, operating under the theory"If it ain't broke, don't fiddle with it."Sometimes, you just don't get thetime you want to check things out.Until it's too late.

So you come to depend on thoseday-to-day observations. And for ev-eryday use, the best tools of the tradeare those test devices with whichwe're all familiar: the waveform mon-itor, vectorscope and spectrum ana-lyzer. With proper operation, theywill tell you almost everything youneed to know, and when combinedwith careful monitoring of your trans-mitter readings, will help make sureyou're delivering the goods to youraudience.

For engineers working in today'smore competitive environment, theold adage about the signal "leavinghere okay" covers only half the battle.Delivering the goods means not justthat the signal is leaving okay, butthat the signal is "arriving thereokay" as well.

You can't visit every home in theviewing area to make sure you arecoming in bright and clear. But youcan take the time and effort to makesure that everyone charged with oper-ating your transmitter knows how itworks, and what to keep an eye on.And that will help ensure that theviewers will be keeping an eye onyour station.

Directory of RF Test& Measurement ManufacturersAllied ElectronicsAnritsuAudio Precision Inc.Avcom of VirginiaBTC Test & MeasurementBelar Electronics Lab Inc.Bird Electric Corp.Boonton Electronics Corp.Coaxial Dynamics Inc.Electro Impulse LabsFluke Manufacturing Company Inc.Hewlett-PackardHitachi Denshi America Inc.

Holaday industries Inc.Leader Instruments Inc.Magni Systems Inc.MarcomMcMartin InternationalMinoltaNarda MicrowaveRE InstrumentsRohde & SchwartzTFTTektronixVideotek


PART II: BUDGETS

STATION

EQUIPMENT

Television Engineeringcontinues its

exclusive study ofpurchasing trends

among TV stations.This month:

equipment purchasingbudgets in 1988,

1989 and 1990.By Peter Caranicas

Every TV station chiefengineer and generalmanager knows thesize of his equipmentbudget and whetherit is going up ordown. But how doesthat budget stack upagainst what other

stations of a similar size are doing?And, for the industry as a whole, isspending on equipment rising or fall-ing, and by how much?

To answer these questions, late lastyear Television Engineering commis-sioned a scientific survey of TV sta-tion spending patterns on hardware,

reaching a random sample of 245 buy-ing sites (see box on "Methodology")..We are presenting the results of thisstudy in a series of three articles.

In May, Part I focused on the role ofstation engineers and others in decid-ing what equipment to buy. Thismonth, we quantify station equip-ment purchasing budgets. And nextmonth, Part III will analyze buyingintentions for 14 product categories.We'll also present our findings on sta-tions' intentions in the area of digitalrecording, and opinions on HDTV.

WILD PATTERNSAs of the end of last year, 11% of TVstations in the 150 largest marketshad no plans to purchase any equip-ment at all in 1990. Among the 89%that did plan to buy, spending wouldbe almost flat compared to 1989.

More specifically, the average sta-tion's expenditures on equipment rosefrom $563,000 in 1988 to $613,000 in1989, an increase of 9% (see chart).By contrast, it was estimated that1990 equipment expenditures wouldrise to only $621,000, a mere 1% in-crease-and an actual decrease if in-flation is taken into account.

However, when this spending isbroken down by station size, a morecomplicated and wildly varying pat-tern emerges. For the purposes ofanalysis, our researchers divided theuniverse of stations into four catego-ries: those in markets 1 through 25,26 through 50, 50-100, and 101-150.The markets themselves are definedby Arbitron Television on the basis ofdata supplied by the U.S. Census Bu-reau and the broadcast industry.

Stations in markets 1-25 range insize from New York, Los Angeles andChicago (numbers 1, 2 and 3) to Hart-ford/New Haven, San Diego and Or-lando/Daytona Beach (numbers 23,24 and 25). They serve fully half theU.S. population and are the most like-ly to be able to afford expensive hard-ware. Equipment budgets at thesesites leapt from an average of$862,000 in 1988 to $1,203,000 in1989-only to fall back to an estimat-ed $986,000 this year (see chart).


Markets 26-50, which are medium-sized, range from Indianapolis andPortland, OR (numbers 26 and 27) toGreensboro/Winston Salem, NC andWest Palm Beach/Fort Pierce, FL(numbers 49 and 50). Equipment ex-penditures there took on a pattern ex-actly the reverse of the one seen atthe larger stations. Average equip-ment budgets dipped from $701,000in 1988 to $495,000 in 1989, but wereexpected to rise significantly thisyear to $873,000.

Stations in markets 51-100, whichrange in size from Albuquerque, NM(51) to Sioux Falls/Mitchell, SD (100),are seeing a steady drop in theirequipment expenditures. In 1988, theaverage station in this category spent$482,000 on hardware; in 1989, theamount fell to $434,000; and this yearit is projected to fall still further to$395,000 per station.

By contrast, stations in the smallmarkets, from 101 (Fort Wayne, IN)through 150 (Lubbock, TX), are see-ing a steady rise in equipment expen-ditures. In 1988, the average stationin this category spent $191,000; in1989, that number rose to $203,000;and this year it is estimated that itwill rise to $236,000.

FORETELLING TRENDSClearly, stations in the 25 largestmarkets are the locomotive control-ling the industry's overall statistics.Their average equipment budget of$1.2 million in 1989 raised the overallaverage for the entire universe. More-over, this significant group's cutbacksin 1990 are the single most importantfactor responsible for the overall stag-nation in equipment sales to call -let-ter stations this year.

And yet, the buying wave that hitthe large stations last year seems nowto have trickled down to the secondcategory-stations in markets 26-50.While the average station in this cat-egory saw its equipment budgetplummet from $701,000 in 1988 to$495,000 in 1989, expenditures areexpected to rebound energeticallythis year. In fact, the per -station av-erage in this second category is esti-

Methodology

Television Engineering com-missioned the TV researchfirm Frank N. Magid Asso-

ciates to conduct an equipment -purchasing survey among televi-sion broadcasters in the nation's150 largest markets. These sta-tions reach 95.85% of the total U.S.population. In late November andearly December of 1989, Magidtelephone interviewers reached arandom sample of 245 stations inthese markets, out of a total uni-verse of 875 such stations. The re-sulting margin of error is plus orminus 5%, and the survey's find-ings are projectable to that entireuniverse of stations.

The researchers asked to speakto the person "most familiar withthe station's technical equipment. . . and the purchasing of it." Mostof the survey respondents had en-gineering titles, with 69% beingchief engineers or assistant chiefengineers, and 14% directors ormanagers of engineering. Twentypercent of the respondents workedat stations in markets 1-25, 17%in markets 26-50, 31% in markets51-100, and 23% in markets 101-150. Twenty-one percent wereABC affiliates, 22% were affiliatedwith CBS, 20% with NBC, 13%with Fox, and 23% were indepen-dent.

1988

1989

1990

(estimate)

1988, 1989, 1990 EQUIPMENT BUDGETS

All Station Average $563,000

1162.000

'1,000

$482.000$191,000

All -Station Average: $613,000

All -Station Average: $621,000

$236,000

IMarkets 1-25

Markets 26-50Markets 51-100Markets 101-150

$986,000

58 3,00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Dollars in Hundred Thousands

9 10 11 12

mated to reach $873,000 in 1990,which is just slightly below the totaldollar amount to be spent by the typi-cal much -larger 1-25 station.

If this is in fact a trickle -down phe-nomenon, then stations in.the 51-100category may be the most likely can-didates for increased expenditures in1991-or perhaps 1992. This possibil-

ity should be noted by hardware man-ufacturers and other mark'e'ters to theTV industry. Additional research tobe conducted by Television Engineer-ing later this year will further clarifythese patterns.

Meanwhile, stay tuned next monthfor a product -by-product analysis ofstation purchasing plans for 1990.


NEW

TECHNOLOGY BUYER'S GUIDE:

AUDIO,PART IIIn April's issue, we published a directory of audio -for -vid-eo products from a variety of manufacturers. However,that list left out some manufacturers, so we decided to runPart II. This listing does not include the companies thatappeared in Part I.

Companies are listed alphabetically with addresses,phone numbers and products (including model numberswhen provided). Following this listing is a cross referenceby product, with company names listed under applicableproduct categories. -John F. King

Allen & Heath5 Connair Rd.Orange, CT 06477(203) 795-3594Sabek, Sigma, Scepter, SR, SCand Studio 12 audio mixingconsoles for recording andpost -production applications;CMPTE synchronizer for CMCseries consoles; Sigma, Sabreand CMC series consoles.

Ampex Recording MediaCorp.401 Broadway, M.S. 22-02Redwood City, CA 94063(415) 367-3888Audiotape: 406/407 mastering;456 Grand Master; 467 digitalmastering; 467 U-matic and R-

DAT cassette; 472 studio cas-sette; 478 low print mastering;615/616 cassette duplicator;619/620 chrome cassette dupli-cator; 631/641 open -reel dupli-cator; 631 /641 /651 /661 openreel; 632/642 professional openreel; 632/642 professionalopen -reel duplicator; 672 pro-fessional cassette. Videotape:175 two-inch broadcast quad-ruplex; 187 3/4 -inch U-maticbroadcast videocassette; 188'/2 -inch Betamax Professionalvideocassette; 189'/2 -inch VHSProfessional videocassette; 199VHS Broadcast videocassette;196 one -inch Master Broad-cast; 197 3/4 -inch U-matic Mas-ter Broadcast videocassette;297 3/4 -inch U-matic SP MasterBroadcast videocassette; 198/2 -inch Betacam Broadcast vi-deocassette; 298'/2 -inch Beta -cam SP Master Broadcast vi-deocassette; 219 19 mm D-1Digital Master Broadcast vi-

deocassette; 319 19 mm D-2Digital Master Broadcast vi-deocassette.

The Audio Broadcast Group2342 S. Division Ave.Grand Rapids, MI 49507-3087(616) 452-1652Crown amplifiers, preamplifi-ers; Otari and Revox ATRs; Au-ditronics, Broadcast Electronics,Autogram, ATI, Broadcast Au-dio and Soundcraft USA broad-cast consoles; Dyaxis-Studerdigital workstations; ATI andAuditronics distribution amps;Sennheiser and AKG head-phones; Auditronics IFB sys-tems; EV, Shure, Sennheiserand Neumann microphones,accessories; Nakamichi, Ma-rantz, Panasonic, Studer, andDenon miscellaneous record-ing/playback equipment; moni-tors; monitoring equipment; EV,JBL monitor speakers; Audi-tronics, Soundcraft USA andRamsa post -production con-soles; DBX, Orban and Aphexsignal -processing equipment;Orban stereo simulators; 0E1test & measurement equipment;Gentner telephone interfacingequipment.

Audiolab Electronics5831 Rosebud Lane, Bldg. CSacramento, CA 95841(916) 348-0200Bulk tape degaussers; TD -5

A supplement to

our April audio -

for -video

directory, cross-

referenced by

product

category.

Metal Tape Degausser (erasesBeta SP and MI1); TD -4A De-gausser (erases DAT and reelsup to 16 inches in diameter).

Beier Electronics Laboratory119 Lancaster Ave., Box 76Devon, PA 19333(215) 687-5550Monitoring equipment; test &measurement equipment.

DIM Systems730, 9919 105 St.Edmonton, ALT5K 1B1 Canada(403) 426-1551Cabs: live assist, full automa-tion, digital audio mass -storagesystems, multi -CD players, opti-cal disk jukeboxes; intelligentswitching matrix interfaced tocabs.


Gentner Electronics Corp.1825 Research WaySalt Lake City, UT 84119-2348(801) 975-72006x headset/speaker amplifier;IFB solutions; Microtel, AutoCoupler, TC-100 IFB systems;VRC-2000 transmitter remote -control system; routing DA; sig-nal switchers; pre -wired patchpanels; Audio Prism four -bandprocessor; AM-Phoenix-NRSC-1 compliant processor; digitalHybrid II -Auto nulling hybrid;SPH-5 analog hybrid; SPH-5EHybrid with frequency extender.

GLW (Harrison)437 Atlas DriveNashville, TN 37211(615) 331-8800AP -100, AIR -790, PRO -790, TV -4 broadcast consoles; Series -Ten, TV -3, TV -4, PRO -790, MR -20 and MR -4 post -productionconsoles; ARS-9 audio routingswitcher; Telos 100 controlmodule for AIR -790 and PRO -790 consoles.

Harris Allied BroadcastEquipment3712 National Road WestPO Box 1487Richmond, IN 47375(317) 962-8596Broadcast consoles; comput-ers, software, music libraries;digital workstations; distributionamps; headphones; intercoms;microphones, accessories; mis-cellaneous recording/playbackequipment; monitors; monitor-

. ing equipment; monitor speak-ers; routing equipment; signal -processing equipment; stereosimulators; test & measurementequipment; telephone interfac-ing equipment; VU monitor dis-plays.

Lexicon, Inc.100 Beaver St.Waltham, MA 02154(617) 891-6790OPUS random-access produc-tion system, OPUS/E random-access editing system; Z400digital time compressor/expan-der, 480L digital effects system,PCM-70 digital effects proces-sor, LXP-1 digital effects proces-sor, LXP-5 digital multi -effectsprocessor, MRC MIDI remotecontroller, CP-1 digital audioenvironment processor, CP-2digital audio surround proces-sor, 1300 audio delay synchro-nizer.

Mackie Designs3910 148th Ave., N.E.Redmond, WA 98052(206) 885-7443CR-1604 16 -channel midlinemixer.

Magna -Tech Electronic Co.630 Ninth Ave.New York, NY 10036(212) 586-7240Type 69-C magnetic reproduceamplifier; type 68-C magneticrecord amplifier; 35 mm and 16mm film heads in all formats-standard and long life; typeMD -2036 dual film reproduc-ers; type MR -10036, MR -4036and MR -636-B film recordersand reproducers; EL -II auto-matic dialogue replacementsystems for dialogue and foleyrecording; type -9F SMPTE/EBUtime -code generator/readerwith jam sync, user bits, andcode synthesizer from bi-phasepulses.

Maxell Corp. of America22-08 Rt. 208Fairlawn, NJ 07410(201) 794-5924Audiotape: analog; digital

mastering in 1/4 -inch, '/2 -inch,and one -inch; 3/4 -inch U-Maticdigital audio cassettes; DATcassettes in several lengths; IECtype I cassettes in severallengths (Communicator Seriesand Duplicator Series). Video-tape: one -inch (BQ series) inseveral lengths; D-2 cassettesin small, medium or largesizes-all lengths; 3/4 -inch U-matic cassettes in severallengths; Betacam and BetacamSP cassettes, small & large; S -VHS cassettes (T-120 only);VHS cassettes in three grades inbulk & finished product; 1/2 -inchduplicator and 1/2 -inch sprinterpancakes; one -inch HDTVtape.

Micron Audio Products210 Westlake DriveValhalla, NY 10595(914) 761-6520Microphones, accessories.

Microtran145 E. Mineola Ave.P.O. Box 236Valley Stream, NY 11582-0236(516) 561-6050Microphone; transducer inputtransformers; bulk tape erasers;audio & power transformers.

Hemmed°200 Connecticut Ave.Norwalk, CT 06858(203) 866-7600Amplifiers, preamplifiers; post -production equipment.

Pesa America2951 Woodbridge DriveBedford, TX 76021(817) 267-6599TB -8000 intercom; 101, 162,40X, Series H routing equip-ment.

Radio Systems110 High Hill Rd.Bridgeport, NJ 08014-0458(609) 467-8000PA -1 phono preamp; RS seriesbroadcast audio console; DA -16 distribution amp; RS -1000DAT machine; RS -2000 audiocart machine; TM -2R timer; RSLED volume meter.

Rohde & Schwarz4425 Nicole Dr.Lanham, MD 20706(301) 459-8800Test and measurement equip-ment.

Samson Technologies Corp.485-19 S. BroadwayHicksville, NY 11801(516) 932-3810Broadcast consoles; comput-ers, software, music libraries;IFB systems; microphones, ac-cessories; miscellaneous re-cording/playback equipment;monitor speakers; post -produc-tion consoles.

Shintron144 Rogers St.Cambridge, MA 02142(617) 491-8700Distribution amps; routingequipment.

. 4


AUDIO BUYER'S GUIDE: PART II

Sony Pro Audio Div.1600 Queen Anne Rd.Teaneck, NJ 07666(201) 833-5200PCM-3348, PCM-3324A, APR -24, APR -5003V, APR -5002,TCD-D5PROII, PCM-2500,TCD-D1OPRO, PCM-2000ATRs; MDR -V6 headphones;ECM -44B, ECM -558, ECM -66B, ECM -778, ECM-MS5B, C-76, C-74, ECM -672, C-48, C-535, C-536, ECM -23F2, ECM -33F microphones, accessories;MXP-2900, MXP-290, MXP-3000, MXP-61 post -productionconsoles; SDP -1000, MUR-201,MU -E041, MU -2021 signal -processing equipment.

Soundmaster USA900A Hampshire Rd.Westlake Village, CA 91361(805) 494-4545Digital workstations; post -pro-duction equipment.

Tektronix, Television Div.Box 500, Mail Sta. 58-699Beaverton, OR 97077(503) 627-1274VM700A Option 40 audio mea-surement set; ASG-100 audiosignal generator.

Timeline, Inc.270 Lafayette St.New York, NY 10012(212) 431-0330Lynx time -code modules; Lynxfilm -transport modules; systemsupervisor for console automa-tion; keyboard control unit.

Trident Audio2720 Monterey St., #403Torrance, CA 90503(213) 533-8900Vector 432 32 -bus in -line mixingconsole; T24 24 -bus console.

Video Accessory Corp.2450 Central Ave. #HBoulder, CO 80301(303) 443-4950Distribution amps.

Videotek243 Shoemaker Rd.Pottstown, PA 19464(215) 327-2292ADA-16 distribution amp;APM-2RS and APM-8RS audioprogram monitors.

Ward -Beck Systems Ltd.841 Progress Ave.Scarborough, ONM1 H 2X4 Canada(416) 438-6550Broadcast consoles; distribu-tion amps; IFB systems; inter-coms.

Weircliffe USAA Division of PALTEXINTERNATIONAL2752 Walnut AveTustin, CA 92680(714) 838-8833BTE line of magnetic media de-gaussers. Formats include Phil-lips cassette, DAT, R-DAT, two-inch open reel and 35 mm fullcoat magnetic film.

DID YOU KNOW ...

Your best resource forFREE product information is in

every issue of Television Engineering:

TELEVISION ENGINEERINGRAPID RESPONSE CARDS

Don't Miss Them! Turn to Page 51


AUDIO BUYER'S GUIDE: PART II

GUIDEPRODUCT

A cross -listing of

product categories for

manufacturers of audio -

for -video equipment.

Amplifiers, Preamplifiers Videotek Monitors Harris Allied BroadcastThe Audio Broadcast Group Ward Beck The Audio Broadcast Group EquipmentGentner Electronics Heads, Accessories Harris Allied Broadcast Pesa AmericaMagna -Tech Electronic Co. Magna -Tech Electronic Co. Equipment ShintronNeumade Headphones Monitoring Equipment Signal -figRadio Systems The Audio Broadcast Group The Audio Broadcast Group EquipmentATRs Harris Allied Broadcast Belar Electronics Laboratory The Audio Broadcast GroupSony Professional Audio Equipment Gentner Electronics Gentner ElectronicsBroadcast Consoles Sony Professional Audio Harris Allied Broadcast Harris Allied BroadcastThe Audio Broadcast Group IFB Systems Equipment EquipmentGLW (Harrison) The Audio Broadcast Group Videotek Lexicon, Inc.Harris Allied Broadcast Gentner Electronics Monitor Speakers Magna -Tech Electronic Co.

Equipment Samson Technologies The Audio Broadcast Group Sony Professional AudioMackie Designs Ward Beck Harris Allied Broadcast Stereo SimulatorsRadio Systems Intercoms Equipment Harris Allied BroadcastSamson Technologies Harris Allied Broadcast Samson Technologies EquipmentWard Beck Equipment Post -Production Consoles The Audio Broadcast GroupComputers, Software, Music Peso America Allen & Heath TapeLibraries Ward Beck The Audio Broadcast Group Ampex Recording MediaDKW Systems Microphones, Accessories GLW (Harrison) MaxellHarris Allied Broadcast The Audio Broadcast Group Samson Technologies Test & Measurement

Equipment Harris Allied Broadcast Sony Professional Audio EquipmentSamson Technologies Equipment Trident Audio Belar Electronics LaboratoryDigital Workstations Micron Audio Products Post -Production Equipment Harris Allied BroadcastThe Audio Broadcast Group Microtran The Audio Broadcast Group EquipmentHarris Allied Broadcast Samson Technologies Magna -Tech Electronic Co. The Audio Broadcast Group

Equipment Sony Professional Audio Neumade Radio SystemsLexicon, Inc. Miscellaneous Recording/ Soundmaster USA Rohde & SchwarzSoundmaster USA Playback Equipment Timeline TektronixDistribution Amps The Audio Broadcast Group Routing Equipment Telephone Inter/ads.The Audio Broadcast Group Audiolab Electronics DKW Systems EquipoisedGentner Electronics Harris Allied Broadcast Gentner Electronics The Audio Broadcast GroupHarris Allied Broadcast Equipment GLW (Harrison) Gentner Electronics

Equipment Magna -Tech Electronic Co. GLW (Harrison)Radio Systems Radio Systems Harris Allied BroadcastShintron Samson Technologies EquipmentVideo Accessory Corp. Weircliffe USA Microtran

Microtran VU Monitor DisplaysHarris Allied Broadcast

Equipment


.:,,,,......:.........,

New This month,and in our August

issue, TelevisionEngineering uncrates

new products that wereintroduced at NAB '90.

VGV D3200 Digital ProductionSwitcherThis composite digital video switcheroffers a choice of eight- or 10 -bit dig-ital inputs, either serial or parallel,while maintaining full 16- and 32 -bitinternal processing. Introduced at

multiple -level effects banks-eachwith priority transitions, key capture,flying shadows, four wipe generatorsand E -Z Mem advanced sequenceautomation. Through VGV's PhantomAnalog Bus, this digital switcher canwork with analog studio equipment.Reader Service #200

TIMELINE Lynx SSL DataInterfaceThis NAB -debuted interface links theSolid State Logic (SSL) G series stu-dio computer with ATRs, VTRs andfilm equipment through Timeline'sLynx system. Jointly developed bySSL and Timeline, the system is de-signed to solve compatibility andcontrol problems in audio and audiopost facilities. The interface expandsthe number of transports that can becontrolled directly from the com-puter, and any transport can be des-ignated virtual master or slave unit.All offset information, cue and mix

data can be stored on the SSL datacartridge. The system can be retrofit-ted in the field and uses the Lynx RS -422 interconnect system and BNCcables. Options include: eight GPIclosures for event triggering; threeslaved time -code generators to driveexternal equipment; and MIDI timecode output. Price: $1,800.Reader Service #201

OTARI MTR-15 StudioProduction Recorder

Displayed at NAB, this two -trackstudio/production recorder featuresextensive microprocessor control, us -


ing systems developed for Otari'sMTR-100A 24 -track machine. TheMTR-15 offers automatic alignmentof record and reproduce parameters,with the data for four different tapeformulations at each speed and theequalization setting stored in a bat-tery -backed memory. The tape trans-port includes a built-in four -pointlocator (with three one -touch cuepoints), and an LED tape counter thatdisplays ips, cps, hours/minutes/seconds, hours/minutes/seconds/frames, or error messages. The MTR-

15, which can be used in a 19 -inchrack mount, on a table top or on aconsole, has Dolby HX Pro headroomextension circuitry; a built-in test os-cillator; an internal monitor speaker;12.5 -inch reel capacity; four crystal -locked tape speeds; a cue wheel forshuttle/jog operation; and AES/NAB/IEC equalization presets. Available in1/4 -inch and 1/2 -inch NAB, 1/4 -inch DINand 1/4 -inch center -track time -codeversions. Price: $9,250.Reader Service #202

PINNACLE DCC-21 Dual -

Channel CombinerShown at NAB and designed for usewith Pinnacle's 2100 series worksta-tion, the DCC-21 manipulates im-ages from two separate workstationsusing one control panel. Multiple lay-ering through two live images and twostill montages keyed over a back-ground source.Reader Service #203

OTARI Series 54 and TC-100 Consoles

These two new console designs debuted at NAB. The series 54, available in 24 -to 46 -input module configurations, features high -resolution meters, dual signalpaths, four -band EQ, and 10 auxiliary send buses. The TC-100 Transfer Con-sole, designed for film transfer work or video dubbing, has an input capacityranging from nine to 18 per audio rack. It features 4 bus outputs, solo functions,headphone output, and fader bypass. For the series 54, prices start from$67,900 (32 channels/24 hi-res meter); prices are not available for the TC-100.Reader Service #204

PANASONIC SV-3700 Pro-DAT Recorder

Unveiled at NAB, the SV-3700 features a front -panel shuttle wheel, with a speedrange of 0.5 to 15 times normal. The analog input includes four -stage, one -bitDelta -Sigma A -to -D converters, while the output has proprietary Quad 18 -bitDACs that reduce zero -cross distortion and enhance linearity at low signal lev-els, according to Panasonic. Other features: wireless remote; push-button fade-in/fade-out functions; balanced inputs and outputs through XL -type connectors(-10 dBu or +4 dBm output levels); program, absolute and time -remaining dis-plays; and push-button choice of 44.1/48 kHz analog or digital sampling rates.Fast forward, rewind and search speeds go up to 400 times normal speed.Reader Service #205

PANASONIC SV-3900 Pro-DAT Recorder

This new recorder, introduced at the NAB convention, offers full remote controlof virtually all transport controls. The standard nine -pin serial port can beswitched to ES -Bus or P-2 protocols, making it compatible with most editingcontrollers and automation systems. Other features include: a horizontal cas-sette tray; program, absolute and time -remaining displays; push-button selec-tion of 44.1/48 kHz sampling rates in analog or digital; AES/EBU-format and S/Pdigital I/O ports carrying start and skip ID information within the sub -code area;and balanced inputs and outputs via XL -type connectors, with a switchable -10/ + 4 dBu output level. The system comes with its own remote controller, theSH-MK360, with transport controls and a shuttle wheel (speed range: 0.5x to15x play speed). A single controller can be assigned to address any one of 32different SV-3900 machines connected on a controller network. Price notavailable.Reader Service #206


ASTON Wallet Still StoreUpgrade

Now marketed by Paltex Interna-tional, the Aston Wallet general-pur-pose still store was upgraded in timefor NAB. The Wallet keyboard hasbeen extended, and Wallet now has a105 Mb fixed disk along with a re-movable Winchester disk cartridge.The fixed disk stores 99 full -frameimages and their associated signals;the cartridge holds 42. The Wallet isCCIR-601-ready, with image process-ing in RGB or YUV component specsfor both image input and output.Reader Service #207

OTARI DP -4050 E SeriesIn -Cassette Duplicators

The "E" series, introduced at the NABconvention to replace the DP -4050,consists of the DP -4050E -C2 (onemaster, two slaves), the DP -4050E -Z3 (three slaves), and the DP -4050E -Z buffer unit. The cassette transportsnow employ a three -motor, direct -drive design, and the rewind capabil-ity on the slave transports has beenupgraded. Other features: switchablemaster -tape end detection: shortslave -tape error detection; and amicroprocessor -controlled transport.The buffer also expands the maxi -

INTERACTIVE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IMTX 8000Media IntegratorThis box connects to a Macintosh personal computer to allow the computer toact as a desktop hub for audio and video equipment. The self-contained systemincorporates full machine control, audio/video routing, sync generation andframe -accurate SMPTE time -code indexing; it outputs in NTSC. The hardwaresupports parallel and serial interfaces. One IMTX 8000 can control as many as12 picture sources and simultaneously distribute up to 20 sound sources. Fivesoftware modules are bundled with the 8000, and their capabilities include:preview edit, comp edit, creation of an EDL, and frame -by -frame animation con-trol. The IMT serial driver, which facilitates control of up to eight machines, in-terprets the command set of the respective devices to and from the Macintosh,the IMTX 8000, and the media peripherals. Price: Between $7,000 and$12.000, depending on hardware configuration.Reader Service #208

mum size of a duplication system,allowing 65 slaves instead of 29.Prices: DP -4050E -Z3, $4,495; DP -4050E -Z, $995: 4050E -C2, $5,460.Reader Service #209

RTS SYSTEMS 2200

Transmission System

This one-way communications sys-tem features full bandwidth from asingle transmitter to multiple receiv-ers. Operating in the VHF range be-tween 72 and 76 MHz with eight dif-ferent frequencies, the 2200 systemconsists of a transmitter (Model2205), belt pack receiver (2210),wire response earbud transducer(2231), and cord assembly for ear -bud (2232). An NAB intro, the systemcan be used for program feeds, be-hind -the -scenes intercom monitor-ing, and sound enhancement for thehearing -impaired. The 2205 BaseStation Transmitter supports portablestations, and interconnects with theprogram audio source, TW Intercom,Series 800 or Series 4000 IFB sys-tem. The 2210 Belt Pack ReceiverTransceiver, powered by two AA bat-teries for 50 hours use, drives a smallearphone. Prices: 2205, $750; 2210,$92; 2231, $23; 2232, $8.50.Reader Service 14210

OPTICAL DISC 617 CXEncoder/Decoder

Displayed at NAB, this unit lets theuser encode CX-standard audio intorecorded videodiscs. The 617 en-codes audio according to the CX stan-dard and the IEC/LaserVision speci-fications for videodiscs, and decodesthe audio for monitoring. The manu-facturer claims the 617 improves thedynamic range of a videodisc's audioprogram by compressing the encod-ing and expanding the decoding.Noise reduction is built into thespecs. When combined with ODC's510 or 610 videodisc recording sys-tems, the audio may be decoded andmonitored directly from the disc dur-ing recording. Price: about $1,000.Reader Service #211


e4.a.

RANK CINTEL

Pocket Still StoreIntroed at SMPTE '89 and displayedat this year's NAB, Pocket stores im-ages in the CCIR REC 601 standard,and features a fixed 40 Mb hard diskalong with a removable 44 Mb harddisk. A 16 -character title can bestored with each image. Sequencelength maximum is 100 images.Pocket, compatible with the AstonWallet, is a 4RU rack -mount unit.Reader Service #212

LEADER INSTRUMENTS 5130NTSC Color Monitor

Introduced at NAB, this color monitorfeatures a six-inch screen, AC/DC op-eration, dual video inputs and exter-nal sync drive. The monitor fills onlyhalf a rack. Price: $1,495.Reader Service -#213

FURNON A24X16.5ERD andAl6x9.5ERM LensesWeighing twice as much as an aver-age ENG lens (2.9 kg), theA24x16.5ERD field zoom lens has azoom range of 16.5 mm out to 400mm; a minimum object distance of1.8 m; a built-in 2X extender for a48X zoom to 800 mm; a maximumaperture of f2.8 flat to 290 mm andF3.9 at 300 mm; macro -focusing;and a single module combining servozoom and focus. The 1.45 kgA16x9.5ERM features an F1.8 maxi-mum aperture remaining flat from9.5 mm to 124 mm; F2.2 at the full152 mm tele position; a built-in 2X

FURNON Al8x8ESM CCD Lens

With a maximum aperture of F1.5 maintained out to 15X, the A18x8ESM has abuilt-in range extender. It weighs just 13 kg, and uses high -dispersion glass(CAFK95) to reduce lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration. Fujinon saysthe design of the lens curvature eliminates ghosting, and the back surfaces ofthe optical elements are coated to avoid flare caused by light reflecting backfrom CCD chips. There is no price yet available for the NAB -introduced product.Reader Service #214

extender that doubles the range to19-304 mm, servo zoom; auto iris;manual focus; macro focusing; op-tional servo focus; and a minimumobject distance of 0.95 m. No pricesavailable.Reader Service #215

NEW ENGLAND DIGITAL EditView and CMX AutoconformUpgradesThese software upgrades were put on the market at NAB. EditView, a graph-ics -based editing program, now allows the user to checkerboard cues andedit multiple cues across multiple tracks. The revised Autoconform supportsa 24- and 25 -frame time code, and editors can load, rehearse and retakesingle events, and merge updated CMX lists with alternates.Reader Service #243

SENNHEISER WM1

Wireless MixerWM1 is a five -channel, portable au-dio mixer that operates on internal orexternal DC power. Four of the chan-nels have RF receiver inputs for wire-less microphones and one additionalwired -balanced input for mic or line -level audio sources. Other features:bass/treble control; a switchable 70Hz cut-off filter to reduce low -fre-quency rumble; pre -fader listen; andbuilt-in test generator. Six alkaline"D" cells or NiCads provide four tofive hours of operation; battery powercuts off automatically when externalpower is plugged into the jack. Price:$25,500.Reader Service #216


.?;

CHANNELMATIC PCU-1A

Programmable Clock UnitIntroduced at NAB, the PCU-1A hasprogrammable sequencing to allowthe operator to schedule and view thedaily events in the order in which theywill run. An automatic schedule -tem-plate generator lets the user createtwo weeks of schedules. When usedwith optional software, the PCU cancreate macro schedule events, whichactivate eight control outputs fromone event command. Up to 3,000events can be loaded into the PCU-1A, which can be expanded to controlup to 1,000 outputs through use ofthe BDD-3010A modules. The one -rack unit package lists at $2,350;Software for the programmable clockunit is priced at $950.Reader Service #217

DIGITAL PROCESSING

SYSTEMS DPS-265 Four -FieldFrame Synchronizer

This unit, new at NAB, features a four -field memory and a built-in TBC withautomatic mode switching. This full -bandwidth unit has a digitally con-trolled proc amp with 10 non-volatilememories and front -panel switchingof its three inputs. A built-in test gen-erator with dedicated output providesfour test signals. Other features: vari-able strobe; comb filter; VITSNIRS in-sertion; AGC; switchable black andwhite clippers; SMPTE ES bus com-patible remote control; RS232 portfor interface to PC; GPI input forfreeze control; H and V system phaseadjustments; and hot switch. Price:$5,495.Reader Service #218

DIGITAL PROCESSING

SYSTEMS DPS-245 QuadFramestore

This new quad DPS-245 framestore,with a single loop -through video inputand four video outputs, has its owninternal four -field memory and inde-pendent freeze capability. The pre -

SA1

ACCOM DIS 422 Digital Image Store

The DIS 422, introduced at NAB, stores images in 4:2:2 form, and has CCIR 601(D-1) input and output. It operates in 525 -line and 625 -line rate standards, andswitching between standards is automatic. The basic unit stores 100 stills, butoptional drives can be added to expand storage to 600 stills. An optional drivewith removable media can also be added for image transfer, backup and archiv-ing. Wipes and windows allow visual comparison between live, grabbed andstored images. Prices start at $19,500.Reader Service #219

view output channel can also berouted back to the input, so that a fro-zen image can be adjusted. By at-taching a color black signal to its ref-erence video input, the DPS-245 canbe used as a synchronizer. Other fea-tures for this NAB newcomer: four RS -170A outputs; digital proc amp with10 non-volatile memories; RS232and RS422 remote control capability.Price: $6,495.Reader Service #220

SONY VPH-1270Q VideoProjectorThe SuperData MultiScan video pro-jector, compatible with most com-puter sync signals, offers a 120 -inchpreset screen size that can vary from67 to 250 inches. Remote -con-trolled, the unit has a non -synchro-

nized high -voltage circuit which Sonysays eliminates picture zooming (thechange in a projector's picture sizewhen a high horizontal sync fre-quency is input into the system). Thepeak white light output is 650 lu-mens, and full -screen white -fieldbrightness is 200 lumens. Resolutionprovided by the RGB input is morethan 1,250 lines and 1,110 x 970pixels (measured at fH: 40 kHz andN: 38 kHz). Composite video inputresolution: 650 TV lines. Price:$15,990.Reader Service #221

SHURE BROTHERS 12

Handheld TransmitterThis transmitter is available in threedifferent versions: the L2/58, featur-ing SM58 dynamic microphone ele-


ment (price: diversity version, $666;non -diversity, $532); the L2/96, in-corporating the condenser elementused in Shure's SM96 condenser mic(price: diversity, $707; non -diversity,$572.50); and the L2/Beta 58 (price:diversity, $748.50; non -diversity,$613.50). Because of their dual -trace, gold-plated wiper contacts, thetransmitter heads are interchange-able without the need to solder or un-plug wires. To avoid sounds createdby hand movements or wirelesstransmitters, the L2 features an inter-nal -loop antenna design. The unit-which also has double -tuned RF out-put stages, a low -distortion modu-lated oscillator, "mirror -image"

companding, and a concealed audiogain adjustment switch-can operate12 hours on a standard nine -voltalkaline battery. A lithium batterymay be used if even longer operatingtime is needed.Reader Service #222

SONY DNS -1000 DigitalNetwork Still StoreSpecifically designed for the broad-cast market, the DNS -1000 includesmulti-user interfacing through a dis-tributed -hardware, networked -soft-ware design. The still -store unit fea-tures drives for a transportableWORM (write once, read many) disk

RTS SYSTEMS MCE325 Programmable User Station

Designed to work as a TW intercom system user station, the MCE325 can beused in conference -line or dedicated -line environments, with two -channel splittalWlisten or four -channel combo talk/listen, in two -wire or four -wire line modes,or in a combination of two and four. Unveiled at NAB, the MCE325 is a user -pro-grammable system that can be utilized in any of the following arrangements:rack mount or portable headset station; rack mount or portable speaker station(with the MCS325 modular speaker); and console mount headset station. Otherfeatures: a centrally -generated talk -off signal to shut down mics; call signaling;and two program inputs. Price: $805.Reader Service #225

that stores 1,800 images, along witha 51/4 -inch rewritable optical disk thatcan store 500 images. A mouse andmenu or the control panel provide ac-cess to the DNS -1000, which storesimages in the CCIR-601 4:2:2 com-ponent digital format. Options in-

clude a RAM disk, and a size -and -position module that allowscompression of images. Announcedat NAB, the DNS -1000 will be readyfor delivery in late 1990.Reader Service #223

: MCG ELECTRONICS DLP-4.3

Secondary ProtectorReacting in less than a nanosecond,the DLP-4.3 handles transient currentgreater than 180 A on an 8 x 20 uswaveform, and greater than 40 A on a10 x 1,000 Ks waveform. The unit,which incorporates Avalanche diodesand brute -force gas tubes as part ofits protective features, has beendesigned to withstand lightning,transients and surges occurring ondial -up telephone lines. Fax ma-chines and modems can be pluggeddirectly into the DLP's RJ11 jacks,and the unit itself plugs into an ACoutlet (with adapter if needed).Priced from $49.50.Reader Service #224


s

ti

ELMO MANUFACTURING SSC-8C Color Quad Monitor System

Designed primarily for security applications, such as monitoring transmitterrooms or TV studios, this two -page color quad system uses one screen to acceptup to eight one -inch CCD color or black and white video cameras. The monitorcan automatically alternate between pages, or be manually operated to displayindividual quad screens or cameras. The system has a second video output sothat a second monitor can be added for continuous display of one quad screenor one page. Each camera can be positioned up to 1,640 feet away from thecontroller, and only one copper coaxial cable is needed. The controller price is$1,800. Elmo also offers two dedicated half -inch CCD cameras: the Elmo SN303 for $1,084 and the SE 303 black and white for $685.Reader Service 4'226

QUANTEL Harriet GraphicsWorkstationDemonstrated at NAB, Harriet inte-grates Paintbox with a random-ac-cess picture store (Carousel) and withvideo effects and VTR control. Ca-pabilities include painting, retouch-ing, rotoscoping, perspective, stencilwork, multi -layering, cel and frameanimation, and custom wipes anddissolves.Reader Service #227

NOVA SYSTEMS NOVASync

Frame Synchronizer

The eight -bit, 4x subcarrier samplingNOVASync 2 features a TBC with aVTR -SC direct mode, S -VHS input pro-cessing, and universal Heterodyne

processing. By detecting input stabil-ity, the system can automatically se-lect the Synchronize or TBC mode,providing flexibility for any numberof feeds. NOVASync F adds FreezeFrame, Field 1 or Field 2 capabili-ties to the NOVASync. NOVASync 2Fcombines the Frame Sync with AGC,TBC and Freeze into a one rack -unitpackage.Reader Service #228

DYNAIR ELECTRONICS D-2

Digital Switching TechnologyDemonstrated at NAB, Dynair's newdigital switching and distributionsystem employs Bipolar AMI-B3ZScoding. According to the company,this coding eliminates system tilts,lessens cascaded genlocks and

clamps, and allows easy setup andmaintenance.Reader Service # 229

RTS SYSTEMS MRT327User StationA NAB intro, this two -channel inter-com station is designed as a TW In-tercom System component, featuringcall -signaling, two -channel selec-tion, and remote talk -off (a 24 kHztone superimposed on the audio sig-nal) for shutting down all user -stationmics on the line. The MRT327's mod-ular packaging technique lets it bearranged in a rack mount, a portableheadset station, a portable speakerstation (including the MCS325 modu-lar speaker), or a console mountheadset station. No price available.Reader Service #230

PMI SSM-2141 Audio LineReceiver

The SSM-2141, a high common -mode rejection differential audio linereceiver, was designed to provide aself-contained differential stage forlow -impedance cable runs in high-performance audio systems. Primar-ily employed for power amplifiers,mix consoles and tape recorders, theunit can also be used as an instru-mentation amplifier. The 2141 typi-cally achieves 100 dB of commonmode rejection. Other specifications:distortion of 0.002 percent over thefull bandwidth, 9.5V/µS slew rate,and three MHz bandwidth. In 100 -piece quantities, the SSM-2141costs $1.95 apiece.Reader Service #231

ANRITSU MD6401A DataTransmission Analyzer

This equipment, which handles trans-mission rates from 50 b/s to 10 Mb/s,incorporates any of five different datainterfaces to generate the codesneeded for data transmission analy-sis. It displays a range of test param-eters simultaneously, including errorcount and rate, ES and percent ES,


-41

DM and percent DM, and SES andpercent SES. The analyzer producesprogrammable data patterns and an-alyzes virtually all transmission for-mats. Many functions can be con-trolled by a single button, says thecompany, and hard -copy documenta-tion is available through the system'sbuilt-in thermal printer. Cost:$7,995; optional plug-in interfacesrange from $705 to $2,530.Reader Service #232

SONY LVA-7000 CRV DiscPlayer

This Component Recording Video(CRV) disc player will replay any sys-tem -compatible optical disc. Key fea-tures include: high-speed search (ac-cess to any frame in 0.5 second), aframe memory which does away withscreen blanking during search, andfield- or frame -mode playback whicheliminates slow-motion/still-imagejitter. The player can be interfaced toother editing systems through theprovided RS -422 and RS -232C ports.Price: $9.995.Reader Service #233

SONY VPH-1031QVideographic ProjectorThis MultiScan videographic projec-tor can be used with 60- to 250 -inchscreens, and it accepts TTL and ana-log RGB inputs. Resolution is 1,100TV lines (RGB) and 650 TV lines(video input). The unit offers varyingscan rates: from 15 kHz to 36 kHz(fH) and 40 Hz to 150 Hz (N).Through external interfaces, it canaccommodate connections to mostpersonal computers, including IBMPCs with MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA andPGA boards. Price: $8,575 (projectoronly).Reader Service a 234

SONY VPH-1042Q VideoProjectorThe SuperBright projector is designedwith a new HACC/HD-6 hybrid lenswhich Sony reports has the same

resolution specs as glass lenses,maintaining clarity and high contrastacross the screen. The lens also hasseparate adjustments for center andcorner focus. Projecting images from70 to 250 inches at 600 lumens, theVPH-1042Q has a 1,000 -line RGB in-put, a 650 -line composite video in-

put, and can connect with compositeNTSC, SECAM and PAL systems. It isequipped with an S -video inputthrough a four -pin DIN connector,which allows for separate Y (lumi-nance) or C (chromanance) input.Price: $8,594 (projector only).Reader Service #235

IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE

AVAILABILITY OF ITS 9 METER

RAND BLINK FACILITY!

Facilities immediately available:

Fiber-optic link to the Houston Astrodome Microwave link to The Summit

(Houston's Multi-pLrpose arena) Edit suites for post proCuction 2 camera, 50' x 50' studio Multi -format playback/record capability

_AFar more information contact

Charles Hughes KTXH-TV 20. 8950 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas 77054(713) 661-2020 Fax (713) 665-3909

TELEVISION ENGINEERING/July 1990Circle 107 on Reader Service Card. 59

N PRODUCTS

LETRASET Studio Line CDSoftwareIn CD ROM format, Studio Line CDprovides an integrated suite of graph-ics packages on a single disk. Pack-ages include: DesignStudio for pagedesign; ColorStudio for 24 -bit image -making; ImageStudio for composi-tion; LetraStudio for type design; andFontStudio for creating fonts andlogos. Price: $3,500.Reader Service #236

PALTEX IMAGING SYSTEMS

DYAD2 Digital Mixer-Keyer

Designed to bridge the gap betweenD-2 DVTRs and analog edit suites,the NAB newcomer DYAD2 performslinear keys; mix to keys; or mixeswhile in a digital environment. Thesystem, employing a single trackballcontrol, features analog and digitalinputs for foreground and key, withsystem status displayed eitherthrough a TTL-level computer moni-tor or an overlay on an existing com-posite video monitor. NTSC Price:$20.000Reader Service ,:237

ZAXCOM ZX400 Time -BaseCorrector Control SystemThis four-TBC/D-2 control system,which controls any type of TBC or D-2VTR, features EDL storage; GVG E-MEM storage; optional auxiliary con-trol panel; freeze control; 99 tapeand two timing memories per TBC;TBC transition; and auto color -fram-ing for a Sony one -inch. The ZX400mounts on the edit console.Reader Service ,t 238

PANASONIC WV -D5100

Component Video CameraSystem

With more than 480 lines of horizon-tal resolution, the WV -D5100 has ahigh-speed electronic shutter (up to1/2000 speed), an auto focus zoom,power zoom, and an auto iris, amongother features. The unit's RGB colortemperature sensor detects changes

X'ifY:",

in light source and intensity and colortemperature. Microcomputer controlautomatically adjusts color balance.The company claims the WV -D5100S -VHS compatible video system pro-duces precise, well-defined imagesin seven -lux lighting conditions. Thesuggested retail price is $1,500.Reader Service #239

LEADER INSTRUMENTS

EFP/ENG 5864A Dual -InputWaveform Monitor

Designed for use with Leader's Vec-torscope 5854 and SID Signal Gen-erator LCG-413, the battery -powered5864A provides two H/two V MAG andtwo H/two V sweep rates. The unit,which weighs less than three pounds,also offers flat and IRE filters and a4x vertical magnifier designed to sim-plify setup level and black -balancechecks. Price: $1.395.Reader Service #240

FUJINON

A4x7.5MD/A8X12MD CCDZoom Lenses

Touted as "graphics" lenses in theirNAB introduction, the A4x7.5MD andA8x12MD were designed for the opti-cal demands of the higher pixel countCCD cameras. Fujinon says suchlenses are necessary because CCDcameras do not have the adjustmentrange of tubes. The A4c7.5MD hasan MOD (minimum object distance)of 0.45 m and an F2.8 maximum ap-erture from 7.5 mm to 30 mm. TheA8x12MD is an F2.8, with no dropofffrom 12 mm to 96 mm. Iris control isautomatic or can be remote -con-trolled by equipping the lens withFujinon's MD servo zoom and focusmodules. The company claims thelenses offer higher resolution-"par-ticularly in the corners"-than previ-ous lenses used for CCD cameras.Reader Service #242

CONVERGENCE ECS-185 and ECS-985 Edit Controllers

Joystick editing, a tradition at Convergence, continues with these NAB introduc-tions. The ECS-185 edit controller, controlling RS -422 serial VTRs in 1/2 -inch, 3/4-

inch, and one -inch formats, offers 500 -line, non-volatile EDL memory, ad-vanced convergence list -management software; auto assembly; and the optionto field -upgrade to NB roll editing with a RS -422 serial switcher interface. It isavailable in two- and three -VTR configurations. The ECS-985 includes four or sixVTR interfaces; serial switcher interface with switcher effects memory capturecapability; and three -keystroke VTR assignment.Reader Service #241


ADVERTISERS INDEX

Reader Reader ReaderManufacturer Page # Service # Manufacturer Page # Service # Manufacturer Page # Service #Ampex 3 BM -070- Leitch Video Intl. Cvr. III 108 Semtheiaer. Electric

CENB Maxell America 30-31 Corp. 19 104Auditronics, Inc. 6 101 Panasonic Broadcast ... 8 102 Sony BroadcastBTS, Inc. Cvr. IV 109 Panasonic Industrial 10-11 103 Products Co. 4-5illbruck 21 105 Rohde & Schwarz Cvr. II 100 Sony Tape 24-25 106KTXH 59 107

SALES OFFICES

Eastern States401 Park Avenue SouthNew York, New York 10016212-545-5165, 5164

Fax: 212-696-4215William P. DeyPamela Vahter

401 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016212-545-5100 Fax -212-696-4215

Western States6400 Hollis St. #12Emeryville, CA 9460841653-3307Fax: 415-653-5142

David Dunaway

Japan/Far East5-24 SanbanchoChiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, 102 Japan(81-3) 234-2161 Telex: 328208Fax: (81-3) 234-1143

Shoichi Maruyama

r

CLASSIFIED

How to Place A Classified Ad In Television Engineering

Please type ad and clearly indicate where text is to appear in Capital letters and lower case.All boldwords must be underlined. There are 8 lines to the inch and approximately 25 CAPITAL and boldletters per line or 32 upper/lower case letters. Rates: $8 per line (4 line min.), $10 per line bold type,$10 border, $15 screen, $25 reverse, $25 blind P.O. box, $125 per inch display classified (artwork),$75 Professional Card (21/8" x 1"). Logos or display advertising must be camera ready (1 columnwidth: 2 le, 2 column widths: 4 trz", 3 column widths: 7"). Frequency discount rates available.Payment must accompany ad. DEADLINE is the 6th of the month, one month prior to the issuedate. Call for more information.

Categories Available (check one):Business OpportunitiesDuplication/Conversion

_Employment Offered_Employment Wanted

I am paying by (check one):Name on Card (Please print)Card #Signature

_Equipment for Sale_Equipment Rental_Equipment Wanted_Maintenance &

Engineering

_Parts & AccessoriesServicesTeleprompting

_Training & InstructionMiscellaneous

Visa MasterCard American Express

Expiration Date

Check or Money Order # Amount Enclosed

Mail To:Robin Boyce, Classifieds Manager, ACT III Publishing/Technical Group Classifieds

6400 Hollis Street, #12, Emeryville, CA 94608(415) 653-3307, 1-(800)-747-3703, FAX: (415) 653-5142

Please attach your ad copy on a separate sheet, typed double-spaced or printed clearly.

CURRENTSA GUEST EDITORIAL

Fade to Black:Old -Boy Hiring Network

By Tim McCartney

Broadcast station managers andothers with hiring authority aretruly on the spot when conduct-ing job interviews or designingjob application forms. Not onlyis it essential that a qualifiedcandidate be hired, it is equallyimportant that appropriatequestions be posed. Some seri-

ous problems can result when the wrong questionis asked of the wrong person.

Too often, managers rely on the "old -boy" hir-ing network as standard operating procedure:They hire candidates who went to the sameschool they went to, or who have the same friendsthey have. If these options are not open, the old -boy managers tend to make gut -level hiring deci-sions. This kind of shooting from the hip ignorestoday's hiring environment, where legal prob-lems may surface.

It may be tempting to be fully confident that le-gal counsel can resolve such problems. The feel-ing persists widely in many professions, includ-ing broadcasting, that management is infallibleon hiring. Yet lawyer fees of $100-$225 per hourcan easily add up to thousands of dollars in de-fense of legal charges.

One of the stranger circumstances in many bot-tom -line -oriented industries is that legal fees reston a higher pedestal withinbudgets, somehow aloof frommanagement's otherwise frugalposture. The contrast is strikingand inexplicable: The managersearches endlessly to save nick-els and dimes from every lineitem, but then routinely dis-misses enormous legal bills as acost of doing business.

Besides the legal costs it mayface, a station that makes inap-propriate inquiries also un-leashes disgruntled applicantswho can inflict damage on thestation's public relations andadvertising objectives. There-fore, it makes sense to designapplication forms and prepare

interviews which follow appropriate and lawfulprocedures.

To help guide you, here are some unlawful and/or inappropriate categories for job applicants:age, arrests, child-care arrangements, citizen-ship, credit record, garnishment records, maritalstatus, national origin, number and ages of chil-dren, physical characteristics, property owner-ship, race, religion, sex and spouse's background.

In the age category, for example, are you awarethat federal law protects Americans against agediscrimination between ages 40-65? Such knowl-edge should help you avoid asking any type ofquestion designed to uncover a candidate's age,unless there is some very justifiable reason.

This list should be used to review your station'sjob application form. Categories that do not be-come obvious upon meeting the person should beareas of caution when interviewing.

In addition to helping avoid legal costs and illwill, the list also serves to guide you away fromintangible concerns and toward matters of rele-vance. After all, it is the manager's job to hire thebest candidate.

A thorough review of topics related to appropri-ate hiring is available in the NAB publication "ABroadcaster's EEO Handbook." Among manyother topics, the 1989 second edition exploresequal employment opportunity principles and the

FCC's interests. While old -boypractices may not yet be com-pletely dead, they have beendealt a fatal blow by federal andstate legal actions. Unlawful in-quiries-or even inappropriateones-could trigger legal bat-tles.

With examples of poor hiringdecisions displayed everywhere,it is now time to do your part.Hammer the final nail into thecoffin for archaic old -boy hiringpractices, and fade the networkto black.

Tim McCartney headsMcCartney Radio EngineeringCo. in Bemidji, MN.


'REVIEVJ

LEITCH UNLOCKSSTILL STORAGE

'NE (ii MASTER CONTRO_ GRAPHICS

Introducing STILL NETTm...the Key to Multi -User Still Storage

Advance into a new era in still management that breaks theconfines of today's multi-user systems.

STILL NET connects independent still stores, creating a multi-userenvironment so powerful that users are free to share their material

without compromising their own operation.

STILL NET, using the industry standardEthernet, is unbounded in size and time,and will grow as your requirementsand technology change.

STILL NET, multi-user Still Storagewith a future.

Call 1-800-387-0233 and we'll showyou the key to set Still Storage free.

LEITCHLeitch Video of America, Inc., 825K Greenbrier Circle, Chesapeake, VA 23320 - Tel: (800) 387-0233 Fax: (804) 424-0639Leitch Video International Inc., 10 Dyas Rd., Don Mills, Ont., Canada M3B 1V5 - Tel: (800) 387-0233 Fax: (416) 445-0595


George Spiro Dibieon BTS LDK-90 cameras...

BTS's LDK-90video cameras arereally the topperformers on all of myshoots. They makemulti -camera videoproductions look likefilm. Tube -type camerashave problems withresolution, hot spotsand comet tailing. But thanks to BTS frame -transferCCD chip technology, I light for my video camerasexactly the way I light for film cameras."

Name: George Spiro Dibie

Profession: Supervising Directorof Multicamera Photography forWarner Brothers Television.

Current Credits:Growing PainsJust The Ten Of Us

Organizations:President, International Photog-raphers Guild, Local 659, Holly-wood; member, Directors Guildof America (DGA); member,Society of Motion Picture andTelevision Engineers (SMPTE).TV Academy, A.S.L.D. andS.O.C.

Awards:Winner of three Emmys.

George Spiro Dibie onProduction Lighting:

"The most important concept isto follow the source. Windows,doors, lamps...these are thesources of light in a scene. I startfrom there. To accommodate onecamera or multi -cameras, youdeal with the feel of the source."

For more details about the high reso-lution, high signal-to-noise ratio andaccurate colorimetry of BTS's CCDchip technology, call us at

1-800-962-4BTS.BTS LDK-90 studio cameras...forthe big shots.

BTSThe name behindwhat's ahead. TMBTS is Broadcast Television Systems,a joint company of Bosch and Philips.P.O. Box 30816, Salt Lake City, Utah84130-0816


bji e's inside: state-of-the-art still stores plus ... · when we set out to produce the best...

Documents