NBC Olympics to Use Snell Alchemist Standards Converters in Sochi

By Tom Butts
published

NEW YORK & SOCHI, RUSSIA–NBC Olympics will deploy Snell’s Alchemist Ph.C-HD standards converter for frame rate conversion of its 2014 Winter Olympics coverage.

The Snell system will be used to convert frame rates from the European 50Hz to the 59.94Hz U.S. television standard. In all, NBC Olympics will use 25 Snell converters in Sochi, the majority of which will be Alchemist Ph.C-HD units. Of these, several will be outfitted with the FileFlow option to enable seamless input and output of broadcast file formats. The converter now includes Alchemist On Demand, which offers instant access to Snell’s signal processing algorithms in file-based, virtualized broadcast and digital media environments.

“This marks the 6th Olympics we have used Snell Alchemist converters. We have always been able to count on the best possible conversion of the native 50Hz content, which assures us that our viewers will see the best pictures from the 2014 Olympic Winter Games on the networks of NBCUniversal,” said Dave Mazza, senior vice president of engineering for NBC Olympics.

Tom Butts
Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.