LANCASTER, PA. – Linear Acoustic, the leading authority in loudness control solutions for digital television, has once again teamed up with TSL Professional Products Group, a leading broadcast systems integrator and manufacturer, and is introducing the latest product developed under this partnership—the PAMbDa-IITM Audio Monitor (also known as PAM2-3G16). The PAMbDa-II is already gaining industry recognition, taking home one of the highest honors in the British Broadcast industry from the Royal Television Society (RTS).
The PAMbDa-II is an expanded version of the Linear Acoustic and TSL-designed PAMbDaTM product, a 1RU, 3Gbps Professional Audio and Metadata Monitor that was introduced at IBC 2009. The PAMbDa can display and reproduce up to eight audio channels from applied AES or SDI signals while the new PAMbDa-II looks to offer additional features based on feedback from both companies’ clients. An important element that TSL added to the design of the PAMbDa-II, for instance, was an OLED display that would be able to show 16 bar graphs of embedded or AES audio simultaneously, making it easier for users to quickly monitor and adjust audio levels. When TSL explained its plans for the PAMbDa-II to Linear Acoustic President and Founder Tim Carroll, he knew it was a project that would benefit both companies’ customers. Throughout the development process of the PAMbDa-II, Linear Acoustic offered valuable input that has helped create a product that offered the industry a much needed solution.
“Teaming up with Linear Acoustic on this product has given us an incredible sounding board when deciding on features that tie in to the company’s philosophies about loudness measurement,” says Martin Dyster, audio applications manager at TSL. “By combining our own 25 years of experience in systems integration and manufacturing with the expertise that Linear Acoustic has in developing loudness control solutions, we were able to make the PAMbDa-II the best product it could be. I look forward to our continued collaboration to create products together that are beneficial to our work as systems integrators as well as to the wider broadcast market.”
RTS has seen the impact that PAMbDa-II is having on the industry already and has honored its contribution with the organization’s prestigious 2009 Innovation Award for outstanding achievement in the development of new technologies. The PAMbDa-II received the “Gizmo Award” in the Hardware Device category, which is given for the introduction of hardware that makes a major, “concrete” contribution to the industry in terms of functionality, ease of assembly, integration, maintenance, understanding and usability, whether professional or consumer.
“Innovation is the key in helping the industry deal with the loudness issues, which have become prevalent as more and more countries make the switch to HD broadcasting,” says Christina Carroll, Linear Acoustic senior vice president, global sales. “Linear Acoustic is actively involved in developing technologies and standards to help ease these concerns. Now that we’re partnering with TSL, we can be even more effective in our pursuit. The PAMbDa-II being recognized by RTS is truly an honor and a testament that this partnership will be a huge success.”
The PAMbDa-II is a compact 2RU multichannel audio and video monitor that provides advanced and previously unavailable audio monitoring functionality and performance. It has the ability to display 16 bar graphs of embedded or AES audio simultaneously. With the PAMbDa-II, monitoring of multichannel audio is simplified through preset menus and shortcut keys which allow for rapid and intuitive access to critical elements of complex broadcast audio systems. The user can simply navigate around the audio signals using the ‘scroll’ feature and listen to any signal channel without having to enter the menu structure. Other key features include the ability to decode Dolby AC-3 or Dolby E, to create downmixes from discreet or Dolby-encoded audio, analyze metadata, store any input selection/listening mode to one of 24 user presets and recall them instantly.
