Snell, the company formed through the merger of Pro-Bel and Snell & Wilcox, today announced the launch of a number of significant new products for its modular infrastructure range. At the 2009 NAB Show, the company will introduce 30 new modular processing products in its IQ Modular and Vistek product lines. These new modular components further confirm Snell as the broadcast industry’s most versatile and flexible intelligent infrastructure range.
New Additions to Infrastructure Range Provide Comprehensive Support for Dolby®E, Metadata Handling, and SMPTE 2016 AFD ARC Support
The Snell modular infrastructure family now includes more than 400 intelligent component building blocks designed to give customers unlimited flexibility in tailoring a broadcast facility to the demands of HDTV. Designed to provide a seamless and cost-effective path to digital, high-definition, and 3Gbps operations, the newly introduced modular products can be upgraded easily and affordably via software to 3Gbps operation as required. Snell’s infrastructure range provides compatibility with emerging standards for 3G and metadata-rich infrastructures, as well as current analog, SD, and HD standards. The result is a unified, flexible, and future-proof system for digital broadcasting that can be easily adapted and expanded as a facility’s needs evolve.
New IQ Modular Products at the 2009 NAB Show Include:
Format Conversion:
At the 2009 NAB Show, the company will introduce a new range of format conversion products. These units, which feature Snell’s acclaimed motion-adaptive processing technology, are optimized for maximum performance no matter what the application. The format conversion modules also provide frame synchronization, audio embedding and de-embedding with advanced Dolby® E/D processing, metadata handling, and SMPTE 2016 AFD ARC support.
Audio / Video Processors:
The new IQ Modular series also includes modules for multi-channel audio/video processing for 3G/HD/SD as well as a range of advanced multi-function modules for analog and AES embedding and de-embedding applications. For core 3Gbps infrastructure requirements, Snell offers a new range of distribution and fiber optic conversion modules. Fiber converters are available in single- and dual-channel versions, while 3Gbps-SDI distribution amplifiers can handle up to three channels per module and provide user-selectable output mapping for maximum system flexibility.
Vistek Range Expanded with Four New Products
Snell is also introducing four new modules in its Vistek modular infrastructure range, which has been integrated with the company’s IQ Modular infrastructure line-up. The V6416/SY module provides HD/SD-SDI up, down, and cross-conversion with options for SD aspect ratio conversion and frame synchronization. It combines the functionality of several existing conversion modules and adds new features such as Active Format Descriptor (AFD) control and Dolby® E handling. In addition, the new V6221 module is an NTSC/PAL/YC/YPbPr or RGBs analog video-to-SD-SDI 12-bit converter that replaces the existing V1621 and V1623 video converter modules and includes an additional option for embedding eight analog audio or four AES digital audio signals.
Also new to the Vistek family is the V1676, a range of 3G/HD/SD-SDI single and dual fiber optic and transmitter and receiver modules. Similar to the popular V1674 range of products operating at 1.5Gb/s, the V1676 range features small-form-factor, pluggable transmitter and receiver sub-modules for operation up to 1080p 2.97Gb/s HD. Using exchangeable SFP sub-modules allows the user to easily upgrade laser wavelengths for CWDM applications. Further V1676 enhancements feature operation over MM (Multimode) as well as SM (Singlemode) fiber optic cable.
Rounding out the new offerings in the Vistek modular line is the V6306/DM, a Dolby® Digital (AC3) encoder module featuring HD/SD-SDI audio de-multiplexing and re-multiplexing. Associated metadata parameters can be set in the module itself to be read from an external port or extracted from the HANC data on the HD/SD-SDI input. The V6306/DM also provides automatic delay compensation through the SDI video path. The new module complements Vistek’s existing V6304/DM Dolby® E encoder and V6302/DB Dolby® E/Dolby® Digital decoder modules.
Enhancements to Existing Products
Enhancements to existing modular products include the addition of a powerful horizontal detail enhancer to the IQUDC00 up/down/crossconverter with synchronizer and to the IQARC00 aspect ratio converter, to deliver even sharper image conversion. The IQUDC00 is now equipped with an RGB gamut legalizer and revised conversion apertures for improved cut performance, and the module fully supports and converts AFD, VITC-ATC, CC608-708, and subtitle metadata to help to streamline processing of digital signals. More information about the IQ Modular and Vistek lines as well as other products from Snell is available online at www.snellgroup.com.