The Kalypso HD and Kayenne video production center switchers from Grass Valley both include features that make them suitable for live production of 3-D telecasts. To date, the company said that at least three major live sports events were produced with Grass Valley Kalypso HD switchers and more are planned for this fall.
The Kalypso HD and Kayenne switchers both include such features as DoubleTake, a split M/E mode that allows operators to partition primary and secondary M/E channels to synchronize images to produce true stereoscopic 3-D effects, and Buss Linking. Using these tools, first introduced by Grass Valley in the Kalypso, live 3-D production is as straightforward as 2-D production.
The Kalypso switcher features four keyers per M/E, so for 3-D production, the two additional background busses (Utility 1 and Utility 2) are used in addition to the A and B busses normally used for an M/E effect. This process is made better on the new Kayenne switcher, which provides an additional half M/E and six keyers on each M/E buss. In this case, more M/Es and more keyers mean more resources available for an M/E and as much layering capability as a typical 2-D production.
This allows operators to perform a split M/E production for 3-D in which a primary feed and secondary feed are separated without occupying a separate M/E channel for each feed. On other switchers, this process often limits an operator using a 4M/E switcher to have access to only two full mix/effects.
