KGW-TV, the Belo-owned NBC affiliate in Portland, OR, has installed a Calrec Omega with Bluefin audio console and Hydra Network to support its transition from analog to digital audio, which coincides with the station's move to HD production in January.
The station is using the Calrec digital audio board to create and store setups for different shows, which is especially important for the station because of the requirement to meet the fast-paced demands of local news coverage.
KGW-TV went through a four-year process of evaluating consoles and budgeting before settling on the Omega, said station director of technology Eric Dausman. That time was well-spent, because when the station was ready to add a new console to support its transition to local HD production, the features it sought were available in the Omega, he said.
Calrec's Omega console is equipped with 160 channel-processing paths managed on one DSP card, which means a lot of power can be packed into a small frame. Omega with Calrec's Bluefin High Density Signal Processing (HDSP) has eight 5.1 surround, stereo or mono audio groups; 20 auxiliary outputs, which can be 20 mono or 10 stereo; and 48 outputs for multitrack general purpose feeds. The console also has two main stereo or 5.1 surround program outputs with full EQ and compressor/limiter facilities.
At KGW-TV, the Hydra Network currently connects the Omega console to two studios, one dedicated to news and one to special productions. The station plans to add a second Omega console that will also be linked to the Hydra.
For more information, visit www.calrec.com.
