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3sixtymedia Standardizes on Snell & Wilcox Kahuna
SD/HD Multiformat Production Switcher
May 27, 2008
Source: Snell & Wilcox
3sixtymedia has installed four Snell &
Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD multiformat production switchers at The
Manchester Studios, standardizing its three studios and the
Starlight Theatre on the Kahuna system. 3sixtymedia produces
live entertainment programs for leading U.K. television broadcasters
such as ITV and the BBC, and by standardizing on the Kahuna,
the company achieves considerable efficiency in adapting its
studios and workflow to meet the requirements of these different
productions.
"With its open architecture and support for both SD and
HD, the Kahuna provides a superior all-around production switching
package for production at our Manchester facility," said
Paul Bennett, director of northern resources for ITV Productions.
"We enjoy the ease with which we can configure the switcher
and extend its functionality through remote panels. This versatility
has allowed us to increase the complexity and sophistication
of our live entertainment productions, and the feedback from
our operators has been very positive. The support provided
by Snell & Wilcox is outstanding, and we feel that the
value for our investment in the Kahuna switcher is unmatched
within the industry."
Like the Kahuna production switchers installed in Studio 8
and Studio 12, a 4-M/E switcher newly installed in Studio
6 features a separate master auxiliary panel, six remote auxiliary
panels, four channels of DVE, and an 80-input option. The
2-M/E Kahuna system installed in the Starlight Theatre ensures
compatibility across the facility's switching systems.
During the many live productions at 3sixtymedia, one operator
typically cuts the main show on the main panel while a second
switcher operator uses a master auxiliary panel to switch
floor feeds and ISO records. Using a micro panel, the second
operator can run a variety of macros, switching different
layers of keying on and off as required by the director. Additional
auxiliary panels allow the director to perform ISO switching
and enable engineering monitoring. Snell & Wilcox's integrated
IMPAKT DVE option offers 3sixtymedia operators a variety of
powerful effects including spheres, slabs, zooms, warps, tiling,
ripples, rolls and peels, fragmentation, lighting effects,
and corner pinning.
In Studio 6, the Snell & Wilcox switcher has been used
on "The Jeremy Kyle Show" for ITV1, and in Studio
12, the Kahuna proved critical to production of the new mind-games
quiz show "BrainBox" for the BBC. For each of 20
"BrainBox" shows, 3sixtymedia used the Kahuna to
create a composite of six stills, resized and trimmed to the
aspect ratio required by the graphics team. These same images
were resized and chroma keyed in seven additional arrangements
that could be accessed instantly during production with a
macro. In the case of "BrainBox," the ability to
create complex graphics quickly and deliver them to graphics
on a USB stick allowed 3sixtymedia to incorporate an added
dynamic element to the program without employing and charging
for external equipment.
Because virtually every button on the Kahuna control surface
can be mapped using macros, standard moves are simplified
and stored as part of overall settings specific to each show.
3sixtymedia can quickly and simply transfer these profiles
among systems via USB stick, reducing configuration time and
allowing operators to work the same way on any of the facility's
four Kahuna systems without any added learning curve.
The Kahuna's future-proof design enables 3sixtymedia to work
in SD now and make a simple upgrade to multiformat SD/HD operation,
mixing SD camera feeds, graphics, handheld shots, and archive
footage directly into an HD production. The switcher's FormatFusion
technology enables internal SD/HD format conversion with less
than one frame of delay and negligible lip sync delay. As
a result, 3sixtymedia will be able to transition into HD production
while maintaining a high production standard and without investing
in external conversion and processing gear.
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