Italy's SBP, a European broadcast services company has selected the Snell & Wilcox SD/HD Kahuna multiformat production switcher for its latest mobile production unit. The company said its mobile unit, which began operations in March, uses the Kahuna to output programs seamlessly in SD, HD, and any broadcast standard, enabling customers to cover live events.
The Kahuna system in SBP's largest mobile production unit is fully loaded with DVE options and eight channels of 3D DVE effects, providing up to 24 separate SD or HD images that can be manipulated independently, according to the company. It has a dedicated FormatFusion engine, and each M/E bank features four keyers able to perform luma, linear, and chroma keying; five transition wipe generators; a still store and RAM recorder; RGB color correction; two utility buses; and DMEM capability.
"First-rate coverage of live concerts and other high-profile productions demands exceptional performance from the production switcher, and we feel the Kahuna gives our operators as much control over switching and conversion as is possible," said Antonio Balsamo, SBP president and CEO. "Its ability to handle both SD and HD formats simultaneously, without the need for any external conversion gear that might introduce delay or otherwise affect image quality, was a major contributory factor in our decision."
Kahuna's compact 11 RU mainframe is the smallest ever for a switcher with its capabilities, which features a lightweight design, low power consumption and low heat generation to make an ideal solution for space- and weight-sensitive mobile production vehicles, according to the company. In addition to the recent integration of the Kahuna, there are also 27 HD cameras and a variety of routing and control systems from Pro-Bel onboard.
