Adam Mitchell
AUBURN, MASS.—Accelerated Media Technologies is a manufacturer of SNG and ENG vehicles, and ever since our founding, we’ve been continually innovating our products. From reimagining platforms that have been the benchmark in live transmissions for decades to building on platforms never thought possible, we continue to change the SNG/ ENG world.
During the past few years, the design and construction of SNG and ENG vehicles has become very different with the development and implementation of such new technologies as 3 Gbps high-definition systems. One item hasn’t changed throughout this evolution, and that’s the requirement for a really solid, reliable television test signal generator.
Every vehicle that we deliver (as does any production house or studio) requires a color bar generator with identification and reference signals distributed throughout the system. However, our needs are somewhat specialized with physical space and weight considerations just as important as function and cost. In all of these areas, we have found that Ensemble Designs products meet and exceed our expectations.
BRIGHTEYE FILLS THE BILL
Our standard test signal generator is Ensemble’s BrightEye 56. In shopping for such a product, we discovered while there are a lot of reliable HD-SDI color bar generators out there, finding one that simultaneously generates analog black burst and balanced analog tone and also fits into a 1RU-1/3- rack width wasn’t easy. Ensemble’s BE56 met all of these requirements.
The unit provides more than 30 HD and SD test signals, as well as tri-level sync, and the generator’s timecode can be slaved to an incoming signal. It also generates a pair of AES tones. The BrightEye’’s PC GUI is incredibly intuitive and lets us quickly customize each of the BE56s we use. If there’s a requirement for a quick change in the field, the front panel controls allow even a novice truck operator to augment the setup. And BrightEye 56’s low price point couldn’t be touched by its competitors.
In our mobile units with modular frames, the Ensemble Designs Avenue 7400 card series provides all of the functions of the BE56 and more. In addition to analog black burst and tone, the 7400 provides two independent generators, adding a whole level of flexibility to our designs. With this package, trucks with dedicated simultaneous SD and HD paths can have both flavors of color bars without downstream converters, and the GPS option provides a very precise frequency reference. The 7400’s multiple timecode generators can provide multiformat balanced and unbalanced signals to meet any requirement, and as an added feature for the truck world, there’s a retainer bar to hold the cards in place, no matter how much bumping and jostling they might get on the road.
Adam Mitchell is the director of systems engineering at Accelerated Media Technologies. He may be contacted atamitchell@acceleratedmt.com.
For additional information, contact Ensemble Designs at 530-478-1830 or visitwww.ensembledesigns.com.
