READING, U.K. —New Mexico PBS, located at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, is using a Snell Kahuna SD/HD multi-format production switcher in its new HD production control room and studio. The Kahuna provides the reliability, ease of use and image quality that New Mexico PBS required for its video production facilities, in addition to improving the efficiency of the overall workflow.
“We produce both public affairs programs and documentaries with live studio content, so video production is a very important part of what we do,” said Jim Gale, director of engineering and operations at New Mexico PBS. Gale said that the station evaluated its option before settling on the Snell switcher because “at a facility like ours, it is important to invest in both a product and company that will be around for the next 15 years.”
Kahuna is a multi-format SD/HD production switcher. An internal resizing engine allows it to handle any format or aspect ratio on the fly, and Snell’s FormatFusion technology enables simultaneous SD and HD operations in the same mainframe and on the same control panel. This simplifies the HD transition by eliminating the need for external up/down/crossconverters, as well as the cost and signal-path delay associated with these products. Kahuna’s three M/E banks, with four tiers of effects per bank, make 12 keys possible, and the staff relies on the switcher’s chroma key and on the four built-in two-channel DVEs.
