Utah Scientific HD Router Replaces Five Legacy Routers
at CBS Television City
August 31, 2010
Source: Utah Scientific
Utah Scientific announced that CBS Television
City in Los Angeles has installed a UTAH-400/XL HD routing
switcher along with associated control panels and software
at the heart of the historic production, broadcast, and transmission
facility. The digital router, with a 1056 matrix, replaces
five legacy routers, supports an infrastructure expansion,
and rationalizes a huge and complex system built piece by
piece over 30 years.
"With eight TV studios, CBS Television City is known
as the best live studio facility around, and we do work for
all the networks as well as the top production companies,"
said Marc Hurd, vice president, technical and production operation.
"We know we have a reputation to maintain, so when it
came time to buy a router, we wanted something robust, reliable,
easy to maintain, and scalable for the future."
Three principal factors contributing to CBS Television City's
choice of the UTAH-400XL: its ability to handle multiple signal
types, including analog signals from legacy sources; the manufacturer's
reputation for providing 24/7 engineering support, which is
critical to live production; and affordability both as a purchase
and over time, including Utah Scientific's unique 10-year,
no-fee warranty.
During the implementation process, Utah Scientific engineers
worked closely with CBS to customize several system features,
including enabling preset of multiple destinations on the
soft panels, and the addition of colored alert lights to the
hard panels so an operator can instantly see whether the router
is working from the preset or the direct source.
With the streamlined, Utah Scientific-based system, CBS Television
City engineers no longer have to stop and think where a signal
is sourced or which router it's on. Also, the Utah Scientific
soft panels have eliminated the need to build, rebuild, and
patch circuits for individual productions, because setups
can be saved and recalled repeatedly and without errors.
While CBS has installed Utah Scientific elsewhere in its network,
Television City is a new customer. The UTAH-400/XL HD router,
housed in a 1056x1056 frame, was loaded with 528 inputs and
528 outputs when it was installed, but within three weeks
had been expanded to 528x563.
Rounding out the purchase was Utah Scientific SC-4 control
software, and a MC-4000 two-channel master control system
with an MCP-2020 control panel. The Utah Scientific master
control system is used to insert graphics and lower thirds
into the network feed from New York, which is then returned
for distribution to CBS affiliates nationwide.
Developed as a flexible platform for applications requiring
extremely large matrix configurations, the UTAH-400/XL is
the first of its kind to offer a 1056x1056 matrix in a single
equipment rack using industry-standard BNC connectors. Also
because of its innovative architecture, the UTAH-400/XL is
readily scalable from 288x288 to 1056x1056 and beyond using
a single family of matrix building blocks. Besides offering
flexible configuration, the UTAH-400/XL saves space and energy
in comparison with other routing matrices of this size.
"CBS Television City is not only significant in the history
of broadcast but remains one of the best-known and best quality
locations for both production and transmission today,"
said Tom Harmon, president and CEO of Utah Scientific. "The
UTAH-400/XL is a large router to suit a large facility meeting
the demands of many other operations. But more importantly,
it's a smart router, flexible enough to handle multiple signal
types and modular to scale for the future."
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