Remote broadcast production giant NEP picked up 60 frame sync/signal converters from AGA Video in Grass Valley, Calif., the latter company said. Pittsburgh-based NEP, with its fleet of trucks, bought AJA’s FS1, a universal HD/SD A/V frame-sync and converter device.
AJA reports that NEP encountered the FS1 when the broadcast truck company was seeking real-time format conversion gear for the Super Bowl telecast. NEP needed to convert the feed from 720p to 1080i for international transmissions. It found the FS1’s through AJA’s distribution partner, Joseph Electronics, with outlets in Illinois and California.
NEP Chief Technical Officer George Hoover said the FS1 provided the flexibility to be an upconverter, a downconverter or an audio embedder, for example.
“So instead of buying a $50,000 box that might get used once or twice a year to handle one of these tasks,” Hoover said, “I now have a reasonably priced box that is highly adaptable for a variety of uses.”
