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DECEMBER 1987 $3.00

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Also in this issue:Cart Technology Satellite Facilities CCD Cameras

Formats Lenses Engineering Wish List

Stereo and Mono:A Mixer to Match

Every input on the Studer RevoxC279 mixer is a stereo input ... anda mono input. Line level stereo,balanced mono and balanced micro-phone, each with a separate input posi-tion. Mix them or match them in all sixchannels of the C279.

Each channel features: 48 Vphantom power bass cut microphonefilter adjustable input gain shelvingHF and LF equalization (mono and ste-reo) balance/pan pot PFL soloswitch pre/post fade auxiliary send linear fader.

Other features include: LEDpeak -reading meters on each output monitor correlation meter mode aux-iliary return slate/talkback micro-

phone monitorspeaker and head-phone output.

Options in-clude: a rack mountkit and an expan-sion unit with dBxType II noise reduc-tion processor, twophono preamps, test generatorfader start logic for all inputsmaster.

But most importantly, the C279 isbuilt to strict Studer Revox standardsfor durability and sonic performance.No "small mixer" short cuts here.

If you're looking for a compactmixer built like the big boards, the

Circle 100 on Reader Service Card

Detail of connection panel at rear of console equipped withXLR and RCA connectors

andand

compact C279 is tough to match.Details available from your Studer

Revox Professional Products Dealer, orcontact Studer Revox America, Inc.,1425 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville. TN 37210.(615) 254-5651.

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A super-cardioid pick-up patternenables thenew SM84CondenserMicrophoneto rejectunwantedbackgroundnoise withoutcompromisingaudio quality. Soeven if there'sactivity near yourreporter or news-caster, the onlything the viewershear is the news. TheSM84 also providesgreater gain beforefeedback than otherlavalier condenser mics.

The microphone'stailored frequencyresponse provides profes-sional sound that's unusualin chest -mount applications.The 730 Hz filter compensatesfor chest resonance, while thehigh -frequency boost providesflatter, more natural response.The 12dB/octave low -end rolloff(below 100Hz) reduces room noise

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BROADCAST MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING

EDITOR -IN -CHIEF

Robert Malin

EDITOR

Tim Wetmore

SENIOR EDITOR

O va J. Minder

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Steven Schwartz

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Michael D. espindie

ART DIRECTOR

Andra Douglas

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR

Raymond won®

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

N ick Matson°

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

B arbara Mendelsohn

FCC COUNSEL

Bechtel a Cole

GROUP PUBLISHER

K evin J. Condon

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Patrick J. Moloney

MARKETING SERVICES DIRECTOR

Arlene M. Peters

MARKETING ASSOCIATE

Joseph M. Decibus

CONTROLLER

Joseph M. Pannell°

ASSISTANT TO CONTROLLER

Jesse Milers

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Sharon Porges

OFFICE MANAGER

Donald Cooke

RECEPTIONIST

Sharon Cureton

Broadband PublicationsCHAIRMAN

Paul David SchaefferPRESIDENT

Charles C. Lana. Jr.EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Kevin J. CondonSENIOR VICE PRESIDENT.CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT & PLANNING

Martha LolledVICE PRESIDENT.FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Bronna A. ButlerB roadband Publications295 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10017(212) 685-5320, Telex 64-4001Also publishers of:BM/E's World Broadcast NewsO -1TV Educational -Industrial Television

Ajw eNrEERIBROADCAST MANAGEMENTu sNhGe dl -

VBrA monthly by NBB Acquisitions, Inc. BM/Ef-r% is circulated without charge to those re-

sponsible for station operation and for specifying and au-thorizing the purchase of equipment used in broadcast facil-ities in the U.S. and Canada. These facilities include AM,FM and TV broadcast stations. CAN systems, EN sta-tions, networks and studios, audio and video recording stu-dios, teleproduction facilities, consultants, etc. Subscriptionprices to others $36.00 one year, $50.00 two years. Foreign$50.00 one year, $75.00 two years. Air Mail rates on re-quest. Copyright 1987 by NBB Acquisitions, Inc., New YorkCity. Second class postage paid New York, N.Y. and addi-tional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: send address changes to BM/E BroadcastManagemenVEngineering, P.O. Box 6056, Duluth, MN55806.

Circle 102 on Reader Service Card4 BM/E DECEMBER 1987

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Woodland Hills, CA (818) 999-2303; Palo Alto, CA (415) 968-6680.Circle 104 on Reader Service Card

DECEMBER 1987 VOLUME 23/NUMBER 12

Features

DepartmentsCoverOriginally created at Polycom ona BTS FGS 4500, our cover wasimaged at RGB Studios inBloomfield Hills, MI, on aQuantel Graphic Arts Paintboxoutput on a Hell CPR 403 digitalproofer.

MANAGEMENTBROADCAST MANAGEMENT NGINEERING

0'CM

a.

glos46-rtimemnime,28 58

CCD =ENG 20When it comes to ENG cameras, the imaging device of choiceappears to be the CCD, and manufacturers are advancing thetechnology to meet the demand . . . by Tim Wetmore, Editor

Lenses: Maintaining Your Image 27In the rigorous ENG environment, great demands are made onall equipment-and lenses are among the most delicate ele-ments in field newsgathering . . . by Bern Levy

The NBC Satellite Experience-Part II 34Technological advancement, while meeting the demands of op-erational and financial juctifications, lead to many systemmilestones for the NBC satellite project . . . by O.S. Paganuzzi

New Formats for News 40Engineers find themselves integrating 8 mm, VHS, Super -VHS,and other consumer video formats with more standard material. . . by Robert Rivlin, Editor -in -Chief

Gearing up for Graphics 50SMPTE proved that manufacturers of graphic and effects prod-ucts don't wait around for NAB rollouts anymore . . . by RobertRivlin. Editor -in -Chief, and Eva J. Blinder, Senior Editor

Future Trends in Cart Technology 55Nowhere is the contrast between advancing technology andpractical daily use of equipment more evident than in the cartmachine . . . edited by Steven Schwartz, Associate Editor

An Engineering Wish List 60In keeping with the holidays, BM/E asked several engineeringmanagement professionals what they'd like to find under theirtrees . . . by Mark DuPre

10 EditorialTraffic Report

12 Industry NewsFCC urged to regulateNRSC

66 FCC Rules &RegulationsPaying the Piper

71 New Equipment

76 Advertisers Index

BM/E DECEMBER 1987 7

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"The devastationthat license traffick-ing has foisted uponthe industry is there

to see."

In October, antitrafficking legislation came before both the Houseand the Senate. In the House it was sponsored by Representative AlSwift, a Washington Democrat, and it has come before the Telecom-munications Subcommittee.

Many legislators seem divided on the issue, and the NAB itselfhas not taken a clear opposition to the proposed law. The NAB's re-sponse has been that it does not want to support such legislation asa standalone bill. The FCC, of course, hides behind deregulation.

It's understandable when senators and congressmen cannot cometo a consensus due to political manipulation, constituent responsibil-ities, and general base covering. But an industry association such asthe NAB has no valid reason for not committing to a clear positionon an antitrafficking bill. Ft's either good for the industry or it's not,standalone or not. The FCC, of course, stands behind deregulation.

Obviously, the industry is in need of such legislation having un-dergone a ridiculous license -trading frenzy in the last few years, afrenzy that has left many station owners with a very heavy debtload to service. This means, of course, the owners cannot service thepublic interest as their license says they must do.

Nor can they purchase the new equipment that will keep themcompetitive in the long run. It also may prevent them from hiringupper levels of talent and even forces them into accepting sub -parprogramming packages due to lack of funds. All of this bodes ill forthe industry.

The devastation that license trafficking has foisted upon the in-dustry is there to see if only we would open our eyes. Legislationthat forces a three-year license holding period is a healthy measure(in as much as legislation can be) and should become law. The evi-dence is in. We are now living with the results of free license trad-ing, and the industry is in a slump. There are many reasons, someexcuses. but it is evident that license trading is a major contributingfactor to broadcasting's very large debt.

Let's face the facts. The three-year rule is now a must. Pass thebill, and let's get on with the business of broadcasting.

<,Tim WetmoreEditor

10 BM!E DECEM3ER 1987

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Industry NewsFCC Urged toRegulate NRSCIn a petition filed with the FCC onNovember 6, the NAB urged theCommission to adopt the NRSCstandard as a mandatory regula-tion. If passed, the regulationwould require all AM broadcast-ers to convert to NRSC by Janu-ary 1, 1990. The NRSC standardfor AM preemphasis anddeemphasis with an accompany-ing 10 kHz bandwidth is now be-ing implemented by AM stationson a voluntary basis.

The standard was establishedin a cooperative effort by theNAB, the Electronics IndustriesAssociation (EIA), and severalleading broadcast equipmentmanufacturers. In addition to re-storing processing uniformitywithin the AM band to eliminateadjacent station interference, thestandard also received the assur-ance of receiver manufacturers,via the EIA's involvement, to pro-duce better -sounding AM radiosupon implementation of theNRSC by U.S. broadcasters.

According to Michael Rau, theNAB's director of Spectrum Engi-neering and Regulatory Affairs,422 AM stations have either al-ready converted to the standard orpromised to convert in the nearfuture. However, Rau adds thatthere has been some "good -faithdoubt" expressed by the radiomanufacturers as to whetherenough broadcasters will ultimate-ly employ the standard.

In explaining the reasoning be-hind the petition, Rau says, "It'sbecoming increasingly clear thatcompliance with the standard isthe right thing to do. It will makea significant improvement in theband that will benefit all partiesin the long run. Making it manda-tory to comply will also assure thereceiver manufacturers, who areinvesting literally tens of millionsof dollars in this, that it will beimplemented."

The NAB petition has also re-ceived support from the NITA'sassistant commerce secretaryAlfred Sikes, who expressed hissupport for the initiative in a let-ter to FCC Chairman Dennis R.

Let the games begin! A cleaned -up Coliseum and gold discusevoke the grandeur of ancient Rome in this 2D image fromNew York's Caesar Video. The scene was one of several ani-mated mosaic backgrounds supplied by the company for theopening of the NBC Sports presentation of the Roma '87 WorldChampionships of Track and Field, which aired August 29 toSeptember 6. Commissioned by NBC Sports producer JohnGonzalez, the one -minute sequence featured multiple animatedelements that move in and around painted images of the Coli-seum. The combination 3D/2D computer graphics and anima-tion was designed by Caesar's art director Anne St. Pierre onQuantel's digital workstation consisting of the Paintbox, Harry,and Encore digital effects generators. A 10 -second 3D openerof the Coliseum was designed by Black Cat Productions and co-ordinated by Caesar animator Jeff Buckland.

The company's special effects editor Bob Roesler also built anested zoom that moved through the Coliseum to an enormousstone portico with doors that opened to the first scene of eachshow. The doors actually opened to a negative black image thatwas used as a key source for the transition to live action.

Patrick. In his letter, Sikes notedthat the standard will enable thesound of AM radio to compare fa-vorably with FM.

"I would not argue for unnec-essary government interventionin this, or any other area," Sikesstated. "The deteriorating eco-nomic condition of AM broadcast-ing is largely due to the poor com-parison of AM's sound qualitywith the FM service. The im-provement is too important to beleft to voluntary compliance bythe AM industry."

Digital Audio ViaSatellite Expected toIncreaseThe use of satellite -transmitted,digital audio is expected to have a

major impact on network radiocoverage of the 1988 Presidentialcampaign.

The technology, which providesstudio -quality sound from any re-mote location, has already beensuccessfully used for radio broad-casts from the Reagan -GorbachevSummit in Reykjavik, Iceland,and the recent NATO EconomicSummit in Venice, Italy.

"It just sounds so much better,"notes Joe Maguire, vice presidentof engineering for the United Sta-tions Radio Networks. "It soundslocal."

The transmissions in both caseswere handled by IDB Communi-cations Group in Culver City, CA,which employed a 1.8 -meter fly-away unit to uplink the audio for

12 BM/E DECEMBER 1987

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Industry News

the Venice summit meeting. Theaudio was then downlinked byIDB in New York and distributedto the NBC, CBS, NPR, UnitedStations, AP, and Mutual radionetworks.

According to Dennis Feely,IDB's senior vice president and di-rector, digital audio can beuplinked from remote locationsfor the same cost as analoguplinks. "This will make a big im-pact on Campaign '88," he says."Where in 1984 we were uplink-ing the network's campaignremotes in analog, this time we'llbe able to do it in digital with thedifference being far superiorquality."

To facilitate the use of digitalaudio transmissions, IDB is estab-lishing a digital network link be-tween the major news studios andthe company's teleport facilitiesin New York. Systems have al-ready been installed in studios atCBS and ABC in New York and inthe main studios of AP, Mutual,and Voice of America in Washing-ton, DC.

"We hope to expand this net-work to one that will eventuallyenable all the radio networks toget to and from anywhere in theworld in digital audio," addsFeely.

Although some maintain thatthe permanent installation of dig-ital communications systems is anexpensive alternative, Feelycounters that "compared to thecost of the telephone circuits we'rereplacing-especially if you takequality into account-the digitalaudio system is far more economi-cal in the long run."

Bob Donelly, director of satel-lite operations for the ABC RadioNetwork, sees other advantagesas well. "We not only need high-fidelity sound, but we also needmultichannel, duplex capabilitiesas well as auxiliary data capabili-ties," he says. "To do that effec-tively, we definitely think digitalis the way to go."

Video Switching Arrivesin CapitolA new video service called CapitalCoverage has become operative in

Washington, DC. The system ofswitchable fiber optic links willfeed directly from such locationsas the U.S. Department of State,the White House, the Capitol, andthe Pentagon to provide broad-casters with live, unedited trans-missions.

The new system is a joint ven-ture between Washington Inter-national Teleport (WIT) and BellAtlantic's Chesapeake and Poto-mac (C&P) Telephone. A 32 x 32matrix video switch located atChesapeake and Potomac'sradio/television center in down-town Washington will serve as aprocessing center for WIT's tele-port operations.

WIT will control the switchfrom its international satellitegateway in McLean, VA. A pri-vate data channel will control theprocessor, enabling WIT to re-motely switch the video to its ter-restrial microwave or fiber linksstrategically located throughoutthe District of Columbia, Mary-land, and Virginia. WIT will pro-vide uplink services to any C- orKu -band domestic satellite in ad-dition to direct internationaltransmission.

Vintage VTR Donated toVideo MuseumOne of the first videotape ma-chines, an Ampex VR-1000, hasbeen restored to full operation bythe Palo Alto -based Merlin Engi-neering Works and donated to theAmerican Museum of Moving Im-ages in Astoria, NY.

The machine, replete with sev-eral racks of glowing vacuumtubes, was rebuilt to commemo-rate 30 years of video recordingand was originally displayed atthe 128th SMPTE convention inNew York and the SMPTE WinterConference in San Francisco ear-lier this year.

The large quadruplex VTR wasone of the first production modelsbuilt by Ampex and weighednearly one ton. It was delivered tothe University of Missouri in Co-lumbia in early 1959 and contin-ued to be used until 1984, when itwas donated to the restorationproject by David Dunkin, director

of the school's Academic SupportCenter.

"The Columbia machine hadmost of its original components,"says John Streets, president ofMerlin and head of the VTR res-toration project, "unlike manyquad VTRs still in TV stations,which have been modified exten-sively over the years."

Streets adds that restoration ofthe VR-1000 took nearly a year,with all chassis and electronicssections stripped and rebuilt fromthe ground up. A Tektronix 525and 526 monitor and vectorscopewere donated by Steve Coulam ofKDVT-TV in Denver to replacethe missing original parts, whileBill Fitts of CMC Technology sup-plied a new rotary video head, re-built to the original Ampex VTRspecifications.

The VR-1000 will be on perma-nent display at the American Mu-seum of Moving Images' $10 mil-lion facility, which is scheduled toopen in early 1988.

Boston Receives aLighthouseWarren Happel, vice president ofengineering at Cleveland'sWEWS-TV, has announced thatthe Scripps Howard LighthouseAward for outstanding achieve-ment has been presented to JimBoston, the station's maintenanceengineer, in recognition of his de-sign of a computer library ofbroadcast equipment instruc-tions.

The library is the result of sev-eral years' worth of personal tech-nical notes and existing instruc-tion book information. Boston'suser-friendly system is designedto be a speedy reference for theoperation and maintenance of anypiece of equipment at the station.The program will be useful forboth new staff members and engi-neers using newly acquired broad-cast equipment.

"Engineers are too often not no-ticed until something doesn'twork," Happel says. "Speaking asan engineer, we take particularpride in the recognition of Jim'swork, and his receiving the Light-house Award."


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Industry News

The Lighthouse Award, whichis named after the Scripps How-ard logo, consists of a medallionand a cash prize.

To Russia With RockThe first package of American TVprograms has been sold for broad-cast in the Soviet Union accordingto a recent announcement by theNew York -based Orbita Technol-ogies Corp. and Belka Interna-tional.

The package bought by Gosdel-radio, the U.S.S.R. State Commit-tee for Television and RadioBroadcasting, consists of Rockand Roll: The Early Days, BritishRock: The First Wave, and TheMaking of Sun City, the anti-apartheid effort featuring perfor-mances by Bruce Springsteen,Bob Dylan, and others. The showsare scheduled to be broadcastlater this year on one of the twoSoviet national televisionnetworks.

Although this is the first sale ofAmerican TV programming to theSoviet Union, Orbita delivered aweek's worth of Soviet TV-muchof it broadcast live-to cable's Dis-covery Channel last February.The company is currently devel-oping U.S. broadcast and video-tape outlets for Soviet cartoons,children's shows, general interestprogramming, and news pro-grams such as Vremya: The Mos-cow Evening News.

Orbita's subsidiary, Belka In-ternational, was created out of thecompany's unique working rela-tionship with Gostelradio. It nowfunctions as a liaison betweenU.S. broadcast companies and theappropriate Soviet politicalcommittees.

Over the past year Belka hasserved as an intermediary for anumber of broadcast clients doingbusiness with and in the SovietUnion. Its credits range from therecent weeklong filming of Mr.Rogers' Neighborhood in Moscowto ABC's "Congressbridge" seriesof programs featuring members ofthe U.S. Congress and theU.S.S.R.'s Supreme Soviet body inthe Kremlin.

"Recent changes in Soviet law

encourage ventures with Westerncompanies and allow Soviet agen-cies and ministries to operateautonomously," says Marina Al -bee, Belka's president. "Takingadvantage of these new Sovietlaws is often difficult for those un-familiar with the bureaucracyand language. Belka expedites,and often initiates, commercialprojects between the two coun-tries by guiding proposals to theright desk in Moscow."

Orbita's president Ken Shafferadds that the company is in theprocess of negotiating the sale ofmany "classic" American TV pro-grams to the U.S.S.R. Shaffer,who in 1984 designed the satellitetracking system that is now usedat several U.S. universities toview domestic Soviet TV broad-casts, perceives television as awindow.

"Windows work in two direc-tions," he says. "Changes going onin the Soviet Union are more pro-found than we sense through ourown nightly newscasts. Withthese technologies we see thesechanges happening right beforeour eyes. It's a new use of themedium."

NARTE SponsorsScholarshipThe National Association of Radioand Telecommunications Engi-neers, Inc. (NARTE), has estab-lished an annual scholarship con-test for up-and-coming talent inthe engineering and telecom-munications fields.

The contest encourages collegestudents to articulate the value ofradio, electronic, and telecom-munications certification pro-grams in general and the NARTECertification & Endorsement Pro-gram in particular.

The contest is open to all stu-dents pursuing NARTE-relateddegrees who have completed theirfirst year of a two-year techni-cal/vocational school or their firstthree years of a four-year college.Applicants must be enrolled, orplanning to enroll, in the secondor final year of their post -second-ary education.

The winning paper from each

school is to be selected by the headof the technical training depart-ment. The winning author and hisor her instructor will additionallyhave their NARTE certificationfees waived for that year upon ap-proval of their application. Thenational grand winner, selectedby the NARTE board of directors,will receive a scholarship awardof $1000-half of which will go tothe student and half to the spon-soring institution.

The papers must be doublespaced and at least 1500 words(but no more that 3000). Applica-tions to submit papers must be re-ceived by February 10, 1988, al-though the organization hopes toreceive most applications by De-cember 31, 1987. Completed sub-missions must be postmarked nolater than midnight, February 11,1988. Applications can be ob-tained by writing to: NARTEHeadquarters, Scholarship Con-test, ATTN: Ray D. Thower, P.E.President, P.O. Box 15029, Salem,OR 97309.

In Search of theSexiest DJsPlaygirl magazine often features"10 best -looking" lists. But here'sone that may be of interest to ourreaders: a search for the sexiestmale radio personalities in Amer-ica. The magazine's editor -in -chief, Nancie S. Martin, main-tains that there are usually good-looking men behind those rich,disembodied voices, and shewants to prove it with the featurethat is scheduled to appear in theMay 1988 issue.

The contest is open to any manwhose primary profession is host-ing a radio music program. En-tries should include an eight -by -ten -inch photo, a brief personaland professional resume, and anaudio cassette of a typical aircheck. Final selections will bemade by the editorial staff withphotos of the winners taken in ornear the DJs' home base.

Send entries by December 1,1987 to: "The Sexiest DJs inAmerica," c/o Playgirl Magazine,801 Second Avenue, New York,NY 10017.


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CCDChoosing and

maintaining equipmentfor an ENG crewcan be one of the

technical manager'smost difficult

assignments. When itcomes to ENG

cameras, the imagingdevice of choice appears

to be the CCD, andmanufacturers are

advancing thetechnology to meet

the demand.

By Tim Wetmore

For the last few years thebroadcast industry has beenhearing about the coming of

the charge -couple device (CCD)and, as is the case with most newtechnologies, the industry took await -and -see attitude to deter-mine if it could be implementedinto the broadcast environment.Though CCD imagers have beenaround for quite a while, color im-aging of broadcast quality was notavailable. Then, in 1985, NEC de-livered on the promise with itsSP -3A. Still the industry was re-luctant to drop its Ikegami HL -

79s and other three -tube cameras,though operators were less reti-cent in complaining about them.

When NBC decided to convertsome of its ENG camera opera-tions to CCD with a multiunitpurchase of the SP -3A, the diewas cast. Indeed, prior to this an-nouncement, many manufactur-

ENG

TubeCost

SizePower Consumption

Resolution

10-

\ \Life

RuggednessReliability

LagBurn -in

Diagram provided by Sony.

* Sensitivity

CCD

Bed Ciood

11".'- Colorimetry

Smear

ers, Sony and Panasonic amongthem, had already introducedENG-quality CCD cameras as1987 seemed to be the year of thechip. Now, as CCDs improve andthe buying curve for solid-stateimagers continues to rise, it seemsevident that the charge -coupleddevice has come of age, represent-ing perhaps the best choice inENG camera possibilities.

If this is true, then it is worth-while to find out what makesthem work-what makes themthe ideal camera for ENG applica-tions. There has been much saidabout resolution, registration,signal-to-noise, and sensitivity onboth sides of the prism block. Per-haps it would serve us well to ex-amine the technical, engineeringparameters of these sensors tosort out some of the signal fromthe noise about tube versus chip.

Much of the confusion sur-

rounding CCD cameras comesfrom questions about what theywill or won't do in a given situa-tion. First of all, the charge -cou-pled device is an analog system,not a digital one. Secondly, in apractical applications sense, aCCD camera will "do" anything atube camera will do. Many ofthose things it will do better andsome, less well. For example, be-cause of better aliasing and reso-lution characteristics, the tubecamera performs better whenshooting a fashion show or some-thing where fine detail and intri-cate patterns will be the dominantvisual image. Also, when veryhigh production values are de-manded, the higher resolutionand better S/N ratio of the tubewins out. Of course, it's not oftenan ENG crew is called upon toshoot a fashion show or to producea prime -time program.


Shot NoiseThermal Noise

Photo -Diode

OutputAmp.

Fixed Pattern Noise

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IL_,

I- L_

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Reset Noise

Output Amplifier Noise

o 01/1

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ClockNoise

Trapping Noise

Transfer Loss Noise

CCD image sensor noise sources.

It is precisely the other charac-teristics of the CCD camera thatmake it so ideal as an ENG tool.First, let's dispel a myth. SomeCCDs do have lag, but the top -of -the -line units offered by the majormanufacturers are, for the mostpart, completely free of this prob-lem. There are no burn -in prob-lems with the CCD, and, sincethere are no yokes or power sup-plies-nor are there tubes-theCCD camera is much lighter. Italso consumes much less powerper operating minute than does atube camera, two prime consider-ations for an ENG outfit.

Perhaps more importantly, mo-tion shooting is better with a CCDcamera, and it is impervious tomagnetic, electrical, and physicalvibration disturbances. Setup andmaintenance are far easier withthe solid-state camera. In addi-tion, many operators feel that thechips provide a cleaner black thantubes, given that the black fadesas the tube begins to age, whereasCCD cameras can balance blackjust as well as white.

This discussion relates, also, tothe differences between the two

Chart courtesy of NEC.

technologies when it comes tostatic and dynamic resolution.Static resolution, in which tubesare superior, is determined whenthe camera and/or the subject isstanding still. Dynamic resolu-tion, however, is where tubes be-gin to show blur and lag difficul-ties as, typical of ENG subjects,motion is quite commonplace. Oneof the ways CCD designers solvemotion problems is to incorporatean optical shutter, often electronicbut not necessarily, to reduce ex-posure time and thus minimizethe effect of lag and blur.

Physics primerTo closely examine how these

characteristics come into play, alook at the engineering design ofthe chip is appropriate. Solid-state sensors can take severalforms, though the most popular inbroadcast cameras has certainlybecome the CCD. While tubes usea photoconductive sensor, thesolid-state chip uses a photodiodeto collect the light. There are cur-rently two basic types of CCDtechnology used in today's cam-eras: frame transfer, with sepa-

rated optical and storage areas, inwhich the transfer takes placeduring the blanking interval; in-terline transfer, in which the opti-cal and storage areas are inter-leaved on the optical surface.

There is also a third type of con-figuration, rapidly becoming themost sought after. It is a combina-tion of the two technologies, re-ferred to as frame -interline trans-fer. The advantage of the hybridtechnology is that it allows the de-signer to avoid the use of a me-chanical shutter, required with aframe transfer device in order toavoid vertical smear, while stillbenefiting from the assets of sepa-rate storage in the frame transferdevice_

Preceding the development ofthe interline and frame transferchips was the X/Y configuration, asensor in which each pixel con-sisted of a photocell and an MOSswitch. Some MOS transistor sen-sor technology has been used inthe past (most notably Hitachi'sSK -1, though Hitachi now offerstwo CCD models), but MOS typesare less sensitive because of ahigher noise ratio.

The basic operating principle ofimage sensors is gathering, stor-ing, and transferring. To do thisthe sensors convert incominglight into a charge. The electricsignal, proportional to the inten-sity of incoming light, is createdby a photodiode converting incom-ing light into photoelectrons. Thecharge produced by this light istemporarily stored. This is accom-plished by the capacitance of thedepletion layer of the photodiode.The third stage is to transfer thecharge to a charge -coupled shiftregister in preparation for output.

There are critical differencesbetween the two fundamentaltechnologies in the way in whichthe signal is read out. The inter-line chip transfers the charge intoa vertical shift register, whichshifts, line by line, into a horizon-tal register and from there to theoutput. The frame transfer device,on the other hand, has an upperportion that holds the photosen-


CCD Cameras

sitive imaging area with thelower part acting as the storagearea. The photocell, in the upperportion, is also a readout element,and the charge is clocked outfrom the image area to the storagearea very rapidly during frameblanking.

The physics of respective de-signs also cause performance dif-ferences. The frame transfer de-vice, for example is more sensitivedue to the greater surface expo-sure of the photodiode, whereasthe interline device is only 35 per-cent exposed since it is inter-leaved with the vertical (readout)register. Thus, in any given area,the frame transfer chip can exposemore pixels to light, thus givinggreater resolution. To state theobvious for all charge -coupled de-vices, the more pixels located onthe chip, the greater the resolu-tion. This is the current designand manufacturing challenge: tofit more pixels onto the same % -inch imaging area. This is whysome people have been more at-tracted to the frame rather thanthe interline transfer (though Sonyclaims to have 10,000 interlinetransfer BVP-5s and DXC-3000s inthe field).

The drawback on the frametechnology, as already stated, isits requirement for a mechanical

shutter to eliminate verticalsmear. This is accomplished bythe mechanical shutter blockingout any incoming light duringtransfer because that extracharge will clock into the verticaltransfer and cause a streak. If in-coming light is blocked duringtransfer, the speed with which thecharge is clocked to the horizontalregister prevents smear.

In the hybrid frame -interlineCCD, the very rapid clocking outof the charge helps to eliminatethe trickling charge that wouldappear as a vertical streak. Also,the electronic shutter incorpo-rated into cameras of this designwill electrically "throw away" theextra charge as it enters duringthe vertical readout. NEC was thefirst to incorporate this type oftechnology, in the SP -3A, butSony has just announced its BVP-50, which bases its design on theframe -interline transfer with useof an electronic shutter. Also justannounced, Panasonic has devel-oped a frame -interline unit as rep-resented by the AK -400. Ampex,too, recently unveiled its CVC 50incorporating frame -interlinetransfer.

It should be noted that althoughthe interline device, the othertransfer technology being dis-cussed, is supposed to be free of

G1

CCD

R/BD CCD

CCD

VIDEOAMP

VIDEOAMP

VIDEOAMP

G1

SAMPLE

G1 SAMPLEPULSE

G2SAMPLE

G2 SAMPLEPULSE

LPF

R

SAMPLE LPF

R SAMPLEPULSE

SAMPLE IB.PF

B SAMPLEPULSE

.1G LOWAMP

G HIGHAMP

MIXToG PROCESS

AMP

TiMIX I -

R PROCESSAMP

ToB PROCESS

AMP

Video system diagram of the SP -3A colorcamera, which uses two greenchannels. The figure also shows the mix of channels wherein the greendetermines resolution.

vertical smear, the reality is thatcharge leakage resulting from in-sufficient shielding of the trans-port pixels causes a similarflaring effect. Halation, a phe-nomenon very similar to smear, iscaused by excessive light satura-tion and is commonly known asblooming. This can be compen-sated for by designing into thephotocell an overflow well that,with the growing level of lightsaturation, accepts the overflowcharge and dissipates it into thesubstrate rather than letting it beread out into the register.

Plus and minusThough these characteristics of

the CCD make it ideal for ENGapplications, no technology iswithout problems. In fact, alongwith the various advantages ofthe CCD come some difficulties. Itis, for example, the sensors them-selves, in sampling, that causealiasing or moire due to inherentinadequacies in sampling technol-ogy. The work being done onCCDs, in addition to fitting morepixels onto the chip, is targetedtoward reducing some of the in-herent weaknesses of the technol-ogy. Some of this is done in theresearch lab, while some of the ef-forts take place within the cameraitself. It is here that spatial -offsettechnology comes into play.

Beyond the physics of the actualcharge -coupled device, one of thechallenges in putting the imagingsensor into practical use involvesits installation into the camera it-self. All CCDs get glued directlyto the prism block. This is a taskthat must be executed with preci-sion and care or the incredible ad-vancements in solid-state physicswill be wasted. In addition to im-proving luminance resolution andaliasing characteristics, registra-tion and stability are absolutelydependent upon the accuracy ofthe chip mounting.

Indeed, CCD attachment is oneof the toughest battles in CCD im-plementation and is handled dif-ferently by different manufactur-ers. Some do it themselves, othershave optics companies do it ac-cording to a specifically designedprocess. NEC, with a 390 -pixel


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CCD Cameras

horizontal resolution, uses doublegreen imagers and spatially off-sets the two chips so they are in-terleaved by a half pixel, doublingthe effective horizontal greensampling rate. This forces the useof multiplexing for the red andblue-incorporating a samplingfilter-so the sampling is halved,resulting in a sampling ratio of 4to 1 green to red or green to blue.

Larry Thorpe, Sony's director ofstudio product management, ex-plains that "Sony's chip has 510elements and uses a conventionalRGB approach where the red,green, and blue chips are glued todifferent ports on the prism. Thered and blue chips are carefullyplaced so that the pixels arealigned in space and there is nooffset between the red and blue.The green, however, is offset hori-zontally by half a pixel. Thus,green pixels are interleaved by ahalf pixel with both red and blue.The luminance (black and white)information is a linear function ofgreen plus red plus blue, resultingin the luminance aliasing beingreduced to less than coloraliasing."

Another pragmatic manufac-turing obstacle relates to the uni-versal goal of increasing resolu-tion by increasing the number ofpixels. This is a manufacturingproblem because the technology isthere to do it, but the precision ofplacing the increased pixel countinto a % -inch imaging area re-quires very exacting quality con-trol and thus high cost. In fact,Kodak, NEC and others haveshown experiments in CCD mono-chrome systems with somethingvery close to HDTV resolution.

Yet, there remain design obsta-cles. When the number of pixels isincreased, vertical streaking,noise, and shading problems canbecome more prevalent due to theoverwhelming task of quality con-trol on a higher order. Neverthe-less, if history continues itscourse, the processes will catch upwith the demands, prices willcome down and, within a fewyears, a very high -resolution CCDproduct will be on the market.

As a final but no -less -importantengineering consideration, noise

in CCDs should be mentioned.The CCD is more complicated as asystem than the photoconductivetube, therefore noise becomes animportant consideration in thesystem. Generally, two types ofnoise can be loosely related to theCCD: random incoherent noiseand coherent or static noise. De-pending on design and camera im-plementation, either type of noisemay be more obvious.

Random noise is a mixture ofshot noise, thermal noise, andsemiconductor noise-these aredevice dependent. Coherent noisecan be a direct result of mecha-nisms within the device. Ex-tremely high-speed digital clock-ing is required to drive CCDs,signal output levels are low, andcamera front-end problems likecomplex ground loops and clockcrosstalk are more difficult tohandle than the equivalent sys-tems in a tube camera.

A brief explanation, para-phrased from Sony's LarryThorpe, follows regarding noise inthe three stages of the CCD'sfunction. It should be noted thatthese are generic characteristics,not confined to any individualmanufacturer's product, but in-herent in CCD technology.

In the CCD, input mechanismnoise due to the random nature ofphotoelectron collection over asmall interval of time is known asphoton or shot noise. As is truewith the pickup tube, this is pro-portional to active signal level.Thermal noise associated with theinput resistance of the charge in-jection circuit is also a factor inthis evaluation.

The second stage of CCD opera-tion, the charge integration andtransfer function, finds noiseknown as bulk -state noise associ-ated with buried -channel CCDs.Here is also the important dark-current noise-a mechanismstemming from thermal genera-tion of random -hole electron pairsin the bulk depletion region andthe semiconductor insulator sur-face.

The final stage, the output, issubject to a capacitor -reset noisearising from the random variationof reset levels of the CCD readout

switch that charges a capacitor.An additional noise source,unique to the solid-state sensingarray, is fixed -pattern noise,which manifests itself as a fixednonuniform spatial backgroundin the reproduced image. Thistype of noise is a result of dark -

current nonuniformity betweenpixels. Consequently, manufac-turers strive to minimize andequalize the individual pixel darkcurrents, and the success here isone of the keys to the dynamicrange of the CCD sensor.

In the fieldAll the technical discussions

about resolution, smear, and noiseare, of course, important and nec-essary to evaluating the technol-ogy, but where it all counts is inoperation. How does the camera -

person use the camera? Is itharder or easier to acquire the im-ages the team set out to capture,and does this affect the quality ofthe pictures gathered?

The answers lie in three areaswhere CCDs are clearly superior:size, weight, power consumption.These add up to an easier, moreefficient camera to operate and,thus, better pictures. The weightof the camera is very importantfor long or arduous shooting sincefatigue will cause a camera oper-ator to shoot less efficiently andbe generally less responsive toevents.

Even beyond the pragmaticanalysis of how easy and efficientit is to use, setup and maintain, itis clear that the image quality oftoday's CCD camera is truly good.It is certainly of a high enoughquality to satisfy ENG require-ments, and, with the market anx-iously awaiting each new CCD de-velopment, the manufacturers areexploring superior imaging de-vices that will soon put questionsabout CCD image quality to rest.The cameras will be light, effi-cient, durable, and produce beau-tiful pictures.

Some manufacturers are ru-mored to already have studio -

quality prototypes ready. Mean-while, the charge -coupled deviceappears to be the technology ofchoice for ENG. BM/E


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and this... and this!J8 x 6 BIE: 6mm Wide, 96mm Telephoto, 11" M.O.D.!

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ime. Thatluxurythat is so

fleeting in anENG environ-ment is the onething a cameraoperator can'tafford to losedue to improp-erly maintainedequipment. Ifthe moment islost, so is thenews. That'swhy, in today'shigh -voltagenews operation,maintaining theENG/EFP zoomlens is of ut-most import-ance, especiallyas camerasand pickup de-vices get bet-ter.

The operatorcan't afford tonotice, sud-denly, that theimage qualityhas vanishedby magic. If thecamera is morethan a year old,the chances arethe zoom lensthat's mountedto it is produc-ing images of

LENSES:MAINTAININGYOUR IMAGE

Focusing group

Variator Compensator Relay group Beam splitting prism

Telephoto

Fig.3 Optical path of hand-held zoom lens

Drawing showing optical groups and light path of typical ENG/EFPzoom lenses. Further information is available from Canon's TV opticsbook.

In the rigorous ENG environment, great demandsare made on all equipment. Lenses, as part ofthe original image capturing device, are amongthe most important and most delicate elementsin the entire system. Maintaining the properly

chosen zoom lens is one of the essentials oftoday's ENG engineering picture.

lesser qualitythan its original, peak perfor-mance. And it may have hap-pened slowly if periodic checkswere not part of a maintenanceroutine. After a year of use, all

three basic components of the lensare probably impaired as a resultof being exposed to the harsh lifeof newsgathering.

Often, the optics will get

scratched orcoated with fin-gerprints anddust, reducingboth resolutionand contrast.Also, the me-chanics of thefocus and zoomgearing will befilled with dirtparticles, keep-ing them fromeffecting asmooth move-ment. The elec-tronic controls,in addition,may have beensubjected tomoisture, caus-ing a potentialloss of bothzoom and irisfunctions. Witha workingknowledge ofthe functioningof a zoom lens,it can be keptat peak operat-ing efficiencyregardless ofthe environ-ment.

Basics firstSince, in

many techni-cal operatingenvironments,many items can

be named something different, itserves a purpose here to define thezoom lens and its critical ele-ments. By definition, a zoom lensis "a precision electro/opti-


ENG Lenses

cal/mechanical system, which canchange its field of view withoutnoticeably changing its apertureor focus. This is made possible bythe use of complex cams and fol-lowers controlling precisely de-signed and manufactured opticalcomponents."

The zoom lens itself is made upof four optical groups. The firstgroup is usually referred to as thefocusing group, with its functionbeing to gather the incoming lightrays in order to bring them intofocus. The second and thirdgroups are the two internallymoving sections. The section thatmoves to vary the image size iscalled the variator. The othermoving section of the lens is thecompensator, which moves in or-der to maintain focus and reducethe aberrations created by thevariator changing the field ofview. This fourth group of opticsserves as the prime lens, i.e., tofocus the image onto the pickupdevice (tube or CCD).

The zoom and aperture are con-trolled by servo motors attachedto the lens. Gears transmit thetorque delivered by the motors tosmoothly change the zoom and ap-erture barrels to the position re-quired by the camera operator.The motors, in turn, are con-trolled by zoom and iris circuitboards and switches.

Maintenance secondTo keep the lens in working or-

der, it is essential that the lens beconsidered as a system. And thereare many ways to ensure smoothoperation. The simplest preven-tive maintenance procedure is tokeep a clear filter and sunshademounted on the lens at all times.The clear filter is the least-expen-sive insurance policy for protect-ing the expensive front element.

Tony Catalano, zoom lens tech-nician at Canon Broadcast, hasseen many lenses come into hisservice facility with scratched andbroken front elements that couldhave been avoided with the inex-pensive clear filter. "I have seenrepairs in which the second ele-ments have been destroyed,chipped, or fractured because thefirst element broke and impacted

This photo, taken by JackKanakaris, shows an ENG zoomlens in a typical environment: cov-ering a fire scene.

upon the second element."Similarly, Ron Cotty of E.N.G.

Optical Services in the Denverarea, who was factory trained bymost of the television lens manu-facturers, also believes that aclear filter should always be kepton all ENG/EFP zoom lenses."The few dollars spent," statesCotty, "for a clear filter can save alens owner somewhere betweentwo to three hundred dollars for areplacement front element."

Other maintenance tips recom-mended by Cotty are periodictightening of all screws to keepthe parts working well togetherand using a toothbrush or paint-brush to remove dirt rather thanusing compressed air. Cotty feelsthat compressed ai,r may force dirtinto the internal workings of thelens. Once this happens, the dirtcompounds with the zoom lubri-cant and causes the focusing to be"raspy."

Further, electronic repairsshould be approached with cau-tion. Eric Rojack, field service en-gineer at Fujinon, emphasizesthat "the zoom and iris servoesare electrically aligned to thezoom and iris gear ring travel.When removed and reinstalled,they must be electrically re-aligned." He also warns against

attempting to lubricate a zoomlens with commercially availablelubricants, which may cause moreproblems in the binding move-ment. The correct lubricants arespecialized and not availablethrough regular outlets.

Internal contamination, evi-dent in a dirty lens that starts tobind, should be treated at a fac-tory authorized service center. Asa preventive measure, a zoom lensshould be overhauled every yearto year -and -a -half. The lubricantswill dry out, even if the lens is lefton a shelf under normal roomtemperature (in about two years),thus requiring cleaning, lubrica-ting, and adjusting. The time pe-riod for overhaul and the behaviorof a particular lens will dependupon the lens itself and the type ofuse to which it is subjected.

This brings up the question ofenvironment. In temperatures allthe way down to -20 degrees F,regular lubricant will suffice.Should a lens be required, how-ever, to function in a colder envi-ronment, special lubricants mustbe obtained from the service facil-ities of the lens manufacturer.Once the lens has been modifiedto operate in very cold weather, itwill not function normally inwarmer temperatures.

Another common maintenanceproblem encountered in normalzoom lens use is that of moisture.Of course, encountering rain orsnow is not unusual to an ENGcrew, and operators will often no-tice that moisture has entered thelens. The first step is to wipe offthe external moisture with a soft,dry cloth and then seal the lens ina plastic bag with silica gel orother desiccant to dry it.

Often, no internal leakage willbe noticed after exposing a lens torain or snow. In this situation it isbest not to run the zoom at a highrate of speed because the zoomgear may spread the water col-lected in it to the iris and zoomamplifier boards.

The manufacturers, of course,realize the typical use of ENGlenses and have designed wea-therized servo housings with fun-nels and drainage ports surround-ing the zoom control and rocker


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ENG Lenses

switch, and they have also incor-porated plastic covers for the cir-cuit boards.

Even with all this protection,some moisture is likely to infil-trate the servo housing and comeinto contact with the zoom andiris amplifier boards. Though theamount may be small, the mois-ture will evaporate leaving a sedi-ment that will eventually shortthe ICs or transistors. Since this isa gradual deterioration, the pro-cess may not be noticed immedi-ately, but will eventually forcethe lens onto the bench.

Zoom techniques andmaintenance

Since a zoom lens is essentiallya variable focal -length lens, it iseasiest to focus at the longest focallength. It must be understood thatthe longer the focal length, theless the depth of field or, put an-other way, the more sensitive it isto selective focus. Once the exactfocusing distance has been estab-lished, then the focal length canbe determined, byfrom the long focal length to thewidest, stopping at the most suit-able point.

In order to establish smoothzoom and focus movements, boththe focus and zoom rings shouldbe turned throughout their entirerange, allowing the lubricant tobe distributed evenly. This shouldbe repeated several times, whenstarting to use the lens for theday, and especially when the lenshas not been used for some time.When attempting to zoom man-ually, always make sure that theservo is disengaged. If the servo isengaged and the zoom barrel isturned, this could cause damageto both the motor and gears.

When an ENG crew has to shipa lens, a sturdy shipping case withthe proper shock insulating mate-rial should be used. It is alwaysbest to remove the lens from thecamera when shipping long dis-tances. More important, a zoomlens should always be shippedwith the focus set at infinity andthe zoom set at the minimum focallength. Thus, the glass elementsof the variator and the compen-sator sections will have the maxi-

mum separation, eliminating thepossibility of them hitting andcracking due to a rough shock.

The perfect lensChoosing the correct lens for

the job requires determining theparameters of potential use. Aper-ture, focal lengths, zoom range,close focusing capability, size,weight, and cost are some of theconsiderations to be taken into ac-count. Other questions to be ad-dressed are: What light conditionswill the camera be likely to ex-perience? What distances will the

Schwem Technology's image sta-mm zoom lens

mounted on an ENG/EFP camera.

camera be working with most ofthe time? Will most shots be wideor tight from a distance, or both?Will subjects other than people becovered; will they require extremeclose-ups? Will the camera behand-held or tripod -mounted?Where in the world will the lensbe used?

If the lens is to be used to coversubjects in low light level situa-tions, a higher aperture is an ob-vious requirement. A cameraequipped with a f/1.8 lens needs75 percent more light to make anequal -quality picture to that ofthe same camera equipped with af/1.4 lens. The ramping of themaximum aperture must also beconsidered in choosing a lens.Most zoom lenses made today donot have a constant aperture andtherefore ramp down to a lesseraperture as the focal length isincreased.

As an example, a 14 to 1 zoomhas an aperture of f/1.7 at all focallengths between 8 and 91 mm.The aperture then ramps down tobecome f/2.1 when it reaches the

maximum focal length of 112 mm.Lens designers incorporate ramp-ing maximum apertures as ameans of keeping the size andweight of a zoom lens to a mini-mum while extending their rangeof application.

Cameras, too, affect lens choice.Most prism -type cameras now inproduction have prisms that willpass light at a maximum apertureof f/1.4 and, therefore, a lens withan aperture higher than f/1.4 willbe of no benefit. The higher aper-ture lens brings along with itlarger size, weight and cost. Be-sides, normal zoom lens focallengths, ranging somewhere fromnine to 153 mm, will cover the ma-jority of subjects in most assign-ments.

Modern zoom lenses now offereverything from extreme wide-angle zooms from Canon andFujinon that start with a wide 5.5mm (77 degrees, 19 -feet by 61 -de-grees, 55 feet) with an 8.5 to 1zoom ratio all the way up to thelongest range 50 to 1 that pro-

angleto extreme telephoto (9.5-475mm). In addition to its super longrange, this zoom boasts an ex-treme f/1.4 aperture. BothSchneider and Angenieux providequality lenses of this type.

The 5.5-47 mm wide-anglezoomis ideal for hand-held work or formaneuvering in very tight areas,while the 9.5-475 mm is bestsuited for sports and field produc-tion. The lack of longer focallengths for greater magnificationis a trade-off for the wide-anglezoom and the size (19 inches inlength) and weight (35 pounds)are considerations for the longrange 50 to 1.

Most normal zoom lenses per-mit focusing at all focal lengths atapproximately 0.8 m (31.5inches). Wide-angle zoom lenseswill focus as close as 0.3 m (11.8inches), while the long rangezooms, on the other hand, focus toabout 0.9 m (35.4 inches). Itshould be noted that while amacro function may allow focus-ing to the front of the glass of azoom lens, it does not permitzooming or changing of focallengths without refocusing the


COMPARED TO OUR NEWAPOCHROMATIC ZOOM, OTHER LENSES

ARE A LITTLEROUGH AROUND THE EDGES.

Chromatic aberrations. They can cause loss of pic:Turedetail. Color fringing. Poor color registration.

The introduction of broadcast CCD and highquality tube cameras means compromiseslike these are no longer acceptable in zoomlenses. To meet these new and demand-ing camera specifications, Schneider in-troduces the 14X APO-VARON HMENG/EFP Zoom.

The 14X APO is a major leap forward in TVzoom technology. Its true apochromatic designfocuses the image formed in the three primarycolor channels in precisely the same imageplane.

The result is rather eye-catching. Both lon-gitudinal and lateral chromatic aberrations aresignificantly reduced. MTF is increased, andpicture quality is greatly enhanced.

Wm.Ider

Lightweighousing, the 14X APO is the type of rugged per-

former you'll value for otter reasons, too.It has a 2X extender, macro focus, and a

unique servo iris control built into the zoompistol grip. The 14X AP J is available with posi-

tional servo focus. And tie lens accepts awide range of EFP accessories, including an

aspheric attachment for superwide fixed focal length.So if you're concerned about your image, do

something about it. Get Schneider's new 14XAPO-VARON Zoom.

For more information or a demo, contact:Schneider Corporation of America, 400 CrosswaysPark Drive, Woodbury, NY 11797, (516) 496-8500.

Western U.S.A. Service: 861 Production Place,Newport Beach, CA 92663, (714) 631-7430.

SchneiderKREUZNACHSHOOT FOR THE BEST.


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Some video experts wouldhave you believe that the only wayto upgrade your video equipmentis to throw it out and start over.

At Sony, we see it differently.And you will too when you seethe new TYPE VII and TYPE IXseries of U-matic players andrecorders.

Not only are they compatiblewith your existing U-matic equip-ment, they offer performance thatuntil now you could only get attwice the price.

For starters, you get SP tech-nology on the TYPE IX models,which means superior picturequality on both originals andcopies. You also get a new form ofabsolute address called FrameCode. As well as a computer inter-face which lets you preset playersand recorders to start and stop atcertain times.

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ENG Lenses

macro mechanism lever. Magnifi-cation is limited with macro focus-ing as the closest focusing in themacro mode is only possible whenthe lens is in the wide-angle posi-tion.

In addition to how a lens isused, where it is used is also im-portant. There are two separatequestions to be addressed here.One is: what type of environmentwill the lens be exposed to? Ex-tremes of humidity, temperature,blowing sand, and other hostileconditions affect the answer.Some lenses offer sealed servohousings that will resist high hu-midity (rain and snow, but not adunking) and sand and dirt. Theseseals may also keep the internallubricants from mixing with dirtparticles.

The second question is where,geographically, the lens will beused. Critical here is whether ornot a service facility for the type oflens exists in the part of the worldwhere the lens will be used. Alllenses require maintenance at pe-riodic intervals so proximity to aservice center becomes critical. Agood professional service orga-nization will not necessarily havethe criterion that the lens manu-facturer has a branch in a localcity, but it does require techni-cians at the facility to be factorytrained and have factory draw-ings and tools.

Further, a professional zoomlens technician will be familiarwith all groups of the optics andmechanics, as well as the elec-tronic parts and should have theexpertise to make adjustments tothe variator and compensatorwithout having to return thoseparts to a factory branch. Besideshaving the proper spannerwrenches and other hand tools,the service facility will beequipped with both a collimatorand a lens test projector. The colli-mator is an optical instrument formeasuring focal lengths.

New technologiesIn the past few years there have

been important advances in zoomlens technology. There has been,in addition to extreme wide-anglezooms and extreme long-range

zooms, both a size and weight re-duction. With the recent advent ofCCD cameras, the lens designershave a new challenge. Since, in aCCD camera (see accompanyingstory, "CCD= ENG," p.00, this is-sue), the chips are affixed to thecolor -splitting prism directly, andsince the red, blue, and greenwavelengths have different focalpoints, the modern zoom lensmust be corrected for longitudinalchromatic and lateral chromaticaberrations.

Presently, no lens is totally freeof these chromatic aberrations,however, the new breed of zoomlenses is designed to minimizeand control aberrations through-out the entire focal range. In addi-tion, new lenses have a high -flatmodulation transfer function(MTF) in order to match the per-formance of the CCD. A seriousproblem now exists in that thereare different types of prisms inuse, necessitating different typesof lenses to match the particularprism being used in the camera.

For the near future, new lenseswith higher apertures can be ex-pected to match the new high -ap-erture f/1.2 prisms. Until recentlythere was no advantage to using alens with that high an aperture.Yet, with the advent of the fil.2prism, several high -aperture f/1.2

Specs for the new ultra wide-an-gle Fujinon zoom: 8.5-47 mm,f/1.7, and a minimum object dis-tance of 0.3 m.

lenses are already available. Hav-ing a very high aperture demandsa large diameter, which trans-lates to a rather large lens, per-haps too large for ENG and someEFP purposes. Just as the presentnormal zoom lenses have been re-

duced in size and weight, it seemsclear that the high -aperture lenswill follow the same path.

Another innovation in lens de-sign from both Angenieux andSchneider is the recent introduc-tion of continuous focusing frominfinity to virtually the frontglass in broadcast lenses. Thisclose -focusing system uses amicroprocessor to move internallens elements into focus beyondthe normal focusing capability ofthe front focusing group. This willcertainly be an aid to theENG/EFP field if it is made avail-able in smaller portable lenses.

In other technological ad-vances, Schwem has found accep-tance for its image -stabilizingzoom lens. It is a 60 to 300 mmzoom that incorporates a built-ingyro that stabilizes the light pathof the lens rather than the entiremass of the lens and camera andresults in a much smaller, lighterpackage. Eliminated are the high -frequency vibrations found in air-craft, boats, autos, or even somehand-held work. Like all gyro sys-tems, panning movements mustbe slow and planned since, oncethe pan is initiated, it will con-tinue in that direction and re-quires practice in order to termi-nate it smoothly.

Whether a station chooses tobuy into the newest technologyor whether an ENG outfit isequipped with older lenses, theknowledge of the basic param-eters of zoom optics will assist inimaging performance and mainte-nance of the lens. Often, the bestsource of information is the manu-facturer of the lens in addition toother users. Also, there are manymanuals available on the theoret-ical and practical aspects of op-tics. All these sources should behelpful in maintaining yourimage_ BME

About the Author:For more than 12 years, Bern Levyserved as a director of photographyfor both NBC and United Technol-ogy Research Labs. Over the past 20years, he was involved with technicalmarketing for Angenieux motion pic-ture and television optics.


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The NBCSatellite Experientx

Part IIBy O.S. Paganuzzi

Technological advancement was the desired goal of implementingthe NBC satellite system, but operational and financial

justifications were always of first priority. To thisend, system milestones were set in order to gauge progress and test the

validity of projections.

perhaps the most dramaticmove in the decision to go for-ward with the NBC Skypath

project was the choice by the satel-lite task force to use the Ku -banddistribution system. Steering theproject along this path was done fora number of reasons. First, it wasobvious that Telco costs would es-calate due to the imminent divesti-ture of AT&T. Even if the costs re-mained at 1982 levels, however,

many affiliates would have beendissatisfied with the performanceand flexibility of the service thenbeing provided.

A second factor behind theproject was that, beyond risingcosts for existing operations, ourprojections for expansion wouldcause even greater cost escalations.Among the elements in our expan-sion plans were stereo distribution,improved on -site newsgathering,

and corporate communications. Anadded pressure to all of this wasthat implementation of the newfeatures of the network would re-quire extensive lead times.

Satellite decisionConsidering all of these relevant

factors, alternate distributionmethods were examined but onlysatellite distribution was deter-mined to provide any practical

Editor's note: Part I (BM/E, November 1987, p. 69) gave the reader a chronological report on the conception anddevelopment of the NBC Satellite Distribution System. This second installment offers a more detailed discussion ofthe components and systems used in the network.


receive budgets, transponders,and it indicated, as well, that a Kusystem was "doable" and properfor our approach.

The final concern was with thestatistical probabilities employedby Comsat in their loss calcula-tions. These were extrapolatedfrom their own findings, but thefigures were less than the pre-dicted theoretical values. BobButler, chief engineer of the NBCsatellite network, armed withdata compiled by Dalsat (forNBC), not only verified the basisfor the Comsat calculations, butproposed a rain cell theory thatlent consistency to the variances.Based on the premise that onlytwo basic storm systems exist(rainstorms topping at 14,000 feetand thunderstorms topping at60,000 feet), the theory statisti-cally implies that the area cov-ered by heavy rainstorms is in-versely proportional to theirintensity, and considers this phe-nomenon relative to the angularelevation of the sight -line dis-tance to the satellite through therain cell. It also considers the self -compensating nature of Ku -bandsatellite locations versus the ex-pected rainfall rate (shorter sightlines, higher rain rates in Eastand South U.S. versus longerpaths, lower rain rate in West andNorth).

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advantages. Even satellites, how-ever, presented many shortcom-ings. The common consensus wasthat only C -band distribution,with tightly budgeted rain -fademargins, was practical and de-pendable. Yet our own investiga-tions determined that even C-

band systems presented their ownunique set of problems that couldmake them unwieldy in thefuture.

Physical surveys of potentialearth station sites near Manhat-tan reinforced concerns for thehigh costs resulting from C -bandsite sizes, environmental needs,structural demands, and signal -interference problems. As deter-mined by the task force, the onlyreason for using C -band lay in thelower values of rain -fade margins.It appeared, however, that Ku-

band, with proper design, wouldanswer to all criteria even thoughit was evident that outside, expertopinions were necessary.

In response to the issuance of arequest of information, ComsatGeneral submitted a proposal fora Ku -band model projecting a sig-nal availability of 99.99 percent.This bettered our existing 99.98;that .01 percent variation repre-sents an outage of approximately53 minutes on the network. Themodel specified antenna sizes,geographical locations, transmit/

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Earth station locationInitially, every earth station

site was individually surveyed bya team of Comsat, Harris, andNBC personnel, and a writtendocument on the survey site wasgenerated. Many local factors(look angle, terrain, building orground constraints, aesthetics,station configuration) were con-sidered in the survey and dis-cussed with local representatives.From this, a final plan was formu-lated for each station by Harris,and local vendors were selectedfor construction. Each of the in-stallations required a secure in -plant space allocation capable ofaccommodating a standard five -rack configuration no more than50 feet from the antenna pad. In-terestingly, most stations couldsupply this space; very few loca-tions required the construction ofan out -building to house the ter-minal racks.

Each of the earth station con-figurations is, of itself, a stand-alone system independent of, butlocated upon, the premises of ex-isting broadcast facilities. Thestations receive baseband audioand video signals as if distributedby any common carrier. However,to interact with the intelligence ofthe earth station, a source identi-fication (SID) signal was en-meshed in our uplink transmis-

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sions for a "handshake" status -re-turn burst from each of our sta-tions to our master station.

smalltransmitter be located at everystation (even ROs) to create a to-tally interactive computer -super-vised system. The local computerswill select redundant routesthrough the station in the event ofa component failure. In addition,intelligent equipment can bemade to independently switchthemselves to emergency pro-gram sources. The station com-puters not only protect on -air op-erations and report station status,but they also report fault condi-tions to Skypath and the HarrisMaintenance Center in Florida.

The center may interrogate thestation fault in greater depth bysatellite, but the ultimate task de-mands the radio dispatch of a lo-cal serviceman to repair the prob-lem and restore full operation.This has been accomplished by"sectorizing" the areas of mainte-nance responsibility throughoutthe country.

Quality analysis of the signalreceived at the station is also pos-sible and a number of manual con-trol operations are permissible.As an example, a recent shift ofmain operations from SBS tran-

sponders to the RCA K2 bird tookplace, and the movement of all an-tennas was handled in a methodi-cal, overnight manual processthat took into account time zones,local conditions, approximatetime operations, sign -offs, and po-tentially malfunctioning equip-ment.

In outfitting the RO locations,only three of the allotted five rackspaces were used, though eachsite was designed as a T/R unlessit was determined that an up-grade would never occur. Still,any mechanical features werestandardized at all locations sothat future installations (such asPUPs at the antenna site) mightbe accommodated. Our standardstation antenna complement pro-vides a six -meter dish with athree -meter backup at each of theROs and T/Rs; however, the rain-fall predicted at some locationsdoes require larger sizes to im-prove the rain -fade margin.

Master stationsNBC's two master stations are

exact replicas except that the Bur-bank station is ground locatedand the New York station is rooflocated. Each station provides 12protected downlink outputs (24incoming feeds) and eight pro-

tected uplink inputs (16 outgoingfeeds). The feeds are divided intotwo independent groupings, eachof which is fed from/to its own in-dependent system with its owneight -meter antenna. Each of thetwo independent systems is againdivided into a regular/emergencysystem, and appropriate compu-ter protection schemes are pro-vided to maintain automaticallyuninterrupted network program-ming.

The four I/O system groups areconnected to the central transmis-sion area in Radio City by four in-dependent underground conduits.All video signal cables carry the70 MHz intermediate frequencyspectrum existing between thein/out sections of the up/down con-verters. Therefore, all audio andvideo signals for each feed coexiston one cable. Rather than use fi-ber optics, it was determined thatmore traditional plenum -typecoax would be better suited forour interfacility links (IFL). Thiswas based on manageable cablelengths, ten times cost savings,easier maintenance, and manyother factors.

Similarly, the computer linkswere direct -wired (RS -422) andwere run with the video trunks inthe IFL conduits. All cables wererun between terminal locationsbefore connection to the equip-ment. However, because of thecontinuing development of controlsoftware, additional patchablecomputer trunks were providedfrom the Satellite Network Man-agement System (SNMS) lab.

Each master station is com-prised of two HPA uplink shel-ters, one for each of the antennas.A central SNMS shelter housesall downlink equipment and, withthe control facilities, becomes thenerve center of the station.

SkypathWhen it was realized, as previ-

ously mentioned, that construc-tion of a new TV Central in RadioCity would be impractical, it be-came obvious that finding a loca-tion for New York Skypath wouldbe difficult. One area was re-quired, conveniently located andlarge enough to satisfy require-


ments such as expansion space fornew equipment, proximity to TVCentral and traffic, noise isola-tion, maintenance access, modernaesthetics, tour viewability, andshort installation time.

In addressing the cost/aesthe-tics issue, a trend toward an in-dustrial design concept wasadopted, and extreme tonalitieswere favored (black, midnightblue, white, grey, brushed alumi-num) with relief provided by woodtones. This was done to underlinethe high-tech atmosphere whileproviding a quiet, paced opera-tions environment that wouldreadily integrate into the differ-ent decor of TV Central.

Specifications for layouts, ele-vations, console designs, materi-als, colors, etc., were submitted tothe various operations managersfor review, commentary, and ap-proval. After many versions, thefinal set of specifications wasturned over to NBC Engineeringearly in 1986. Demolition and re-construction of what had been thetelecine area had begun in early1986 since we knew this was to beturned over to Skypath, NBC hav-ing eliminated telecines and goneto film -to -tape transfer and elec-tronic slide stores. Work on thenew Skypath area itself did notbegin until July. It was completedearly in September.

In the control room, a wall ofsmall monitors provides continu-ous monitoring of the 24 -hourregular/emergency downlinkfeeds. Above every monitor in thewall a display placard is locatedthat can be manually program-med by a small, hand-held termi-nal. This allows the operators tolabel each feed with names conve-nient to their operation. The plac-ards also contain a set of LED in-dicators for each left/right audiochannel associated with the moni-tor. The LEDs flash during over -level or long -silence conditions.Thus the illumination of the faultLEDs will prompt the operator toinitiate setup of the faulty signalon a metering bus. Of course, theabsence of any fault light does notguarantee faultless audio perfor-mance, but it does provide some

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For example, we'rebuilding a 995 -ft. towerthat will support a 46 -ft.,high -power UHF televisionantenna for KLTJ-TV,Channel 57, near Houston,Texas. It will also supporta 12 -bay FM antenna. Andthe tower is designed towithstand wind velocitiesin excess of 160 mphand to meet EIA-222-Dspecifications.

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NBC Satellite II

confidence when an operator hasto monitor more than 80 audiosources!

Although video feeds are moni-torable directly on a screen, NBChas chosen to display only the ac-tive feed of a regular/emergencypair; although unseen, the backupfeed does exist on an A/B relay en-tering the monitor. While thisminimizes the number of feeds ondisplay, it does not provide imme-diate knowledge of a possible fail-ure in the nondisplayed feed.

For this function, SID units areused as alert devices. Below eachof the larger monitors an SID dis-play unit is located for viewing al-ternately each of the monitors andfor displaying the (previously in-serted) identification signal if allis well. If a protected pair is beingmonitored, the SID readout willnot change, but a blinking LEDwill indicate continuing analysis.A fault in the undisplayed videosignal will cause periodic disrup-tions of the SID display, immedi-ately making an error evident tothe operator.

Skypath, however, is not in-tended to be manually controlled,and the system will automaticallycompensate for most error condi-tions. Nevertheless, fault alertsprovide the means for humantracking and understanding oftrouble sources in the event thatfurther follow-up or optimizationis required.

The layout of Skypath (see Fig-ure 1) was designed for efficiencyand automation, requiring fewcontrol operators and providingeach department with easy accessto other, related departments. TheSkypath computers are fed a pre-packaged air routine, which isinterpreted for the various switch-ing and control functions neces-sary to accomplish the day's pro-gramming. This requires not onlythat local commands be origi-nated, but that sky -switchingcommands be transmitted as well.Resulting operations can effec-tively surpass terrestrial capabili-ties. By means of nationwidesectionalization, commercial in-serts can be more efficiently pro-grammed, regional time zoneseconomically serviced, and net -

Dish setup and PUP unit at WIS-TVin Columbia, SC.

work transmission expanded (pre-tapings, news spots, local newsoriginations, communications,etc.).

SkycomLocated in Skypath control,

Skycom is a transmission systemthat allows the NBC satellite sys-tem access to any accepted origi-nator. It provides the flexibilityfor a news or special interest storyto be transmitted for general orspecific distribution. This in-cludes live or taped material forlater use while normal program-ming continues.

Skycom allocates the use oftransponder space so that anyproperly equipped satellite newsvehicle can establish communica-tions with the Skycom Hub andrequest transponder access. Whenrequested, Skycom, with traffic,will locate an available uplinktime slot so the SNV can uplinkon the system from its location.No other hookup facilities are re-quired. The one -to -all capabilityallows receipt by the vehicle's ownstation and/or other properlyequipped network locations.

Once programmed into theSkycom computer, the selectedtransponder is protected fromdouble illumination by the com-puter. A queuing countdown pro-vided by the computer will turnthe appropriate uplink sources offand on. Each vehicle is equippedwith a control package and termi-nal display that integrates Sky-

corn control into the truck systemand provides a continuously up-dated status report to the VDT. Inaddition to the uplink control, thesystem can tune the video and/orcommunications channels withinthe truck.

An "all -call" channel is used


initially to establish communica-tions, but after assignment, aunique channel is assigned thatwill provide operations links aswell (three additional duplex tele-phone circuits are provided forprogram integration use). Truckdesign criteria supplied by NBCmake it possible for each of ourrecognized vehicles to performtheir initial checkout (includingpolarization) in the receive modeprior to contacting Skycom.

As an additional "man -ma-chine" assist, we have assigned afurther function to the SID unitslocated in Skypath. The same pro-grammer used for placard label-ling allows interrogation of theSID units beyond the level ofsource identifications. Thus, if aproblem should arise with a Sky-com origination, any NBC receiv-ing location may convenientlylook -up the vehicle's base stationtelephone number and personnelcontact by "asking" the SID.

As presented, the system may

seem perfect but, like all systems,it has had its problems. Due tocommercial power problemsthroughout much of the country,spikes, dropouts, noise, etc., wereconsistently affecting our intelli-gent equipment. We even had anunexplained rebooting of our sta-tion computers.

Another thing originally over-looked caused a problem. Over-emphasized audio sibilants onuplinks caused by extreme high -frequency equalization at thesource mix began to occur. Wefound that each of our audiouplinks is itself a typical (pre -em-phasized) FM broadcast systemrequiring dynamic limiting if thesystem is to tolerate the broadprocessing range used in audioproductions. Thus, the need forFM limiters in each of the majoruplink channels.

Regardless of such obstacles,the success of the NBC satellitenetwork system has proved itselftime and again, and we have seen

that many of the goals and projec-tions of the task force team havebeen achieved. More advancesand changes will occur involvingcomputers, transponders, up-links-even the facility itself willcontinue to be updated. New tech-nologies and improvements on ex-isting ones will affect the plan-ning of this and other systems. Asfiber networks increase in cost ef-fectiveness and other areas, andas Ku satellites become more fa-miliar, dramatic changes are pos-sible. BM/E

About the author:Mr. Paganuzzi recently retired fromNBC as engineering manager, satel-lite network. He received his MBAfrom Iona in 1970 and an AB inphysics from Columbia University in1949. He joined NBC in 1951 asmaintenance engineer and moved tofacilities design, setting many newstandards for the industry.

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NEWFORMATS

FORNEWS

Engineers findthemselves faced with

the challenge ofintegrating 8 mm, VHS,Super -VHS, and other

consumer videoformats with morestandard material

for news broadcasts.

By Robert Rivlin

Philip Moffitt takes footage with an 8mm camcorder during the "A Dayin the Life of the Soviet Union" photography project. Moffitt's footage,along with some 50 other photographers' cassettivere used later onABC's 20/20 program

0 ver 15 years ago, in 1971,Sony introduced the then -revolutionary U-matic for-

mat into the consumer video mar-ket. Designed as a replacementfor home movies, and to counterconsumer dislike of open -reel tapeformats, U-matic was a consumerflop.

Just how % -inch U-matic gotstarted as a professional recordingformat remains cloaked in themysteries of time. The currentlyaccepted legend is that one of thetelevision networks had a dem-onstration unit that it was exam-ining when a fire broke out acrossthe street. Some bright -thinkingengineer thought to send the re-corder over with a portable cam-era and captured the event for theevening news.

Whatever its history, U-matichas become an almost universal-ly accepted news format, witharound one million units sold

worldwide since 1971 (along withthe mid -1970s introduction of theBVU series). The current in-stalled base in the U.S. is esti-mated at over 250,000 units, atleast a tenth of which are em-ployed by broadcast news opera-tions.

Now, for the first time in almosttwo decades, however, the bur-geoning market for U-matic is be-ginning to slip away. An estimatefrom the Sheer and Chaskelsonmarket research firm reportedthat the 3/4 -inch market may havedeclined over 65 percent last year,and that by 1989 "U-matic may bealmost just a memory in broadcastnews."

The replacement formats ofchoice have become MII and Beta-cam/Betacam SP. Somewhat sur-prising to marketers of both sys-tems, it seems, the acceptance ofthe the half -inch component ana-log video formats has spread like


wildfire in news departments inrecent years, far sooner than mosthad expected.

U-matic improvementsThree-quarter inch is by no

means a dead format yet. "If I hadto convert our station from .V4 -inchto component analog video (CAV)today, we'd end up spending over$1.5 million overnight," claimsWarren Happel, VP of engineer-ing for the Scripps -Howard sta-tions and also acting director ofengineering for the group'sWEWS-TV facility in Cleveland."Even though we know we'reeventually going to convert, we'renot ready yet to make that large a

commitment. And, besides, we'renot certain at this point whetherto go with MII or Betacam."

Finding that he did need to re-place some existing U-maticequipment, Happel turned to thenew U-matic SP format almost 10months ago. Used in conjunctionwith the station's standard U-matic decks, in news editing baysequipped with Sony BVE-9000editors, the BVU-950 decks arealso used to roll news material di-rectly to air.

"We've never performed themeasurements, but there's defi-nitely a picture improvement be-tween regular U-matic and U-matic SP," Happel notes.

Format Comparison ChartConsumer

VHS3/4 -Inch

U-maticU-matic SP S -VHS Typical CAV 8mm

Tape type,coercivity (oerstad),cost/min.

Oxide,700,$.13

Oxide,700,$.30

Oxide,750,$.31

Oxide,900,$.20

Met. part.,1200,$1

Met. part.,1450$.11

Studio record timeField record time

120 min.120 min.

60 min.20 min.

60 min.20 min.

120 min.120 min.

90 min.20 min.

to 2 hrs.N/A

Audio CharacteristicsAudio tracksAudio S/NAudio noise

reduction

240 dBvaries

248 dBnone

252 dBDolby C

448 dBDolby B

2 long., 2 FM56 dBDolby C

1 afm, 2 pcm>60 dB

none

Video CharacteristicsY bandwidth)V S/N2C S/N3

1 MHzN/A45 dB

3.25 MHz49 dB47 dB

4.25 MHz50 dB48 dB

1.6 MHzN/A47+ dB

4.5 MHz49 dB50 dB

N/A44 dBN/A

H lines res. 249+ 260+ 340+ 400+ 450 230

K factor (2T pulse)Diff. gainDiff. phaseY/C delay

N/AN/AN/AN/A

N/AN/AN/AN/A

<3%< 3%< 3 deg.<25 ns

N/AN/AN/AN/A

2%2%2 deg20 ns

N/AN/AN/AN/A

All specifications based on manufacturer's published figuresNotes:1 An indication of the total amount of luminance (Y) information that can be recorded by the system.2Luminance and chrominance signal-to-noise rations based on recording an NTSC composite signal; component S/Ns are equal to, orbetter than, the composite values.A subjective measurement horizontal lines of resolution as measured on a variety of different monitors. As a general rule, each MHz ofbandwidth (see "Y bandwidth") equals 80 lines of H resolution.


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Panasonic's ProView S -VHS system.

According to Sony specs, the U -SP format, which uses a newly for-mulated videotape, has a Y band-width of 2.8 MHz (compared withstandard U-Matic's 1.6 MHz), has aS/N of 49 dB (compared with stan-dard U-matic's 46 dB), and deliv-ers 340 lines of resolution (as com-pared with standard U-Matic's260). Even Happel admits, how-ever, that U-Matic SP is simplyan interim stage before he con-verts his stations entirely to CAV.

Can it happen twice?The impending scenario here is

clear: CAV will become the news -acquisition format of choice in the1990s. Nonetheless, there are anumber of broadcasters who be-lieve that some of the newer con-sumer formats, including Super -VHS and 8 mm, may find a placein broadcast news. Few in anymarket above 100 will openly ad-mit the use of consumer formatson a regular basis. For specializedapplications, however, such asairplane crashes, fires, and natu-ral disasters, "found footage"gathered by people who happened

j

MOM U

it taileon

.

to be on the scene with home videocameras can make an excitingcomplement to a station's regularcoverage.

And why not? Signal specs forthe newer formats are extremelygood, delivering signal quality forat least the first generation that issuperior to 3/4 -inch U-matic on al-most every count (see accompany-ing Format Comparison chart).Given that viewers are not accus-tomed to particularly high -qual-ity news footage because of the ex-isting % -inch standard, picturesrecorded with the newer formatscan be integrated quite success-fully with other news programsources.

"If you take an image shot witha high -quality, professional cam-era on S -VHS, I don't think you'dbe able to tell the difference be-tween that picture and one shotwith a comparable -quality cameraon %-inch," claims Ardell Hill, di-rector of operations and engineer-ing for WXFL-TV, Tampa, FL.

Hill has been experimentingwith the use of the new PinnacleV-1000 special effects unit signal


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processor, a low-cost device de-signed for news edit suite applica-tions and makes it possible to takeS-VHS's Y,C recording format asa source and integrate it with ma-terial recorded in virtually anycurrently available format.

"The Pinnacle unit is making itpossible for us to put consumervideo directly on the air," saysHill. "Not only can we take videofrom almost any source, but wecan do things with it such as usingthe box's special effects to wipethe consumer video images in andout. It won't make fuzzy, noisyvideo clear. But it can take con-sumer video and make it legal tobroadcast."

The general game plan at thestation is to convert current Y4 -

inch operations to MII over thenext few years (see "BusinessBriefs," BMIE, Nov. 1987, p.81).But Hill plans to install severalVHS and S -VHS decks in thenews department to handle whatmay eventually become a fairlysteady stream of consumer video-tapes. The station already pro-motes its News Hound program,where viewers who shoot some-thing unusual are invited to con-tact the station directly.

"In addition, we all have friendsand associates and contacts at lo-cal ad agencies and the like whohave home video cameras or knowsomeone else who does. We plan toput out the word that we can takein many different sources of newsinformation," Hill explains. Healso points to the increasing use ofconsumer -quality video recordingby police and fire departmentsand other government and privateagencies who use videotape fordocumentation. With the the sta-tion's format capabilities, thatmaterial could be put directly onair.

Network experienceWXFL-TV is by no means alone

in its use of consumer video for-mats to present otherwise -un-available visuals or in its promo-tion to viewers of the fact that it iscapable of accepting their homevideos. Many local stations incor-porate this type of footage acqui-sition. Now, however, even the



major networks are gettinginvolved.

In a 1987 version of the "fireacross the street" U-matic storymentioned above, a British physi-cian attending a medical confer-ence in the Soviet Union hap-pened to be standing in RedSquare when a daring young man,who had piloted his airplanethrough the Soviet defense sys-tem, landed amidst some ratherstartled tourists. The British doc-tor, who happened to be shootinghome movies with his VHScamcorder, caught the wholething.

"As soon as we heard about thestory over the wires I telephonedour Moscow bureau to see if therewas any footage available," re-calls Jerry Lamprecht, VP ofnewsgathering for NBC. "Theywere already working on it."

NBC's Moscow bureau knewthere was a conference in town,and informed the conference orga-

nizers that they would be inter-ested in speaking with anyonewho had been shooting footage inRed Square at the time of thelanding. A few hours later thedoctor called, bureau personnelviewed the tape, transferred it to3/4 -inch, and then fed it back toNew York via satellite. Forty-fiveseconds of consumer video foot-age, showing the plane swoopingin low, landing, and the crowdsgathered around as Mathias Rustemerged, were on network newswithin hours.

"People in the newsgatheringbusiness used to have a standingpolicy to check around for anyonewho had been shooting still photo-graphs when this kind of eventhappened," Lamprecht says."Now we automatically ask Wasanyone shooting video?' And thepublic is beginning to realize thatif they do shoot something spec-tacular, there may be a market forit-not only locally, but on na-

tional news as well. We just haveto hope they call us first before theother networks get involved."

Lamprecht recalls other exam-ples of NBC's use of consumervideo on air: A year ago, for in-stance, a sailor aboard an Ameri-can ship happened to catch a na-val attack in the Persian Gulf. Atourist in Japan caught the crashof a small plane into a hillside. Aspectator at the recent Paris AirShow caught a midair disaster.

As a nonengineer, Lamprechtthinks the quality of the on -airvideo is fine. "We don't plan to usethose kind of camcorders for spe-cial features work," he quips. "Butwhen there's an emergency, orwhen we're going on a trekthrough Nepal, they definitelyhave their place."

20/20 foresightABC,. too, has had experience

with airing consumer video-al-though in the case of two recent

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segments of 20/20 the use of con-sumer 8mm was well thought outin advance.

The segments documented Col-lins Publishing's "A Day in theLife . . . " project in the SovietUnion. "Collins equipped 100 pho-tographers, 50 from the U.S. and50 from Russia, with still cam-eras, and sent them to 83 loca-tions in the Soviet Union to shootwhatever they could in a singleday. The resulting stills wereedited and published as a book inOctober, 1987," recounts TomNagorski, associate producer for20/20.

"We wanted to document theevent for segments of the show.But the Soviets would only allowus to bring in two additionalcrews besides our Moscow bureau.We would have been limited tocovering the main shoots in Mos-cow, Leningrad, and Kiev, andwould have missed the out-of-the-way places being visited by theother photographers."

The solution came from one ofthe event's corporate sponsors,Sony, who was able to provideeach American photographerwith an extremely compact 8 mmCCD camcorder that could be car-ried along with the photogra-pher's other gear. Using footageshot by either the camerapersonor the guide who accompaniedeach photographer, ABC was ableto document the entire event.

"We wrote memos to the pho-tographers telling them what weplanned and asked to borrow theirtapes when they returned,"Nagorski explains. "Almost all ofthem were willing to cooperate.We ended up with about 50 cas-settes, ranging in length from 15minutes to an hour."

The 8 mm originals weredubbed up to one -inch, with si-multaneous copies made in %-inch. Nagorski and editor MitchUdoff then edited on the % -inchcopy, reconformed the cuts on a%-inch master, and reinserted thevideo from the field cassettes onthe one -inch air product.

"The technical quality of the8mm material, that formed atleast 50 percent of our segment onthe event, was extremely good,"

tJdoff comments. "I venture to saythe average viewer couldn't tellthe difference between that mate-rial and the footage shot by ourown field crews using BVU equip-ment. We were definitely sur-prised by how good the contrastand detail appeared, especially inwell -lit scenes. And the color satu-ration was quite acceptable."

A replacement for professional3/4 -inch or CAV? Not exactly.

Home video formats don't reallyhave the quality that it takes tomake high -quality airable prod-uct, especially when edited downthrough multiple generations.But for occasional use in coveringemergencies, or in unusual docu-mentary situations, S -VHS, 8mm, and other consumer formatsstill waiting in the wings will def-initely find their way into thebroadcast plant. BM/E

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G eaTilrn1 ig TapBy Robert Rivlin and Eva J. Blinder

Rt used to be that manufactur-ers would wait until NAB inthe spring to introduce new

products. More and more, how-ever, manufacturers are using theSMPTE as a showcase for newsystems and technologies. And no-where is this more true than withgraphics and effects gear.

Are you getting daily remindersfrom management or productionasking opinions about the latesttrends in this rapidly changingfield? Market surveys show thatdespite a cooling off throughoutbroadcast and teleproduc-tion/post-production facilitieswhen it comes to buying itemssuch as VTRs, there is still a con-stant need for new graphics gear.So the next time you're askedyour opinion, here's what to tellthem!

One of the hottest trends, par-ticularly in broadcast, is the de-velopment of graphics systemsbased around personal computers.And, more and more, there is atrend towards integrated work-stations that combine differentsoftware modules for applicationssuch as painting, 3D, and digitaleffects into a single box that canbe simply and inexpensively in-stalled in an editing room.

Among the low-cost and mid-range systems, one of the mostpopular is proving to be the Pin-nacle Systems 3000 Series, an in-tegrated graphics workstation ap-proach combining digital specialeffects, still store with graphicscomposition, paint, and 3D model-ing and animation.

A number of other companiesare now beginning to take a mod-ular, workstation -like approachto graphics and effects, makinguse of general purpose computerhardware and then adding a layerof graphics applications programsto control it.

SMPTE proved thatmanufacturers of graphics

and effects productsdon't wait around for

NAB rollouts any more.

One of the most exciting newproducts taking this approach isthe DF/X 200, a component digi-tal (the equivalent of 4:4:4:4 pro-cessing with a wide variety ofcomposite and component outputformats) workstation offeringreal-time 3D special effects, high -

resolution character generation,and 2D painting and graphics in asingle box. The 200 is the firstproduct from Digital F/X, underthe presidency of Chuck Clarke(formerly of Grass Valley Group).

A unique value of the inte-grated workstation approach isthat the same windows -orientedapproach is taken to the user in-terface for all three functions. Thedevice accepts virtually any con-trol mechanism available- fromjoystick and trackball throughdigitizing tablet. Each applica-tions package also has its own setof special features, ranging fromword processor -like controls of thecharacter generator pages to ex-tensive airbrushing capabilitiesand hardware antialiasing withthe paint program.

Prices for the open architecture,modular system range between$100,000 to $125,000.

A prime concern being ex-pressed by those putting togethergraphics systems is how to inter-face pieces of equipment so that asingle image can be worked on byseveral different pieces of equip-ment. An integrated graphicsworkstation is one approach. An-

other is the use of a local area net-work (LAN) to tie the system to-gether. But far the most practicalthus far, however, is the use ofequipment that conforms to theCCIR 601 digital component stan-dard.

Even some equipment that isnot yet 4:2:2 compatible can beused in a 601 network, however.Thanks to a new two -card hard-ware set being prototyped byAbekas (Action Video is one of itsBeta sites), Quantel Paintbox cannow put out a CCIR 601 signalthat can be directly imported intoa device such as one of the Abekascomponent digital disk recorders.

Abekas has also been hard atwork on its brand-new A72 com-ponent digital character genera-tor. One of the chief features of thesoftware -based system is that theattributes of its typehouse-qualityfonts can be instantly redefined.Font attributes that can bechanged in this way include size,drop shadow, border, and italics.The A72 includes full -color scan -in, and has a color palette of 15million colors that can be dis-played on a single page simul-taneously.

Its Scribe system selling well,Chyron has set its sights onHDTV with the premiere of anHDTV version of the high -qualitytext generator. Shown in proto-type, the "HyperScribe" featuresantialiased text and an HDTVLogo Compose Tablet for digitiz-ing original art to 1125 -lineHDTV resolution. A unit was ex-pected to be installed at a Betasite within 60 days after the show,and Chyron promises that produc-tion models will be deliverable af-ter NAB '88.

The NTSC Scribe also boastedsome enhancements at SMPTE,including the new Advanced FontUtility II software package. Glow,


GmphfiQzneon, and beveling effects areamong the new features of AFUII, along with character borders inmultiple color layers and mappingof text or graphics onto solid mod-els. A new external interface forScribe allows the device to takeinformation directly from suchsources as automated sports andelection reporting systems.

Dubner, too, is in the midst ofredefining the character genera-tor into a full-fledged graphicstool. Introduced at SMPTE wasthe first go -round of the GraphicsFactory, a 4:2:2 -based system thatwill eventually incorporate dual -channel character generator,dual -channel painting, and 3Dmodeling and animation. TheSMPTE product, priced at$54,000, was the dual -channelcharacter generator. By NAB it isexpected that both paint and 3Dwill be available as plug-in cardswith software modules.

Symbolics, which showed its 3Danimation system to broadcastersfor the first time at NAB '87, atSMPTE introduced a new VTRcontroller software package andannounced the imminent intro-duction of its own VTC-1 VideoTape Controller.

The new software, known as S -Record, operates in conjunctionwith the Lyon Lamb Mini -Vasanimation controller to controlVTRs and disk recorders for unat-tended animation rendering. It al-lows the Symbolics operator tocontrol the video devices directlyfrom the Symbolics machine con-sole. A menu -driven interface al-lows automatic device control; al-ternatively, the user can buildcomplex shot lists for automaticoutput.

Another major developmentfrom Symbolics was a new HDTVgraphics system with full 2D and3D animation and paint capabili-

ties. According to thecompany, the system is thefirst to support HDTVoutput of 3D ani-mation. The first saleof the HDTV animationsystem was also an-nounced at SMPTE. TheNew York City HDTVproduction facility 1125Pioductions, was sche -duled to take delivery ofthe first Symbolics HDTV3D system before the end of1987.

A number of new graphicsproduct introductions atSMPTE were not exactly newproducts so much as existingproducts being marketedthrough new business ar-rangements.

This characterizes theSpecter system from 3M,a product formerly soldexclusively by its de-veloper, NeoVisuals.Specter is a package ofhigh -end 3D modelingand animation rou-tines that is hard-ware independent andcan be run on anySilicon Graphics orSun Microsystemsworkstations. As onewould expect, the systemincorporates a wide variety ofmodeling and animation tech-niques, with simple userinterface to set the light-ing,

tgiposition the "camera,"

describe the motion paths,

Animated sequence cele -brating the 50th anniversaryof the Golden Gate Bridge.Produced for KPIX-TV by theSan Francisco ProductionGroup on its CubicompVertigo system.

Graphics and Effects

etc. More significantly, perhaps,Specter allows the user to setthe level of antialiasing sothat a quick check of scenes is pos-sible without having to go intofull-scale rendering.

Cubicomp's big SMPTE newswas further progress in its acqui-sition of Vertigo Systems. Allsales and support services for Ver-tigo's line of 3D graphics systemshas now been taken over byCubicomp, and new sales officesfor Vertigo systems have beenopened in Boca Raton, FL, NewYork, and Los Angeles. Cubicompis now actively marketing Verti-go's V2000 3D computer graphicssystem, and Vertigo's sales andsupport staff have been formallytransferred to Cubicomp.

Cubicomp is at working on aCubicomp-to-Vertigo file transla-tor, which would convert modelsdeveloped on the Cubicomp Pic-tureMaker system to Vertigo for-mat. According to Cubicomp, thefile translator is intended to allowcurrent PictureMaker users seek-ing to upgrade to the more power-ful Vertigo. It seems likely, how-ever, that it could also enable thePictureMaker system to act as aneconomical off-line workstationfor Vertigo users.

Several new developments inthe PictureMaker line were alsodemonstrated at the show.Cubicomp's new Render Accelera-tion Compute Engine, or RACE, isa $19,500 plug-in circuit boardwith eight MIPS (million instruc-tions per second) of processingpower. According to the company,RACE can increase PictureMakerspeed by a factor of 15. Cubicomp'slatest system software, Version2.0, is required for RACE opera-tion.

Three new PictureMaker sys-tems also made their debuts.The PictureMaker/60 andPictureMaker/50 are both basedon the 80386 microprocessor andinclude a proprietary 24 -bit framebuffer. The top -of -the -line Pic-tureMaker/60 sells for $57,500;the PictureMaker/50 is $46,500.Both are available now and fea-ture Cubicomp's new True ColorPaint software package (the 60also includes the True Color Ani-mation package). The third new

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system is the PictureMaker/10,designed expressly for the cre-ation of business presentations,charts, and graphs.

Microtime's new Graphics Sys-tems division is now the home ofthe Ani-Maker and Image -Maker3D graphics and animation sys-tems, formerly from ITI. Both sys-tems integrate 32 -bit, full -color2D paint capabilities with real-time RGB frame grab, 3D model-ing and animation, internal VTRcontrol, and font generation. TheImage -Maker also includes an off-line rendering station. The pro-cessing platform for both systemsis an IBM-compatible 80386 -based computer; 80286 -based sys-tems are available at lower cost.

Aurora's two newest graphicssystems, the AU/220 and AU/280,are now being delivered, and bothhad enhancements and expandedcapabilities at SMPTE.

For the 280, software enhance-ments include color cycle anima-tion capability; a preview functionfor the 3D modeling program;timeline -based animation editing;selective real-time 3D animationcapabilities; automatic story -boarding; flexible tiling and tex-ture fill; and picture browse ca-pability. The system now providescolor cycle, multi -plane, and tra-ditional cel animation in one inte-

Jgrated package.

On the hardware side, the 280now boasts a 340 -megabyte harddisk as standard equipment.

New features for the AU/220 in-clude optional real-time framegrab and compatibility with thePAL and SECAM television stan-dards. The 32 -bit, full -color 220offers antialiasing and optionalcel animation and 3D modeling.

On the low end of its line, Au-rora announced a new Accu-Weather interface for its AU/75IBM AT -compatible graphics sys-tem. The interface is part of Auro-ra's optional Weather Package,which connects the 75 via modemto a variety of whether and sportsdata services.

Quanta Corp. expanded thehigh end of its line with the newArtista graphics system, whichcombines paint, 3D modeling, andanimation capabilities. The$69,995 Artista, slated to begindeliveries this month features aflash digitizer for full -color cam-era capture; a variety of user -de-finable brush types; a pop-up colorpalette with on -screen mixing;and horizontal, vertical, up/downslope, and automatic tile back-grounds. Also standard are fivemulticolored or antialiased fontswith either 3D edges or drop shad-ows; stencil cutting; and extensive


cut -and -paste capabilities.The Artista's 3D capabilities in-

clude hierarchical structuringand real-time preview. The rack -mountable unit features two 5 1/4 -inch floppy disk drives, a 190 -megabyte hard disk, and a 32 -megabyte streaming tape backupunit.

Quanta also showed Quanta -paint 32, a new standalone 32 -bitpaint system with 14 drawingtools, electronic brushes rangingin size from one to 50 pixels, andeffects such as mosaic, tile, dupli-cate, posterization, shadow, slide,and three-point perspective draw.The system, scheduled for deliv-ery this month, lists for $29,995.

New capabilities and a lowerprice for the ArtStar 3D Plus ledthe announcements at Color -Graphics Systems' SMPTE booththis year. The system, aggres-sively priced at $99,000, featuresa new digital mixer hardware op-tion and new Auto -11 -ace soft-ware.

The DVM-100, as the digitalmixer option is called, adds a vari-ety of sophisticated animationfeatures, such as true dissolvesbetween two 24 -bit, full -color im-ages, including high -qualityglows, fades, and dissolves, andreal-time moving of full -color cut-outs. The option also allows ani-mation of full -color layers; trans-parent, color -cycled "movie"capability; and "undo" editing ca-pability in the ArtStar paintprogram.

The new software feature,Auto -Trace, is designed forquickly and efficiently convertingflat art into 3D images. Imagesmay be drawn by an artist or in-put with a camera

Ampex showed its ESS-5 stillstore system as a product atSMPTE, interfaced with the com-pany's graphics systems.

Other news from Ampex wasthe introduction of an 18 -inputversion of its AVC Vista seriesproduction switcher, designed es-pecially for smaller broadcast fa-cilities, off-line editing suites,mobile units and corporate/indus-trial facilities. (A 10 -input versionwas introduced at NAB '87.) Theswitcher features a graphics -ori-ented display and uncluttered

control panel, streamlining andsimplifying user access to its com-plex functions. A fully integrateddigital effects loop, known asDigi-Loop, allows ADO effects tobe easily inserted into the videopath of various switcher effectswithout tying up backgound in-puts or auxiliary switching.

DSC premiered several new ef-fects for its Eclipse digital effectssystem, which premiered lastyear. The additions include newmodes for "twist" and "curved" ef-fects, and new "page turn" and"page scroll" options. Eclipse'scurved effects option createdplenty of excitement last year,and the new modes enhance thesystem's already impressive ca-pabilities.

Among the other featuresEclipse offers as standard are pro-grammable effects, picture place-ment, picture cropping, automaticcube builder, linear and curvedpicture twist (both in the curvedeffects option), rotation, perspec-tive with rotation, smooth trajec-tories, and many more.

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Frame from "The Hidden Powerof Plants" produced for WGBH-TV's Nova series on a MicrotimeImage -Maker system-a PC -basedproduct.

Rendering speed continues to bea pivotal issue in deciding be-tween one graphics system andanother. In the broadcast environ-ment it is being realized that de-spite the wonderful -looking im-ages produced by computer ani-mation, 3D will never become areality in day-to-day news graph-ics until 3D achieves a significantimprovement in how quicklyframes can be generated. And atpost -production houses doinggraphics, where billable time isfixed by competitive market con-ditions, profitability of the graph-

ics operation often depends onhow many frames can be crankedout per hour.

Among the companies address-ing this issue directly is BTS,which has introduced the Pixele-rator-a rendering engine that ishooked up to the FGS-4599 aspart of a local -area network. Witha single Pixelerator CPU, the sys-tem cam perform as much as 30times faster than the basic FGS-computing at 65 million instruc-tions per second (MIPS) or 10 mil-lion floating-point computations(megaflops) per second. By addingmultiple Pixelerators together,incrementally greater processingspeeds are achieved while the sys-tem automatically delegatespixels and screen areas to proces-sors depending on their work load.

Quantel Paintbox users will beglad to note that Quantel contin-ues to aggressively develop newsoftware capabilities. Version4.06, released at SMPTE, addsseveral new features, includingrestore brush, allowing a secondpicture to be selectively revealedunder the current picture (eitherfor effect, or to quickly restore theoriginal image); smear, allowing astencil to be moved across the im-age smearing the stencil as itgoes; a smudge brush; the abilityto control the rate of flow from theairbrush through the pre -selectmenu; and a rubber stamping ca-pability in the stencil mode.

As a final note, complementingits line of4:2:2 digital teleproduc-tion equipment, which includesthe Enhanced MKIIIC Digiscan4:2:2 telecine, Rank Cintel intro-duced the new ADS -80 digitalslide scanner. The ADS -80 wasshown in conjunction with theLogic Gallery 2000 still manage-ment system, which incorporatesRank's Slide File still store andArt File graphics facility. Rankalso showed its MatchBox digitalstill store, which adds an absolutecolor matching facility to theMKIIIC Digiscan digital tele-cine. BM/E

For more information aboutgraphics and effects equipment di-rectly from the manufacturers, cir-cle number 199 on the Reader Ser-vice Card.


THE FIRST INTELLIGENTBROADCAST

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BARCO INDUSTRIES' new CVSprofessional broadcast monitor ismicroprocessor -based to make it intelligentin operation and easy to use.

It has both a digital and an analog bus formaximum flexibility. Plus four "open" slotsthat let you plug in today's options and thoseyet to come. As new features do comealong, you'll be able to add them throughsoftware - no hardware changes I

All CVS functions are controlled from thefront of the monitor or from a remotekeyboard. An optional master remotepermits control of a series of monitors.

ENTERCLEAR

WE PUT THE FUTURE IN THE PICTURE.

BARG)InDUSTRIES

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You can also store, and automatically callup, either calibrated presets or your ownpreferred presets.

Like our best master control monitors, theCVS has Automatic Kinescope Biasing(AKB) to maintain color and black levelstability.

The CVS also generates more internal testpatterns than any other monitor. Theyinclude white field, cross hatch and colorbars.

The CVS is available in both 14 inch and20 inch versions, and provides outstandingpicture quality in any TV standard.

For complete specifications, contact your local BARCO IND JSTRIES Dealer or BARCO INDUSTRIES, 170 Knowles Drive. Suite 212,Los Gatos, CA 95030. Phone (408) 370-3721

BARCO INDUSTRIES is a member of the ACEC-group


Industry Roundtable:Future Trends In

Cart Machine TechnologyEdited by Steven Schwartz

Nowhere is the contrast between advancing technology and practicaldaily use of equipment more evident than in the

workhorse of the radio station: the cart machine. To addressthis important dilemma, we present a panel discussion.

Like the Classic 1957 Chevy, Broadcast Electronic's Spotmaster lives on!

Radio broadcasters havemaintained a love/haterelationship with the au-

dio cartridge machine for nearly30 years. On one hand, there's theunparalleled convenience of beingable to record, play back, and in-stantly cue up program materialon individual tape cartridges. Onthe other, cart decks are notori-ously maintenance intensive, adrawback that has plagued themedium since its inception.

Although the cart machine con-tinues to be a mainstay at radiostations the world over, the suc-cess of the compact disk has her-alded numerous digital alterna-

tives to this established buttrouble -prone approach to audioreproduction. In recent monthsthe analog cart has been chal-lenged by an assortment of audiostorage and retrieval devices-ev-erything from hard disk -basedsystems to R-DAT to EPROMs tovideotape to digital data carts.

The future of the cartridge ma-chine was a hot topic of discussionat this year's Radio '87 conventionin Anaheim, CA. With the furtherencroachment of digital applica-tions in audio recording and re-production for radio, represen-tatives from four major cartmachine manufacturers joined in

an NAB panel discussion on thefuture of analog cart technology.Moderated by audio consultantJim Loupas of James Loupas As-sociates in Houston, the panelconsisted of: Jack Williams, presi-dent of Pacific Recorders and En-gineering; Art Constantine, vicepresident of marketing, Fidelipac;Tim Bealor, manager of audioproducts at Broadcast Electronics;and Tom Becker, sales represen-tative from ITC/3M.

Dolby SR & PR&EPacific Recorders & Engineer-

ing demonstrated the first applica-tion of Dolby's Spectral Recording


Cart Technology Roundtable

(SR) system with an analog car-tridge machine at the NAB showin Dallas last March. The dem-onstration, which involved thecompany's top -of -line Tomcartdeck and outboard Dolby SRcards, reportedly achieved a dy-namic range of 92 dB. The com-pany has since been licensed byDolby to develop SR racks thatwill be compatible with all com-mercially available tape cartsystems.Jack Williams: Dolby SpectralRecording, or SR, is a new profes-sional studio mastering systemthat yields recordings with excep-tional purity of sound. SpectralRecording provides two technicaladvances in any form of analogtape recording. First, there's asubstantial extension of head-room, which allows the use of auniformly high maximum record-ing level on all audio frequencies.Second, is the elimination of theinfluence of noise and nonlinear-ity on the reproduced sound. Oursystem delivers this performancethrough being adaptive to the sig-nal spectrum and by consistentapplication of a philosophy calledthe principle of least treatment.

The design of Dolby SpectralRecording has been carried outwith close attention to the proper-ties of human hearing-especiallythe need to prevent any audibleartifacts in signal processing. Atthe lowest signal levels, or in theabsence of a signal, Spectral Re-cording applies a fixed -gain -ver-sus -frequency characteristic thatreduces noise and other low-leveldisturbances by as much as 25decibels. Only when the level ofpart of the signal spectrum in-creases significantly does the cir-cuit adaptively change its ownspectral reproduction character-istics. When this happens, oursystem changes gain only if fre-quency changes are needed, andonly by the required amount.

All recording and communica-tions systems have definite dy-namic range limits. However, asimple measurement of maximumlevel and noise does not reliablyindicate how recordings madewith such a system will sound.Such a test says nothing about

noise that appears only in thepresence of signals, such as modu-lation noise, or about system be-havior when the signal is at theoverload level. Because SR in-creases recording headroom con-siderably, there is less risk of un-der- or over -recording. The work-ing space is increased and there isgreater freedom for creative effortand production.

An audio program changes con-stantly in level and frequencycontent. The gain settings thatwould give the best recording atthe middle frequencies may causelow and high frequencies to over-load. Lowering the recording levelto prevent this reduces the audi-ble signal-to-noise ratio. It followsthat much of the capacity of therecording system is unused. DolbySpectral Recording makes use ofthis capacity.

One way to define the idealsound reproduction is to show thelimits of human hearing as a win-dow, as we did, for the conven-tional audio recording in this slide(see Figure 1). The top of the slidecorresponds to 120 dB, a continu-ous sound pressure level that isunbearably loud. The blackboundary at the bottom of the

Analog recording tno signal pruceasing)

Figure 1: Human hearing thres-holds.

window is the threshold of hear-ing. Sounds at this level are justaudible to a listener with sensi-tive hearing. A recording systemwith a window [such as the oneshown here] could be played backwithout audible noise or overload,even if the highest levels were lit-erally at deafening levels.

We can compare the static per-formance of different recordingsystems by superimposing their

windows on this auditory window.Sliding the analog window up anddown corresponds to playing thetape back at higher or lower lev-els. Any limitation that would beaudible will appear as an obstruc-tion that reduces the size of theopening in this auditory window.It is important to remember thatthis method of comparison doesnot show dynamic audible effects,such as modulation noise of ana-log systems; nor does it show low-level nonlinearities or the effectsof d.c. asymmetry, all of which oc-cur in varying degrees in mostdigital recording systems. Theseeffects all close the correspondingwindows from the bottom when asignal is present.

The analog reference levelsused in these comparisons are 250nanowebers per meter and thedigital reference level is 10 dB be-low the absolute clipping level;the recordings were done topresent the audio at an acousticplayback level of 110 dB. Now,when those recorded signals arepresent, the only low-level defectin analog recording that can beheard or measured is tape hiss.However, in the presence of sig-nal, the analog tape recordingwindow closes further as other ar-tifacts are added to the signallayer by layer-which, of course,is part of the reason that multiplegenerations of analog recordingsdeteriorate so rapidly.

Of course, several componentsof noise and nonlinearity can ap-pear in the presence of a signal(see Figure 2). A signal is shownas a vertical bar A and is at a levelthat would cause three percentharmonic distortion in the tapemedium. These harmonics arerepresented by the group of barslabeled B. Modulation noise,which appears only when the sig-nal is present, is spread over awide range of the spectrum and isrepresented by the area labeled C.The bottom layer of noise [labeledD] is tape hiss, which is caused bythe statistical fluctuation of mag-netic domain orientation.

Unassisted analog tape record-ing shows characteristic limita-tions in available headroom atlow and high frequencies and a


substantial level of noise at mid -frequencies. A typical digital re-cording provides performancethat is better than conventionalanalog tape in several obviousways. The main drawbacks arethe hard clipping barrier and thedisadvantageous spectral distri-bution of noise. Although themeasured dynamic range of a dig-ital recording system may exceed90 dB, the noise level is not uni-form with frequency. The noiselevel is extremely low at low fre-quencies-much lower than ana-log tape, which is already morethan adequate in the auditorywindow of low frequencies. How-ever, digital system noise crossesthe auditory threshold preciselyin the spectral region where theear is most sensitive. The usableimprovement in noise level, espe-cially in the presence of a signal,is not as great as theory predicts.Because the noise generated inthe digital system is not random,and is therefore especially notice-able to the ear, it is normallymasked by the addition of dithernoise, which elevates the finalnoise level.

The Dolby Spectral Recordingsystem contains an anti -satura-tion system that is designed spe-cifically to deal with high levelsand the low- and high -frequencyends of the signal to further ex-tend headroom. Another featureof Dolby SR is its spectral skew-ing, which reduces the level of theincoming signal at the extremelylow- and high -frequency ends ofthe spectrum. Spectral skewingdesensitizes the control system ofthe Dolby SR unit to minor ab-errations and tape -to -head con-tact and azimuth alignment,which might cause errors andfluctuations in the high -fre-quency response and head bumpsand other low -frequency responsevariations.

Applied technology at BEBroadcast Electronics recently

introduced two products of note:the DV2, a digital, solid-staterecorder/reproducer, and thePhase Trak 90 analog cartridgedeck, which features a uniquenonencoding phase -correction sys-

tern that checks the phase relation-ship during playback for allcarts-regardless of the system onwhich they were recorded.Bealor: For the 1987 NAB con-vention, one of the major tradepublications in our industry did asurvey of the people responsiblefor equipment purchases at AMand FM stations and AM/FM com-binations. Two of the many ques-tions that were asked in the sur-vey are as follows. Number one:"What type of equipment have

a

Figure 2: Disturbances producedby the pressures of a signal.

you budgeted for purchase in theupcoming year?" And the secondquestion: "What type of new tech-nology will you be looking for inthe next year?" The top five an-swers to each of these questionswere listed in the survey, and thethird most common answer to thefirst question was cartridge ma-chines. The second most commonanswer to the second question wassome technology to replace car-tridge machines.

Consequently, this creates a bitof a paradox-both for users andfor us, the manufacturers. Itseems that a large number of thepeople responsible for what equip-ment is used in our industry wantto replace the cart machine as weknow it today. However, thesesame people are aware that, todate, there is nothing that will re-place the cart machine. So, theywill buy more cart machines.Now, we as manufacturers arefaced with the same dilemma. Dowe concentrate all our efforts ondeveloping a good, reliable prod-uct that we know people willbuy-if for no other reason but outof necessity? Or, do we change di-rection completely and pioneer atechnology that will effectively doaway with the cartridge? There is

a good deal of merit in both ap-proaches.

We at Broadcast Electronicsfeel that the best solution is to re-solve the inherent problems asbest we can in cart machines. Andthen, where technology and theapplication coincide, replace thecartridge machine-primarily insome of its more mundane jobs. Tothis end, we have brought out twonew products. The first of these isthe DV2, a solid-state record/play-back unit, which in some cases asI've stated earlier, would replace acart machine in some applica-tions. The second product is thePhase Trak 90 cartridge machine.

The cart machine system hasalways had an inherent problemwith short-term phase stability.And what we have tried to do isincorporate something calledautomatic nonencoding continu-ous electronic phase correction. InEnglish, that means the PT90 willcontinuously correct stereo phas-ing of any cartridge recorded onany machine while it's beingplayed back. Now, with the in-creased use of music on carts, arelatively new problem has shownup. That is, increased cartridgedrag. Because of longer cartridgesand new tape formulations, we asmachine manufacturers have hadto ensure that our machines willpull a five- or seven -minute car-tridge loaded with a hot tape thatmaybe-and I emphasize maybe-has been played one or two timesmore than its useful life. Or, pos-sibly-and I know that this sel-dom, if ever, happens-a cart thathas been misused or dropped orkicked.

At any rate, pulling require-ments for all of our products haveincreased. What we have tried todo is take some of the traditionalportions of the pulling chain andimprove them as best we could.Solenoids have been improved, de-signed to be more efficient [withan increase in] pulling power byas much as 100 percent. Also, theold bicycle chain that was used foryears has been replaced. Ahead ofthe solenoid a stainless steel cablehas been placed that not only cou-ples the solenoid to the pressureroller shaft, but decreases the


Cart Technology Roundtable

amount of induced flux outinto the head area. We've alsomade some improvements in thehead assembly.

Now, the third problem we haveis inherent in the cart system it-self. One of the biggest headachesof cartridge machines in the pastis serviceability. Cart machineshave always been a maintenance-intensive piece of equipment be-cause of the electro-mechanicaldesign. What we've done is to tryto make the units the most ser-viceable we can by making themthe most modular we can. We'vetried to make all of the rear panelboards plug-in to the extent thatwe've included the rear panel it-self as part of the plug-in units.Both the power supply and thehead block assembly arestandalone units that can be re-moved with two screws. The frontpanel can also be removed as astandalone assembly. As a matterof fact, the machine can be dis-assembled into its basic 13 or 14modulars in about 10 or 12 min-utes. And, more importantly, re-assembled into workable condi-tion in about the same amount oftime.

I guess what I'm trying to sayby telling you all about this ma-chine is that we at BroadcastElectronics feel that, in certainapplications and with the techno-logical advancements that havebeen made, that the traditionalcart machine will be around for along time. Now, however, we alsofeel that in some other applica-tions, appropriate technology isavailable now to replace the cartmachine. Broadcasters tradition-ally use an old Spotmaster or aWP Series or some other cart ma-chine that happens to be on theshelf plugged in to the concertline, tied up to delay networknews, or to play IDs or jingles. It'sfor these kind of jobs that we feelappropriate technology is avail-able now in something similar tothe DV2. This is a solid-state,RAM -based unit. It will holdabout six -and -a -half minutes ofmemory and up to 99 differentcuts with sequential or random-access playback. Today, thisseems to be, to us, the most eco-

Figure 3: A look back: RCA/Jampro's old cart machine in rack -mount form.

nomical and practical use of avail-able technology in replacement ofcartridge machines.

We realize that users' wantsand needs are continually push-ing us, the manufacturers, towardcart machine replacement. How-ever, the lack of a clear-cut direc-tion for the technology of that re-placement dictates that theexisting medium, the cart ma-chine, be as good as possible. Andwe at Broadcast Electronics areworking to ensure that both ofthese needs are filled.

Fidelipac asks: CDs ornot CDs?

Fidelipac introduced its firstnew cart in several years at thispast NAB show. The back -lubri-cated Dynamax Cobalt tape car-tridge is reported to offer a 2 dbimprovement in headroom be-tween 8 and 12 kHz. More recently,the company was chosen by Voiceof America to supply all cart ma-chines for the $6.6 -million renova-tion of 19 studios at VOA's head-quarters in Washington, D.C.Art Constantine: One of thethings that we have found dis-turbing is the insistence by themedia that if you haven't con-verted to digital, you aren't keep-ing up with the times. We have[seen] all kinds of ads for process-ing equipment with headlinesthat say, "All digital by the end ofthe year. This is our goal." Andwe've seen ads for companies likeCentury 21 [that] carry the head-line, "The fastest format improve-ment ever. One hundred percentof your music from Century 21CDs."

How many people play CDs onthe air? We wanted to find out. So,we called each of the 18 stations

listed in the Century 21 ad whoare quoted as playing CDs on theair. Do you know what we found?We found that of the 18 stationson the list, one had incorrect callletters. The station doesn't exist,but that's okay. Four of the sta-tions said they played CDs di-rectly on the air. But 13 said thatalthough they were telling theirlisteners that the sounds theywere hearing were coming directfrom CDs, in fact, they were cart-ing their CDs. That's a fairlyheavy indictment against the CDas a live on -air device. And weasked those people who said theyare carting CDs, why bother?Why live with the obvious signal-to-noise degradation, the obviouswow and flutter, the obvious has-sles that you have.

They answered, "Actually,we're finding that carts are a loteasier to handle." These arequotes. "We're finding that car-tridges protect our CDs from dam-age." "We find that we can controlwhat cuts are aired by cartingonly those CD cuts that we wantto play at our station." "We'refinding that there's a tremendouslevel variance between compactdisks, and we correct that by cart-ing the CD." "We like the fact thatwe can program secondary andeven tertiary cue tones on ourcarts and do semi -automated andautomated on -air operations."

When we surveyed people'sideas about cartridge machines,we found that an inordinate num-ber of people had the idea that acartridge machine kind of lookedlike the Broadcast ElectronicsSpotmaster. Some people think ofcart machines as this gadgetmade by Jampro in Philadelphiaand marketed under the name ofRCA (see Figure 3). These are vin-tage 1959 machines. Frankly,they are all well dedicated to do-ing the job they did those manyyears ago-along with this vari-ety of endless loop tape cartridges(see Figure 4).

But that's not where we are to-day. As we've already pointed out,there are more modern machinesand more modern carts. Fidelipachas moved out of the old model350 adjustable corner post cart


you see on the left. In fact, [we've]even discontinued Hot Tape tomove on to more modern products.We still make Master Cart, theMaster Cart on the right is vin-tage 1977, and there is a new ver-sion available today. We've actu-ally produced equipment thatallows stations to convert fromtheir old carts, their old recordlevels, and even discrete stereointo new, high -output, low -noisetapes [with] higher record levelsand matrix stereo, if they wish.

So, to quote from a short articlein a magazine that impressed me,one manufacturer had made aninteresting statement that wecompletely endorse. He said, "Idon't think technology is reallydriving the business. I think it'sthe performance of product that isdriving all of this. People are sim-ply going to use what's best fortheir application. So far as ourvantage point is concerned, it's go-ing to be oriented toward eithergiving somebody a much morepowerful tool to do what they'redoing now, or giving them a moreefficient way of doing it. But we'renot interested in technology forthe sake of technology. And wedon't think anyone else is either."

When new products are neededand the needs of broadcasters gobeyond the equipment that isavailable today, and availablefrom stock today, we'll start look-ing for better things to do.

ITC/3M's digital dareThis past NAB saw the intro-

duction of ITC/3M's HCDA 3000,a digital cart deck designed in atraditional style using digital datacarts rather than tape. The systemis now being field tested and is ex-pected to be marketed in early1988.Tom Becker: As my esteemedcolleagues here have mentioned,tape cartridge machines havebeen around quite a while-sincethe late 1950s or so. And, sincetheir introduction, cart machineswere quite well designed, and arequite well designed, to meet theneeds of radio. As radio haschanged over the years, so havecart machines. When better qual-ity was demanded-and still is-

manufacturers have provided.When phase stability became aconcern, as it has been and still is,manufacturers provided.

You can stand back from broad-casting and look and think that alot of things in radio have beenchanging lately. In the comingyears, radio stations are going tobe challenged even more, or atleast that's our opinion at ITC.The challenge is going to be morethan just the competitor down theblock. Radio is going to be chal-lenged by CDs in the home, by theR-DAT type of consumer digitalproducts that are coming on themarket, and even hi-fi stereovideo. These are just a few of thereal competitors that have rapidlysurfaced within the last fiveyears. And so, going after themarketshare for each radio sta-tion becomes more of a concernthan just beating the processing ofthe guy down the street. They alsohave to be able to compete some-what with what is available to theconsumer.

With the belief that high-qual-

Figure 4: A collection of carts.The endless loop cartridge as itappeared over the years.

ity, reliable source equipment forthe radio industry is a necessityand a requirement, ITC believesthat, first off, analog is going to bearound for several years-ten, 15,maybe longer. We also believethat a clean, consistent analog au-dio quality is best obtained bytaking a system approach. Thatis, each station trying to stickwith one particular tape car-tridge, the same cartridge ma-chine, and perhaps getting it allunder the umbrella of just onemanufacturer so that you've gotquality control.

Different markets, of course,

have different needs. Differentaudiences also require differenttechnical needs, which requiredifferent levels of audio quality.Therefore, we also essentially be-lieve that digital audio is thewave of the future. And there areseveral reasons for that. First ofall, we're looking at no generationloss in dubbing; no degradation insound over the life of the cartridgeor over the life of the recording.We're not saying that this is anend-all solution. We are sayingthat we have decided to take thestep forward and put our researchforward, and come out with aproduct that we feel [will providestations with the advanced, im-proved audio quality they] feelthey need.

You would imagine that a cartmanufacturer who has been in thebusiness for as many years as ITCwould come up with perhaps atape approach. And the reasonwe've gone with a tape approachis that we believe that this is themost economical, the most feasi-ble, and, perhaps, the easiest pro-cess of doing digital audio thatstill enables radio stations to nothave to go in and retrain orchange its staff or the way thatthey do things. And that's essen-tially what we've done. TheHCDA 3000 provides radio per-sonnel and programming with adigital audio format in a veryproven cartridge format. If this isa good introduction, I guess onlytime will tell. Analog tape car-tridges will continue to thrive anddigital is perhaps the next step. Iguess we're putting our eggs inthe basket.

We decided to introduce theHCDA 3000 at the 1987 NAB inDallas, and in doing so, we've be-come the first established [car-tridge machine] manufacturer toreally put forth a [digital] cart -based format. The real test istime: To see which of the manu-facturers present here, and thosethat are not present, are reallyable to read the trends in this in-dustry-which is not always easy-and determine what the mar-ketplace wants and what they feelthey need, and what will actuallydo the job for you. BM/E


AN i ENGINEERINGWISH LIST

Edit( d by Mark DuPre

Holiday time is upon us-a time when every-one begins compiling wish lists. Yes, evenengineering management. In this regard,

we asked engineers from radio and television sta-tions and independent teleproduction facilitieswhat they'd like to find in their holiday stockingsthis year-what piece of equipment they wouldlike to lay their hands on that either doesn't existyet or currently exists as two or more separatepieces of gear.

Some in the technical and engineering manage-ment community are pointed, direct, and abso-lutely sure of what they want (manufacturers,prick up your ears). Others look towards a morefantastic future, in which mind controls and anti-gravity devices are possible. In no case, however,did the opportunity to wish meet with silence or ablank stare.

Charles Benner, Jr.Chief Engineer, WUSL-FMPhiladelphia, PAI'd like something that would take care of auto-matically accepting traffic reports. My idea is thatthere would be a unit to tie into the reporter'sphone line and provide a signal to start a reel-to-reel deck back at the studio. It would have to beeasy to use at the source end-push a button, waitfor a light, and then start the report. Back at thestudio end, the reel-to-reel would start recording,leaving a pulse or code in the beginning so thatwhen the report is done, the tape rewinds back tothat cue. Once it's installed, you'd only have to setup by synchronizing the two units. Finally, therewould need to be some type of indicator or soundthat would alert the on -air talent that the mate-rial is cued up and ready to go.

Leland OhlhausenChief Engineer, KTAB-TVAbilene, TXI'd like an antigravity machine, something aboutthe size of a bathroom scale, that you could slideunderneath equipment. You'd have a remote con -


trolthatcould varythe amount oflift you'd get out ofit. There wouldn't have to be pro-pulsion or anything-it would just have to liftthings up. When you need to move heavy equip-ment around, you could just slide this magic plat-form underneath and float the equipment up ordown. Or, when you have to inspect the tower, youcould just get up on it yourself and float up anddown.

We have a beam transformer that we're lookingat moving. It weighs about 8000 pounds. I couldfly this device under it, turn the knob, pick it up,and move it around wherever we wanted.

Lou ToepelChief Engineer, Action VideoHollywood, CAI'd like to see some type of electronic audio/videopatch panel distribution system, a multilevelrouting switcher. Right now, when you have arouting switcher, the output busses have two spig-ots each, and you end up taking one of those spig-ots out and DA-ing it so you can feed the monitorand a VTR and three or four other devices simul-taneously. With other outputs, you might only useone of the output spigots and the other one goesunused.

What I'd like to see is a switcher with 64 inputsand 200 assignable output spigots that can be as-signed to look at any output crosspoint. One out-put crosspoint might have six spigots, one output

might have one spigot, and one might have 10spigots. This would eliminate separate distri-

bution amplifiers and their inherent delays.We're talking about two levels ofcrosspoints, with one for the individual

output B and C connectors, assignable tothe main crosspoint, which would be ac-

cessible by all the panels throughoutthe plant.

The advantage is that everythingwould come to one main frame, andyou'd get rid of a lot of inherenttiming and ground loop errors.You'd make the output spigot as-signments addressable onlythrough your master controllingcomputer. Then, when operatorsswitch the output on buss line 21,

everything that is assigned to workas buss line 21-whether it be one

device or seven different devices-would all switch together.You could also put salvos on it so that

if you had a control room that had black -and -white monitors in a production environ-

ment, severalmonitors

wouldlook attelecine

chains (as comparedto VTRs or still stores). But when you're doingnews you would want the same black -and -whitemonitors to look at other devices. That would be asalvo assignment on the output level selection,rather than on the crosspoint upper level selec-tion, which would be an operator function of se-lecting the input.

Andy ButlerDirector of Engineering, WQHT-FMNew York, NYAs an all -sports station, we need to be able toplace a reporter in the field and have him go onthe air or feed to us over a cellular telephone us-ing a broadcast -quality mic. The quality of cellu-lar is very good, better on average by a consider-able amount than a standard dial -up phone. Butthere's no input for a cassette or mic, and thehandset on a cellular phone is clumsy and hard tohandle, so it's not comfortable for on -air use.

I'd like somebody to build a portable cellularphone with at least 3 or 3.5 watts of output powerthat includes a built-in direct mic input through astandard mic connector, a line level unbalancedinput that mixes with the mic, and a standard 1/4 -inch stereo headphone jack-all integrated intoone package. It would be nice if it had individuallevel controls for the mic, the cassette, and theheadphones, too.


Engineering Wish List

Bill TullisAudio DirectorTurner Broadcast System, Inc.Atlanta, GAI'd like to have some mental equipment controls.That way, you wouldn't have to sit there and fum-ble for buttons. You'd just have to sit there andthink it. Put on your old headset and go for it.

I'd also like to see some affordable digitalmultitrack machines-something similar towhat's available in the analog range. As far aswishes that people can easily understand, thoseare the only two things. Everything else is toocomplex.

Oh, yes, a third thing: I'd like to see "Murphy"banished to Iran.

Donald S. BrowneVP/Technical OperationsABS Broadcast GroupArlington, VAAt the beginning of every video game you see inan arcade there is a promo that runs about 30seconds. Using some form of PROM, It demon-strates how the game is played, and presents theleading scores in the game.

What I'd like to have is an electronic device forplaying back prerecorded spots using a PROMjust like the arcade games. You would takethe microchip contain-ing the spot and insertit in a socketinstead of in-serting anaudiocart orvideoc a s -

sette. To start, you would just push a single buttonand it would play instantaneously. Ifyou want todo special effects, hit the button again, and it im-mediately starts up again so you get a fast repeatof a video segment.

This would give us a videotape cartridge ma-chine that has no moving parts and is not suscep-tible to dirt, wrinkling tapes, or anything likethat.

Charles R. HelmickChief Engineer/Program Director, WTAP-TVParkersburg, WVAs both program director and chief engineer, Iwould like a little black box to tie into the com-puter that could give me a readout the next day ofall the little problems that don't fit into either thecategory of equipment failure or operator error.You always hear that the equipment did this orthat, but you know that it had to be operatorerror.

We have discrepancy reports that are filled outeach morning, or each evening after a shift, thatdetail any problems that arose during the shift-engineering problems, programming problems,any kind of problem: logging errors, why theydidn't have a tape, why they didn't have a com-mercial, etc. The little black box would be realhelpful to narrow it down.

Frank FottiEngineering Supervisor

Malrite CommunicationsSecaucus, NJ

A nice Santa Claus wish list itemwould be a true digital domain audio

processor for FM radio, with digitalcontrol of the audio path as well as

stereo generation, limiting,and clipping control. Control-ling the audio in a discretemanner would give better

control and better sound to aradio station. I hope to seesomething like this withinthe next three to five years.

Ben GamboaManager ENG and Stu-dio, CFTO-TVScarborough, OTAt the top of my wish listis a delegation switcherthat would assign the

CCU, with remotecontrol, to the dif-

ferent controlrooms through -out the

facility.There

are


other things I'd like to see. We recently sent aBetacam-equipped cameraperson to Thailand. Hehad no way of viewing the picture he had justtaken-short of hauling along a BVW-25, whichwould have added too much weight. However, ifhe used MIL it wouldn't have been a problem.Maybe someone could come up with a black boxthat you could attach to the Betacam that willgive you that facility.

Also, most teleprompters use a mirror in frontof the lens, and it deteriorates the performance ofthe lens. Why doesn't someone come out withsome LED four -line displays that could be putright on top of the lens instead? This type of setupwouldn't degrade lens performance.

Bill CroghanChief Engineer,KCEE-AM/KWFM-FMTucson, AZI'd like a Swiss army knife combination with astraight blade, a Phillips head, a 'Y4 -inch nutdriver, and a mini -straight blade. I always findmyself going back to the shop for one of those fourtools, and I think they account for about 90 per-cent of the tools I have in my hand during thetypical working day.

One other minor item I could think of would bean impedance bridge with a built-in synthesizerand detector. Let's put them all in one instrument.It would make it a whole lot easier to take com-mon -point and field measurements-instead ofhaving to haul out a separate bridge, synthesizer,and detector.

David SmithChief Engineer, WTAF-TVPhiladelphia, PAI want a purely electronic commercial playbackmachine. It would have to be some sort of nontapestorage device-optical disk or something else-where you can plug in commercials, and theycould be archived into the system. You wouldn'thave to move little boxes of tape around, and youwouldn't have to worry about little mechanicalarms pulling things in and out. Interestinglyenough, everything else I've ever dreamed aboutalready exists.

Harry SimonsChief Engineer,WAEB-FMLehigh Valley, PAWhat I'd really like to see are high-fidelity AMreceivers. But if I had to wish for a piece of broad-cast equipment, it would be a test -and -measure-ment device that would have a signal generator,audio analyzer, and scope built right into it. If allthat equipment were in one unit it would save a

lot of lugging, a lot of room, a lot of time, and a lotof hookup wires.

Ray BohnertChief Engineer, WIGM-AM/FMMedford, WIWe put our heads together and we all agree that ahigh-powered remote microphone would be veryhandy. You could go to a game, auditorium, orparade, and just pull out your mic and start talk-ing-even if you were several miles from the stu-dio. You can't always get through a crowd carry-ing a big amplifier, and you don't always haveenough room to put up an antenna. It ought to bethat you could just pull up, pull out your micro-phone, and talk.

Some of us also want to make things easier forthe announcer. But we already have somethinglike that. It's called automation.

Richard SolbergEngineering Operations Manager,WLIW-TVPlainview, NYI'd like to see brain -controlled editing systems.That is, a thought -pattern -processor control sys-tem, as opposed to manual or even computer -oper-ated systems. I also think in terms of whimsicalthings such as computerized maintenance decksthat fix things. Or a computerized secretary thatnever goes on coffee breaks, never calls in sick,always answers on the first ring, knows whereeverything is, never socializes at work, and canguide me through my job without myinvolvement.

Jim StagnittoDirector of Engineering,WNSR-FMNew York, NYThe piece of equipment I'd like to lay my hands onwould be a fiber optic link STL. You could haveyour stereo generator at the studio and hook it upto a fiber optic link, a little black box that woulddo everything so you wouldn't have to go to PCMor anything like that. You'd be able to send acomposite signal down the fiber and pick it up atthe other end and put yourself on the air.

In crowded situations, such as we have here inNew York, you probably couldn't get another STLfrequency if you wanted to. So, this would elimi-nate the need to try to get a microwave frequency.You'd probably have the same bandwidth, qual-ity, and capability with fiber optic that you havewith microwave-plus, you'd be free from the tyr-anny of dealing with land lines. You'd be able toset up your stereo generator and transmit thecomplete composite from your studio site all theway to your transmitter.


Engineering Wish List

* * *

Monty McAnallyPresident & Chief Engineer,WEKC-AMWilliamsburg, KYThere are a lot of things that can be upgraded inthe radio station-cart machines, for example.There has got to be a better way of reproducingcommercials than with the basic cart machine weuse today-a digital effort of some type would bethe most realistic.

I would also like to see a meter-a people meter,if you will-or some type of audience measuringdevice for radio. There has got to be a. way tosample what people are listening to without theuse of diaries or telephone interviews. It's vitalinformation we all need.

Ivan McKinnonAssistant Chief Engineer,WAGM-TVPresque Isle, MEAs a TV station, we need to go through all of ourequipment to see that we're not putting out phasedelays or chrominance or luminance delays. I'dlike to have a visual idea of what I'm looking atwhen I'm adjusting, as well as an audio system to

The thing thatI would like to see is test equipment that coversthe signals that you would use for both audio andvideo. In other words, a TV set along with a spec-trum analyzer, a scope, and a volt meter-all inone neat little package.

Gene ThomasStation Engineer, KWFC-FMSpringfield, MOOne thing that would really be of interest to mefor sound reinforcement would be an audio con-sole with a built-in spectrum analyzer. Instead ofhaving to carry around a lot of extra gear, I wouldbe able to just set up a mixer, analyze or check thefrequency response of the room, and adjust mysettings accordingly. I expect to see it eventually.There are a lot of advances along those lines ofincorporating more and more gear together, espe-cially with the digital technology coming outthese days.

Dick MartinezEngineering and Program OperationsABC Radio NetworkNew York, NYI guess there are two things that we're really look-ing at. Right now, we're very interested in randomaccess digital storage. We're looking at somethingthat has to be highly reliable, with zero downtime, which basically excludes anything that'spresently available. It almost cries for a solid-state storage device.

We're talking about a fairly large system, some-where in the order of 800 to 1000 minutes of high-quality, random-access storage. The reason forthat is we have a large commercial news actualityand short -form programming storage require-ment, and we're looking to get rid of all the tapehandling, maintenance, and tampering of tapesand tape machines. Generally, the cartridge ma-chine is what we're talking about, and in mostenvironments, you won't find that requirement.But here it makes a lot of sense because of the sizeof what we're doing. To have a central storagearea would tie in beautifully with our automationsystem, which presently runs our entire studioplant. It would be a unique situation, but it wouldwork for us.

We've also sort of pioneered a very large scale,totally integrated automated plant. This plant istotally involved in computer automation to onedegree or another, and we find that you reallyhave to do everything custom in the way of soft-ware. So, my second wish would be for some indus-try standard for automation protocol-much likethe standard General Motors is trying to set forfactory floor automation. I know that there hasbeen an attempt to provide something, but I thinkit's primarily directed at the TV side of the house.I have yet to see any attempt made to develop aprotocol that would handle a plant. It's hard totell, and I wouldn't want to second guess up -com-ing technology, but I would hope that the future isleading in this direction.

Dean WinklerVP/Director of Creative Services,Post PerfectNew York, NYMy first wish would be for something that simplytaps the pleasure center of the brain so that youturned it on and you didn't care about anythingelse in the world. Now, failing that, on a morepossible level, I would like to see an NTSC taperecorder-be it digital or analog-that had nonoise, no quantizing error, and no errors of anykind. What I want is just a fully 100 percenttransparent recorder/reproducer so that when lay-ering and doing all those other things that we doright now, there's no noise and no errors from thegenerations, without having to stay inside a diskrecorder like an A-62 or a Harry, which have a lotof other limitations.

So, if I can't have my first choice, which is myreal number one wish, the second one will have todo. BM/E

About the Author:Mark DuPre is a freelance writer and the editor of Im-age World magazine, published by the Rochester (NY)Institute of Technology.


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0-34

FCC Rules & Re ! ulations

Paying the PiperBy Harry Cole, Bechtel & Cole, FCC Counsel

One of the ironic traditions associated with theusual year-end holidays and related festivities isthat of making resolutions for the new year. Per-haps it arises from a recognition of the need tosober up (in whatever way may be appropriate)and attempt to improve one's behavior in the up-coming year. In the spirit of that tradition, wehereby offer a discussion of inspections, fines, andforfeitures-topics likely to send a distinctly un-seasonal chill up many a broadcaster's spine.

First, as we have discussed previously in thiscolumn, the days of limited enforcement of theFCC's rules are gone. Several years ago, probablyas a matter of necessity in the face of significantcut -backs in the Commission's budget, the en-forcement program was reduced sharply. Few, ifany, station inspections were conducted, and thenumber of fines and forfeitures issued for appar-ent rule violations dwindled. This did not mean, ofcourse, that the rules were not being violated;more likely it just meant that, as a matter of re-source allocation, the Commission felt that othermatters on its agenda warranted the dedication ofpersonnel and funds more than the ferretting outof licensees operating out of compliance with cur-rent FCC regulations.

Then, as the Commission's deregulatory pro-gram got rolling, it became possible to refocus at-tention on the operational end of things. Such arefocusing was particularly appropriate in view ofthe fact that much of the FCC's rhetoric in supportof deregulation had been directed to the Commis-sion's perception of its role as that of a traffic copof the airwaves, making sure that a few necessaryrules were obeyed. In any event, the Commissionauthorized its Field Operations Bureau (FOB) tohand out fines directly (rather than refer appar-ent violations to the Mass Media Bureau in Wash-ington for follow-up action), and the Commissionalso apparently gave the FOB the green light togo out and inspect to its heart's content. The re-sult was an upsurge in fines, as we have previ-ously reported.

Unfortunately, other than FCC press releasesthere do not appear to be any generally availablemeans of determining what types of violations arebeing cited by the FOB and how much in the wayof fines each violation is costing. To help remedythis, we offer the following summary ofa selectionof forfeitures that have been handed out by theCommission throughout 1987.

In actions apparently arising under the main

studio rules prior to their recent revision, two sta-tions were hit with significant fines for violationsrelated to the location of their studios. An AM/FMcombination in the Washington, DC, area wasfined $10,000 for failing to maintain a studio in iscommunity of license and related violations.Meanwhile, an FM station in Tacoma, WA, wasfined $5,000 for relocating its main studio withoutproviding the FCC the requisite notification.

Even though the main studio rules have re-cently been relaxed substantially in certain re-spects (primarily relating the geographical areain which main studios may be established), theystill impose significant restrictions on where a li-censee can locate its main studio, what it can andmust broadcast from that studio, and when andhow it must notify the FCC of any changes inmain studio location. And, since the Commissionhas attempted to make its main studio rules eas-ier for broadcasters, it may now be inclined toenforce them more strictly. Again, it really shouldnot be too difficult to assure compliance withthese rules.

Technical violationsThe FOB's usual area of expertise is technical.

That is, when an inspector pays a station a visit,he or she is most often interested in assuring thatthe station's technical operation is consistent withthe rules. Thus, it is not surprising to find thefollowing forfeitures relating to such matters: A $4,100 fine issued to an AM station on theNorthern California coast for a variety of tech-nical deficiencies, including an inoperative failsafe device, inoperative EBS equipment, brokenantenna current ammeter, lack of antenna resis-tance and equipment performance measure-ments, and incorrect remote meter and controllocation; A $2,800 fine to an AM station in a small com-munity in Eastern North Carolina for failing tomaintain EBS equipment and failing to conductweekly EBS tests, failing to have necessary con-trol and monitoring equipment at the remote con-trol point, over -power operation, and failing toprovide full instructions to transmitter operatorsconcerning their duties;A $2,700 fine to an AM station in the greater LosAngeles are for similar EBS- and remote control -related violations; A $2,000 fine to a TV station in Pittsburgh forfailing to secure renewal of its STL and for failing

Continued on page 7466 BM/E DECEMBER 1987

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NABCONVENTIO NGUIDEThe industry'smost compre-hensive guideto exhibits andtechnical ses-sions at theLas VegasConverrion.Editorial over-view of antici-pated trendsand technoiogy.

NAB SURVIVALGUIDE...A Separatereference guideBM/E's SurvivalGuide to LasVegas givesthe ultimate inadvertisingexposure. Theonly publicationthat gives NABattendees abalanced mixof businessand pleasu -e.

NEWIDEASINTRANSMISSIONFiber optics,remote control,and satellites.MEW MAIM

Engineeringfor AutomatedFormats, andRemote ControlAutomation.

NCGAPreview

NEWIDEAS INELECTRONICGRAPHICS ATSTATIONS &FACILITIES

3-D modelingand animation,paint systems,and integratedworkstations.

EngineeringTips forBetterFieldRecording,DigitalAudioReport.

BDA/BPMEPreview

NABSHOW -IN -PRINT

BM/E's Juneissue-thebroadcastindustry'sauthority forpost -showcoverage,providing acomplete over-view of theproducts andevents at theconvention.Analysis of theimpact of tech-nical sessionsas they relateto exhibitedhardware.

ITSPreview

111EBROADCAST MANAGEMENT

/EN,

JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DECNEWIDEAS INENGINEERINGFOR REMOTESRemotevehicles, fieldproductionequipment,anc remoteaucio produc-tion.

DigitalAudioTechnology

SIGGRAPHPreview

THESOURCEBUYER'SGUIDE

Lists broadcastindustry manu-facturers andequipment.

STRATEGICPLANNING:1989Budgeting andequipment atstations andfacilities. Newtechnologies,capital expen-ditures, andlong-rangeplans.

NEWIDEAS INAUDIO &VIDEORECORDING

MTS, videorecording &magnetic &optical mecia.

AM StereoUpdate

Radio '88Preview

SBE

Preview

SMPTEPREVIEWCompleteprogramhighlights,including a fullschedule ofshow -relatedevents, andspotlightedproductintroductions.

TeleproductionFacilityEngineeringUpdate

TransmissionTechnology

NEW IDEASIN AUDIO &VIDEO POST-PRODUCrioNFacility c esign,edi:ors,switcher 3,effects, & audiosweetenng.OP.

StudioDesignsThatWork

RTNDAPreview

NEWIDEASIN ENGCameras,lenses,recorders, &ENGtransmission.

Recording &PlaybackTechnologies

Just Like The Real ThingThe Oki LT1210 Digital Television Standards Converter can improve TV imageswith dramatic results. With its image enhancement function, this machineoffers the kind of sharp definition and crisp clarity required in professional TV

standards conversion work. The LT1210 is exceptionally compact, portable,and fully compatible with NTSC, PAL and SECAM standards,

and can handle PAL -M conversion as an option. It is alsoa totally integrated unit, requiringno adaptor or a change of encoder/decoder modules for conversion fromone standard to another. Use theLT1210 or the high -end LT1015E tomeet your TV standards conversionrequirements. Either model can makeimages look like the real thing.

NjgatiSEUA

LT1210 Digital Television Standards Converter

Head Office: London OfficeOverseas Marketing & Sales Ground Floor North 3, Shortlands10-3, Shibaura 4-chome, Hammersmith International Centre,Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, Japan London W6, U.K.Tel: (03) 454-2111 Telex: J22627 Tel: (01) 741-2324Fax: (03) 452-5214 Fax: (01) 741-4122Cable: OKIDENKI TOKYO Telex: 927029 OKIDEN G

OKIOki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.Tokyo. JapanCircle 135 on Reader Service Card

New Equipment

Leader's LatestOscilloscopeLeader Instruments Corp. has introduced the new60 MHz CRT -readout LBO -2060 cursor -equippedoscilloscope. The unit is designed to allow users toobserve waveforms, setting conditions, and mea-sured values on a single display, and also displayssalient settings conditions like CH -1 and CH -2sensitivity, main and delayed sweep time, andtriggering controls, thus reducing setup time inthe field.

On -screen cursors eliminate graticule signalalignment and box -counting for voltage, time, andfrequency operations. The two -channel dual timebase LBO -2060 oscilloscope retails for $1490.Circle #200 on Reader Service Card

Knox K20 Shows CharacterThe K20 character generator from Knox Video isa full -color, high-res device that features upper -and lowercase fonts, an internal genlocking syncgenerator, and a downstream keyer.

The K20's other features include 16 pages ofnonvolatile memory, intermixable eight -colorpalette, and four -speed roll capability. List priceis $1395.Circle #201 on Reader Service Card

Rhode & Schwarz 20 kWTetrode BowsThe new 20 kW TV tetrode transmitter NT 425from Rohde & Schwarz is designed for use withina basic audio/video transmission network in the470 to 860 MHz range. Capable of multichannelsound operation according to IRT dual -carriermethods, the unit rounds off R & S's line of UHFTV transmitters.

Features include a central control unit; valve,cavity resonator, and transformer monitoring; 48analog signal capacity; and an integrated dataacquisition system.Circle #202 on Reader Service Card

Gentner Custom TelephoneRemote PackagesGentner Engineering Co., has introduced a seriesof specially -packaged cases for telephone remotebroadcasts. All the equipment needed for the re-mote, and the equipment for the studio end aswell, are bundled in one travel -approved case.

Standard equipment includes a dial -up phoneline, frequency extension equipment, and Aphexenhancement, noise reduction, and sharp filteringequipment. Nine models have been developed tomeet nearly any application and budget-custompackages are also available. List prices start at$2995.Circle #203 on Reader Service Card

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Videomedia's MickeyEditing SystemA new low-cost, optomechanical mouse -basedediting system has been debuted by Videomedia.The Mickey videotape editing system boastscompatibility with all common half-, 3/4-, and one -inch videotape formats. System features of thepackage include distributed intelligent interface,50 -event memory, printer output, and user -pro-grammable functions.

Two models of the system are available: MickeyI, which runs frame accurate cuts -only, and theexpanded -feature Mickey II, which handles A/Broll editing. Editing features include a built-invideo mixer, automatic two -channel audio -follow -video mixer, automatch and autoextend func-tions, and "one-mousestroke" edit list cleaning.

List price for Mickey I, $3500; Mickey II, $4500.Circle #204 on Reader Service Card

Winsted Wheels InNew Tape TruckThe Model U5042 programming tape truck, newfrom Winsted, is a durable easily moveable unitthat can transport hundreds of videotapes at one


New Equipment

time. The truck is equipped with eight aluminumhanger bars that can accommodate WinstedTapeCubes, half- and 3/4 -inch shelves, and hangercases for Sony, Ampex, and 3M tapes.

In addition a standup work surface is providedon the cart. Four -inch dual -wheel casters providesmooth transport.Circle #205 on Reader Service Card

MBW 4208

410 MHz

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Television EquipmentAssociates Hits With"Brickwall" FiltersDesigned to eliminate spillover of inadequatelyseparated video/hi-fi audio signals, the BrickwallSeries of filters is available from TelevisionEquipment Associates. The MBW420 modelpasses all video at 4.2 MHz while at 40 dB downon 4.48 MHz, and the MBW680 similarly manipu-lates signals in the 6.8 MHz range.

The Brickwalls prevent vision and audio defectsdue to close subcarriers on an unfiltered signal.Circle #206 on Reader Service Card

Dry Air Modulefrom DielectricA nitrogen replacement module designed as alow-cost supply of dry air for broadcast facilitycompressed air lines has been developed by Di-

electric Communications. The module can replacenitrogen tanks in existing dry air systems, andeliminates the problems associated with pressur-ized gas storage as well.

The device consists of a compressor, storagetank, and a dessicant dryer of indicating gel thatis capable of drying up 4400 cubic feet of air beforeany replacement gels are necessary.Circle #207 on Reader Service Card

Gitzo MonopodsTake a HikeIn a unique design innovation, Gitzo has manu-factured all its monopods with removable cameraplatforms. In the platform's place, a soft handlecan be installed so the monopod can be used as awalking stick.

The hand -assembled pods extend smoothly,locking firmly into place on waterproof resinwashers. The annodized extensions remain a fulltwo inches in the next -larger tube section, provid-ing firm support and rock stability. The Gitzo lineof monopods is composed of 20 models of varyingsize, grip design, and camera platform to coverany need.Circle #208 on Reader Service Card


SPC Surge Protectors fromMCGMCG recently introduced the SPC series of ACpower line protectors designed to protect sensitivebroadcast equipment systems employing densemicrocircuitry from the adverse effects of light-ning, transients, power spikes, and power surges.

Installation methodology requires the place-ment of an SPC in the main service panel of theAC power line. Reaction time is one nanosecondand a total of 12000 joules/phase can be absorbedfor 120 VAC to 480 VAC single-phase panels.

Featuring triple redundancy, the SPC productsensure equipment safety even in the event of cata-strophic transient irregularitiesPrices start at $1475.Circle #209 on Reader Service Card

Varian Intros CompactTWT AmpThe VStar Satcom Amplifier, new from Varian, isa compact traveling wave tube (TWT) power amp

designed for use in thin -route, small earth termi-nal applications-including VSATs, SNGs opera-tions, and remote communications systems.

Combining greater power output, ruggedness,and small size, the unit provides 50 watts of out-put at 14 to 14.5 GHz. Gain is 49 dB at ratedoutput; small signal gain is 53 dB. The 15 -pounddevice retails for under $15,000.Circle #210 on Reader Service Card

Stereo Sentry from SineSystemsA new early warning monitoring unit, designed inresponse to industry feedback, is now offered bySine Systems. The Stereo Sentry will give instan-taneous report on any one of eight specific audioconditions. Hooked into a station's air monitorbus, the unit can watchdog the entire plant, frommicrophone to antenna.

Features include balanced XLR inputs and anoptional remote alarm panel. List price is $1399;the remote alarm option is $239.Circle #211 on Reader Service Card

3M Rolls OutS -VHS Cassettes3M has introduced a new line of professional -quality S -VHS videocassettes, which feature sep-arate Y (luminance) and C (chrominance) capabil-ity to achieve a horizontal resolution of more than400 lines.

The tape's advanced features are a direct resultof a two-year research program at 3M to develop a"next -generation" oxide videotape formulation.Reported benefits of the S -VHS format includesuperior resolution and higher coercivity thanstandard VHS videotape.Circle #212 on Reader Service Card


FCC Rules & Regulations

to operate that STL on its assigned frequency;*A $2,000 fine to an AM station in a small com-munity in Northeastern South Carolina for fail-ing to file a license application (FCC Form 302) tocover changes in its facilities within 10 days ofmaking the modifications;*A $1,200 fine to an AM station in Puerto Rico forfailing to maintain required logs and for failing tohave at least one licensed operator on duty at alltimes of operation;*A $1,750 fine to a TV station in Eastern NorthCarolina for failing to maintain its tower and forspurious emissions.

Meanwhile, we take this opportunity to offer acouple of tips on what to do if and when the inspec-tors do arrive at your station. First, it is advisablethat all employees be instructed to alert appropri-ate management of the arrival of inspectors. Forexample, it should be standard operating proce-dure to notify the general manager and the chiefengineer or, in their absence, other specified man-agement officials. A knowledgeable station offi-cial should accompany the inspector throughoutthe inspection, to provide information, docu-ments, and so forth.

Of course, FCC inspectors should be treatedcourteously and cooperatively. But it is important

to recognize that the purpose of an inspection issimply to gather facts, not to make an on -the -spotdetermination as to whether a fine should be as-sessed. Thus, you should probably avoid arguingthe merits of any apparent violation with the in-spector-you will, after all, have plenty of oppor-tunity to do that down the line. By the same to-ken, you should not feel compelled to concede thatevery observation the inspector makes confirmsone or another violation-remember, if you con-cede a violation in the inspector's presence, it willprobably be more difficult (but not necessarily im-possible) for you to argue otherwise later on.

After the inspection, the inspector will reviewhis or her notes and, if appropriate, send to thelicensee a notice of apparent violation or a noticeof forfeiture. The licensee can respond to such anotice either by conceding the violation and pay-ing the fine, or by submitting a detailed responseexplaining why the fine should be reduced oreliminated. And even if that response is rejected,the licensee may appeal the fine to the full Com-mission and, ultimately, to the courts.

If you have any questions about any of thesematters, and especially if an FCC inspector visitsyour station and issues you a fine, you shouldconsult with your communications counsel.BM/E

Broaden Your HorizonQUALITY MANUFACTURING & PERFORMANCE

Raymond, Maine 04071(207) 655-4555 (800) 341-9678TWX: 710-229-6890

40RIZ ra

Dielectric can broaden your FM broad-casting capabilities with quality -manu-factured, reliable products. Dielectriccomponents have provided years of con-tinuous performance with very littlemaintenance for FM stations around theworld. That's reliability you can't ignore.

Dielectric is the single source for allyour equipment needs:

Coaxial Transmission Line, Switchesand Patch Panels for maximumisolation and low VSWRPanel Antennas for single and multi-ple frequenciesEconomical, high performance DCRSeries of circularly polarized FMRing AntennasRigid Coaxial Transmission Line ofwelded, high conductivity copperthat meets critical performancecriteriaLine Hangers and AccessoriesFM Multi -Station Combiners andSwitching Systems for switching anytransmitter to an antenna or stationdummy load

Our complete line of FM broadcastingcomponents is also backed by reliablecustomer services, including quality con-trcl, installation, start-up and servicing.So. for all your broadcast needs, there'sonly one number to call: (800) 341-9678.



Action video with film clarity from the CCD camera with electronic shutterWhen the action heats up andthe sun beams down, put yourfinger on the electronic shutterof the SP -3A. It stops the actionat speeds up to 1/2000 second-fast enough to give you stunningslow motion or freeze frameswith the clarity of 35mm slides.

The SP -3A incorporates anelectronic shutter function in itsCCD chip design. Five shutterspeeds give you the flexibilityto record any action with out-standing results. The CCD chipworks wonders with dynamicresolution.

Don't worry about burn -in,comet -tailing or smear. Shootinto the sun with impunity.Kick in the black stretch func-

ccComputers and Communications

tion and get all the detail inbacklit scenes. Indoors or out,good light or bad, the SP -3Aperforms to the most exactingprofessional requirements.

THE NEW ENG/EFP STANDARD

The compact, lightweight SP -3Astands up to tough on -location assign-ments. It's the

CCD camera of choice for oneof the largest network newsorganizations in the USA.

As a camcorder, the SP -3Aaccepts either Betacam or M -II1/2" format integral VTRs. Youcan also configure it for stan-dard NTSC output or remotecontrol via multi -core or triaxcable. Hetacam is a registered trademark of Sony Corp.

Make sure you're equippedto take your best shot on everyassignment. Use the SP -3A CCDbroadcast camera with five -speed electronic shutter. Formore information, call NECtoday.

NEC America. Inc.Broadcast Equipment Division.1255 Michael Drive. Wood Dale, Illinois 60191

312-860-7600

NECCircle 136 on Reader Service Card

Now get the sameservice and equipment

on this coast...

as you do on this coast.

East Coast or West Coast. Now the samecomplete selection of sophisticated video equip-ment you've come to expect from CameraMart/New York is yours to rent or buy fromCMTV/Burbank.

The same great service, too. So now, you canhave the best of both coasts.

We've been big in video sinceit was small.

The Camera Mart, Inc.SALESSERVICERENTAL

456 West 55th St, NY 10019(212) 757-6977 Telex: 275619/FAX (212) 582-2498

1900 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank, CA 91506 (818) 843-6644


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Advertisers IndexPage Circle Page Circle

Manufacturer No. No. Manufacturer No. No.

Acoustic Systems 44 125 Karl Leister Elektro-AKG Acoustics 65 Geratebau 39 121Alpha Audio 45 127Ampex Corp./MTD 13 106Avcom of Virginia 45 126 Magni Systems, Inc . 67 107

Midwest Corp. 15 108

Barco Industries 54 132 NEC America, Inc. 75 136Belar Electronics 47 128Bryston Vermont Ltd. 44 124

OKI Electric IndustryCo., Ltd. 70 135

Camera Mart, Inc., The.. 76 137 Panasonic BroadcastCanon U.S A 26 113 Systems 23 111Centro Corp. 11 140 Panasonic Broadcast

Systems 25 112Panasonic Industrial Co 17 109Panasonic Industrial Co.

Datatek Corp 43 123 18-19 110Dielectric 74 134 Periphex Inc. 39 120Eastman Kodak Co.... Cov III 138Express Tower Co. 38 119

Quantel 41 125

Fidelipac Corp. 1 101 Sanix Corp 46 122Fuji Photo Film Schneider Corp. ofU.S.A. Inc 48-49 134 America 31 115

Shure Brothers Inc. 4 102Sony Broadcast ProductsInc. 2-3

Grass Valley Group, Inc., Sony Pro -Video 32 116The 6 104 Specialty Vehicles Inc 37 117

Studer Revox America, Inc.Coy. II 100

Hitachi 29 114

Telex Communications .... 47 129JVC Company ofAmerica 5 103 Videotek 37 118JVC Company ofAmerica 8-9 105 Ward -Beck Systems. . . Cov.IV -

SALES OFFICES

295 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10017 Telex: 64-4001 Patrick J. Moloney, Assoc. Publisher

Eastern States295 Madison Avenue

New York, New York 10017

212-685-5320

Telex: 64-4001

Michael DahleDenise Lalonde

Europe/United Kingdom33A Station Road

North Harrow

Middlesex HA2 7SU England(01) 427 9000

Telex: 21289

Ric Bessford

Central States33 East Cedar St.

Suite 12F

Chicago, IL 60611

(312) 664-0572

Gene Kinsella

Japan/Far East2-14-20, Minami-Aoyama,

Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107 Japan

(03) 405 5118

Telex: 2427388

Fax: (03) 401-5864

K. YamamotoY. Yozaki

No Surprises In This Package.

New EASTMAN EB-950Broadcast Video Cassettes.You expect outstanding quality in EASTMAN ProfessionalVideo Tape Products. So it's no surprise that our new 3/4 -inchvideo cassettes are made to the same uncompromisingstandards.

They are also designed to match the potential of sophis-ticated U-matic hardware. The dropout rate is typicallyonly 3 per minute-even under heavy use. Color is sharpand clean; audio crisp and clear.

Physical characteristics are equally impressive. The sur-face is smooth and flexible, yet very tough. The result isreduced modulation noise and increased editing durability.

These and other advantages make our new videocassettes outstanding for ENG and EFP applications.Standard and mini U-matic cassettes are both available.

And, as with all EASTMANProfessional Video Tape Products,they're backed by in-depth engi-neering support as well as a firmcommitment to a dependablesupply.

For more information. call1 800 44KODAK(1 800 445-6325),Ext 850.©Eastman Kodak Company, 1987

=astmanBroadcast Video Tapes


Ward -Beck'No matter what size the market - ChizaGreenville - the versatility of Ward -Beck

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