LA City College Goes HD With FOR-A

11.19.2009

The Cinema-Television Department at Los Angeles City College is converting its studio to HD, and a FOR-A HVS-1500HS digital video switcher with an HVS-16OUB 16-button control panel is at the center of that effort.

Students at L.A. City College gather around the For-A HVS-1500HS.

The 1.5-M/E HVS-1500HS features 16 inputs, four stillstores and six keyers and is switchable between HD and SD formats. The new For-A switcher is in the renovated Studio B, along with a new Compix HD character generator, a Sony HVR-M15U VTR and three Panasonic AG-HPX500 camcorders.

In all, the department has two television studios and a cinema soundstage, plus multiple computer editing labs, three screening rooms, a scene dock and carpentry and machine shops.

Rolf Mendez, a professor in the Cinema-Television Department, credits the new HVS-1500HS with increased interest in chroma-key use for student projects.

“Now, we have the capabilities of six-chroma keys where before we had only one,” he said. “The ease of use of the For-A switcher has even encouraged our beginning students to experiment with chroma-key shots that were, up to now, time consuming and tedious to set up. This comfort level with the FOR-A switcher will only encourage students to advance more quickly in the Intermediate class and enable our students to have an advantage when competing for their first jobs in the industry."

When one component from another vendor failed to convert a digital video signal, FOR-A even provided a new converter, the FOR-A MC-10AD, Mendez said.