Prentis Laird
AUSTIN, TEXAS
KEYE-TV's central equipment room is constructed around Ensemble Designs equipment. We have 45 frames that contain some 350 cards, all of which are networked together. We have had unbelievable success with our Ensemble equipment and are very pleased with our decision to become an Ensemble customer.
We like the flexibility of the Avenue series frames. Any Avenue card, regardless of function, will fit in any slot in the frames. Module configuration is very intuitive, and all cards can be controlled via multiple touch panels. I can also communicate with the system via my office PC using Ensemble's Avenue PC.
We also think Ensemble's customer service is absolutely the best in the industry. When you call for assistance, you speak with someone immediately.
We use a wide variety of Ensemble gear, including sync pulse generators, frame syncs, audio embedders, upconverters, downconverters, and signal monitoring equipment.
KEY ELEMENT IN SYSTEM
We installed the Avenue 7455 protection switch and bit-stream monitor in our transmission path and monitor PMTs, PATs, PIDs, and more. In the HD or SD-SDI modes, it monitors black, freeze-frame, TRS, embedded audio, and other essential elements. The system looks at video picture information and the presence of PCM audio before it's encoded. All parameters are fully customizable.
In the event of an outage, the protection switch will detect the fault and change over to a standby source. The 7455 was so easy to integrate and program. It replaced an existing Ensemble distribution amplifier and we didn't need to make any wiring changes. All that was necessary was the verification of inputs and outputs, and that was it. We went from d.a. to protection switch in less than 30 minutes.
Our system is set up to notify our master control supervisor, who's equipped with an "on call" pager in the event of an outage. We also have the system configured to send an e-mail notice to a specified group of people in engineering and management. We know that with this system, our supervisor and engineering managers are contacted very quickly about any possible fault, so we're covered in case something should ever fail.
Budgets are tight right now and broadcasters have to spend money wisely. The Ensemble 7455 protection switch is very affordable, and when you consider the amount of security that it offers, along with the five year warranty, the decision to add it was really a no-brainer.
Prentis Laird is the engineering technical manager at KEYE-TV. He may be contacted atplaird@keyetv.com.
For additional information, contact Ensemble Designs at 530-478-1830 or visitwww.ensembledesigns.com.
