NBC Taps Snell & Wilcox for Olympics Conversion

Snell & Wilcox will provide NBC Olympics with its Alchemist Platinum Ph.C (phase correlation) and Mach 1 systems for standard def conversion in its broadcast of the summer games in Athens, Greece.

"Alchemist Platinum Ph.C's phase-correlated, motion-compensated conversion technology ensures that fast-moving action loses none of its clarity in the conversion process, giving us the cleanest, clearest pictures we can possibly obtain for our control room output," David Mazza, senior vice president of engineering for NBC Olympics said.

The platforms have 22 motion-compensated converters, including six Alchemist Platinum Ph.C converters and 16 Kudos plus Mach 1 M.Sc standards converters that will reside in at the Olympics' International Broadcast Centre (IBC) to convert outgoing signals and some incoming feeds between 625 and 525 SD formats. The Mach 1 converters will convert backup outgoing signals at the IBC and will be housed in edit rooms and at various Olympics venues for conversion of source material shot in 525.