Pacific Television Center (PacTV), a provider of global transmission and live broadcast production services, has installed several new products from FOR-A Corporation of America at its Los Angeles facility, including: three FRC-7000 HD frame rate converters, two HVS-300RPS 1/ME multi-format production switchers, and one MBP-100SX MXF clip server.
With facilities in Los Angeles, New York, and London, PacTV provides live broadcast production and transmission via satellite and high-speed fiber. Live sports telecasts, satellite media tours, and news pool feeds are among the many services PacTV offers. On a typical day, celebrities, authors, and other newsmakers come to PacTV’s Los Angeles studio, sit before the camera, and join live shows on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, among other major broadcast networks to discuss hot topics or plug their latest books and movies.
“The core of our business is transmitting whatever live shots or TV programs are needed by broadcasters around the world. These events are often very high-profile sports and entertainment events like Premier League football or the MTV Video Music Awards,” said Jakob Nielsen, project coordinator for Pacific Television Center in Los Angeles.
“We rely heavily on our FRC-7000 frame rate converters to handle whatever signal format conversion is needed by our diverse, global clientele,” said Nielsen. “With advanced features like vector motion compensation and automatic scene cut detection, the FRC-7000 handles technically demanding signal conversion cost effectively, without introducing artifacts.”
One of PacTV’s three FOR-A FRC-7000 HD frame rate converters was used from Oct. 3-14, 2010 to “back-haul” the Commonwealth Games from Delhi, India to CBC, a major Canadian broadcast network. This transmission, which ran for 10 days, involved real-time conversion. Nielsen called it “a flawless operation.”
With regard to the production switchers, the FOR-A HVS-300RPS 1 M/E, HD/SD switchers replaced older analog switchers. While the studios are primarily configured for one HD broadcast camera, multi-camera shoots are booked as well, and the new FOR-A switchers are integral to producing these live shots.
The HVS-300RPS supports up to 12 inputs and 8 outputs of standard HD/SD-SDI, and offers a built-in frame synchronizer and resizing engine for handling non-synchronized HD/SD inputs without external devices.
For Network Ten, a major broadcast network in Australia, PacTV installed a FOR-A MBP-100SX MXF clip server so that their Sydney-based client could download episodes of the syndicated American shows they air, such as “Raising Hope,” “Lie To Me,” “The Simpsons,” and “Glee.”
