CBS Television City in Los Angeles has installed a single 1056 x 1056 matrix HD routing switcher (along with associated control panels and software) from Utah Scientific to replace five legacy routers.
The massive UTAH-400XL was installed to support an infrastructure expansion at the historic production, broadcast and transmission facility, and better manages a huge and complex system built piece by piece over 30 years.
CBS Television City maintains eight TV studios, which are used regularly by all the major networks as well as many production companies.
Marc Hurd, vice president, technical and production operation at CBS Television City, said one of the reasons it chose the UTAH-400XL is its ability to handle multiple signal types, including analog signals from legacy sources.
During the implementation process, Utah Scientific engineers worked closely with CBS to customize several system features, including enabling preset of multiple destinations on the soft panels, and the addition of colored alert lights to the hard panels so an operator can instantly see whether the router is working from the preset or the direct source.
With the Utah Scientific-based system, CBS Television City engineers no longer have to stop and think where a signal is sourced or which router it's on. Also, a series of Utah Scientific soft panels have eliminated the need to build, rebuild and patch circuits for individual productions, because setups can be saved and recalled repeatedly and without errors.
The UTAH-400/XL HD router, housed in a 1056 x 1056 frame, was loaded with 528 inputs and 528 outputs when it was installed, but within three weeks had been expanded to 528 x 563. Rounding out the purchase was Utah Scientific SC-4 control software, and a MC-4000 two-channel master control system with an MCP-2020 control panel. The Utah Scientific master control system is used to insert graphics and lower thirds into the network feed from New York, which is then returned for distribution to CBS affiliates nationwide.
