NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—TSL Products is shifting the focus of its R&D efforts temporarily to support broadcasters responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by changing workflows to accommodate stay-at-home directives.

“We have many customers across the United States who use our Flex Control Network for critical production and playout in news-based hub-and-spoke systems that connect network stations,” said Fred Scott, U.S. regional sales manager at TSL Products and former sales director for DNF Controls before its April 2019 acquisition by TSL.  

“Due to heightened demands in remote broadcasts, we recently altered our R&D to service our Flex customers and assist them in response to the pandemic,” he said.

The company has added a feature called “Web Keys,” which is available for any DNF-powered Universal Switch Panel within the Flex Network and allows users to control devices in hub-and-spoke installations around the country from home, he said.

The company also noted that it has adopted a work-from-home strategy. “All employees, other than those manufacturing products, are working from home,” said Mark Davies, director of product and technology at TSL Products. “Our sales, product and support teams are still working with customers in full capacity.”

“On the manufacturing side, we have only essential staff in place, allowing those who cannot work efficiently from home to practice safe social distancing,” he added. 

More information is available on the TSL Products website.

MARLOW, U.K. AND NORTHRIDGE, CALIF. – TSL Products, a U.K.-based provider of broadcast workflow solutions, has acquired DNF Controls, a U.S.-based company developer of broadcast control systems. TSL says the merger will allow the company to expand its presence in the broadcast control systems market for customers worldwide, and to offer audio and power solutions locally to the Americas. The TSL and DNF teams will be exhibiting together at the 2019 NAB Show in TSL’s new position in the South Lower Hall, Stand SL4621.

The merged company will give DNF customers in the U.S. with increased access to TSL’s complete product range, offering audio and power solutions in addition to control systems, with the ability to place orders and utilize its support department in Northridge, Calif.. Meanwhile, TSL will be able to add further functionality to their systems with DNF’s dedicated hardware control panel and integration capabilities.

“We are excited to work together as one with DNF Controls,” says Chris Exelby, Managing Director, TSL Products. “Our values and mission are aligned in the strong belief of empowering the end-user to have complete control of their system. We can now accomplish this by providing the most modern, compatible, expandable system available, and by offering a wide range of user-friendly controllers, panels and virtual interfaces. Both TSL and DNF are built from strong engineering roots and have a combined 60+ years in delivering systems for customers worldwide.”

NORTHRIDGE, CA.--Maryland Public Television recently installed a large-scale DNF Controls Tally Manager system as part of a major facility upgrade orchestrated by system integrator Digital Video Group.

DVG upgraded MPT’s main production control room with a 4 M/E Grass Valley Karerra switcher and Kaleido multiviewer system, plus a Utah Scientific 528x528 hybrid router, according to Joe Davenport, Digital Video Group’s vice president of engineering.

“Maryland Public Television generates hours of live and recorded local content each week, plus programming for PBS, so the entire project – from installation and testing to commissioning and training – was on a tight, two-week schedule, with DNF’s Tally Manager system a key interface between the Grass and Utah elements. Adding to the challenge, the room transitioned from CRTs with under-monitor displays to state-of-the-art multi-viewers, so the new tally control had to display multiple levels of four ME switcher status and exceed their old system’s functionality.”

DNF’s Tally Manager Control System is easy to set up, use and maintain, according to the company. Its modular architecture and web-based configuration tools optimize efficiency and permit individual device changes without impacting the whole operation. It can send tallies to a remote truck, between rooms within a facility, across town, or anywhere in the world with IP connectivity.

MARLOW, England — TSL Products, a broadcast workflow solutions manufacturer — has entered into a strategic OEM partnership with DNF Controls — a Northridge, Calif.,-based provider of machine control solutions — which will integrate elements of both companies’ products.

By virtue of this partnership, both companies hope to expand their respective products’ control functionality, improve the user experience and fuel operational growth.

TSL will use DNF’s customizable, standalone hardware control panels to enhance the functionality of its TallyMan advanced broadcast control system, which allows operators to simplify complex, third-party broadcast equipment workflows by creating highly configurable presets. With this control system integration, TallyMan customers will now be able to use any button on a control surface to send triggers that activate controls on other devices.

“DNF’s extensive control capabilities and wealth of knowledge and experience will allow us to add expanded functionality to our control systems, especially for simple, stand-alone applications,” says Dan Bailey, product manager — control systems, TSL Products. “This partnership allows us to make these solutions available to our customers and expand into areas that we less commonly operate, such as transmission of playout.”

DNF will also use TSL’s technology to expand and streamline the user interface to its virtual panels. DNF hardware solutions include: AnyWhere Interface Boxes (AIB), equipped with fast Ethernet and 8 to 16 GPI/O inputs/outputs for managing control; Universal Switch Panels (USP) that simplify operations and reduce errors; and the Rundown Playout System Driver that provides four server channels and a router or production switcher for newscast automation.

According to Dan Fogel, CTO of DNF, “We’ve worked together in the past and our products complement each other, so it just makes sense for DNF and TSL to strategically work together in this mutually beneficial partnership.”

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NORTHRIDGE, CALIF.—A collaboration between DNF Controls and 360 Systems will create a new systems bundle for scheduled record/playout of video server-based program and commercial content. The bundle combines DNF’s SPS server management series and 360’s TSS video server series.

SPS 4200

The SPS is a server management system for calendar-based acquisition and play-to-air scheduling. It offers time-of-day, back-to-back, manual and remotely triggered playout, as well as secondary events using GPI/O or optional protocols to control routers, master control switchers and graphics. It also has drag and drop functionality for playlist modification, even when a list is running.

The combined DNF/360 bundle is now available.

LAS VEGAS—DNF Controls will come to the 2017 NAB Show with a wide range of controllers designed to help broadcasters simplify, virtualize and migrate to full IP control. These hardware/software solutions can drive traditional video devices ranging from production switchers, multiviewers, graphics, KVM routers, servers and tally systems, while tackling the challenges of virtualization, IP infrastructure and the cloud.

GTP-30

One product enabling full IP control is the DNF GTP-30, a modular, scalable unit that offers the workhorse power of the company’s GTP-32, without the physical I/O. The company will also show a software-only edition of the GTP-30 with full IP control over video/KVM routers, production switchers, multiviewers, servers DDRs, graphic devices tally systems and more.

DNF’s GTP-32 control processor has been enhanced with options to simplify linking control rooms to studios or remote sites for control of on-air camera tallies and profanity delay systems, along with a virtual mode providing full functioned emulation of a SAM or Evertz router.

The company will also showcase the ST600-KIPRO Ethernet-based tactile control panel for AJA’s Ki Pro DDRs, which supports up to four units with full transport control to record, play, stop, rewind, fast-forward and jog, among other operational capabilities. They will also display the SPYDER Shotbox, now with support function keys, and the DPI signal monitoring system with a new live mode for use when an automation playlist doesn’t have to be monitored.

The 2017 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 24-27. DNF Controlswill be in boothN3927. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

NORTHRIDGE, CALIF.—DNF Controls is getting in on the Olympic festivities that are set to kick off this weekend, announcing that it is supplying a U.S. broadcaster with an ingest management system. The network will utilize DNF’s device controllers at its recording facilities in both Rio de Janeiro and in New England; each facility is configured for 64 simultaneous ingest channels.

The systems are built around DNF’s Flex Control Network and include multiple DC21 device controllers and CP20 panels to manage the 64-channel configuration. Incoming feeds will be shared between two work pods per location, each of which will display the status of its record channels. The entire system features a DNF-driven LCD panel that provides an at-a-glance status of all 64 channels.

The 2016 Summer Olympics begin tonight, Aug. 5, and run through Aug. 21 in Rio de Janeiro.

Read more about how broadcasters are covering the Rio Games at our Live@TheRioOlympics social media hub.

NORTHRIDGE, CALIF.—Camera shading now has a one button-press technology after a recent collaboration between DNF Controls and CNN. According to Dan Fogel, DNF chief technology officer, the company was able to help CNN’s Los Angeles production center remove a manual step in the camera shading workflow that would often cause errors in the coverage of live events.

To help with this new technology, DNF used its GTP-32 control processor. With the processor, a signal from the Sony panel triggers the correct router crosspoint, which then sends that camera’s video to the shading monitor.

DNF Controls is a device control interface provider, offering human-to-human and machine-to-machine systems.

NORTHRIDGE, CALIF.—DNF Controls returns to Content & Communications World this year to showcase new versions of its AnyWhere Interface Box and Universal Switch Panel.

Designed for live sports and other remote broadcasts, the AIB series of products provides up to 16 GPI inputs and 16 GPO outputs in a 1 RU frame. It also features multiple control paths, including Ethernet, a two-way audio channel, and plain old telephone lines, to maximize operational flexibility at the remote broadcast site for control and monitoring of local and remote devices.

USP3

DNF will also display its latest version of the Universal Switch Panel. The USP3 features individually configurable button functions and display characteristics.

DNF Controls is a supplier of device control interfaces. To find out more about what it will have on display at CCW 2015, visit booth 1152. CCW 2015 takes place from Nov. 11-12 in New York.