PORTLAND– Hurst USA Inc. used Apantac Tahoma Multiviewers to visually monitor incoming and outgoing Super Bowl SLVII feeds routed through the Mini Pearl broadcast distribution truck.
Hurst was tapped to build an HD broadcast distribution truck for CBS network coverage of the Super Bowl, and the Mini Pearl was designed to route feeds from production trucks, the Superdome and various stand-up locations throughout New Orleans. Feeds were then re-routed via satellite and fiber to various destinations and then back to trucks in the production compound.
CBS turned Jackson Square, a park in New Orleans’ French Quarter, into a temporary broadcast center for sports, news, entertainment and digital coverage. All signals being generated from the compound were routed through the Mini Pearl, which was also used for backup distribution for game day shows from the Superdome as well as the Super Bowl itself.
Hurst chose the Tahoma Multiviewer because of its ease of use, high video quality, customer support and flexible range of features.
The Mini Pearl Broadcast Truck is using two 24-input Tahoma-LE high definition multiviewers to drive four 46-inch LED monitors, each with 12 individual monitors (48 signal windows total). The multiviewers and flat-screen displays enable more efficient use of space and depth than traditional small CRT monitors, and Tahoma Multiviewers are also straightforward to configure, use less power, require less cabling, generate less heat and emit less noise than CRT monitors.
Tahoma-LE24 Multiviewer can auto-detect 24 HD/SD-SDI/composite video inputs and offer 1-6 DVI/HDMI/VGA/SDI outputs at output resolutions up to 2048x1080, including 1080P. Audio is supported with 16 channels of embedded audio per SDI input and four channels of discrete audio per input as an added option.
All multiviewer series within the Tahoma platform include a built-in CATx extender on every output for extending signals up to 115 feet. The platform also incorporates the Apantac “skin-technology,” enabling users to customize the on-screen display of graphics.
Tahoma control interfaces allowed Hurst to size and position images and windows on the monitor, and the configurations can be saved or changed on the fly. The multiviewer also has an intuitive graphical user interface for set-ups.
“We considered a Multiviewer a necessity in this project, and we immediately pproached Apantac,” said John Bright, director of engineering at Hurst USA Inc. “The Apantac Tahoma units are extremely well-built, perform flawlessly and were very straightforward for our truck engineers to configure and program.”
