On March 6 Snell & Wilcox and Pro-Bel announced they would be merging to form one company. And just recently they debuted the new company name — Snell.
Representatives from both companies formed a unified front at NAB 2009 under the new name, and there were plenty of new products to see, including Pro-Bel's 800 series.
The 800 series is a SD/HD/3Gbps routing switcher that delivers the features and functions sophisticated buyers demand while eliminating the need to trade off between features. It enables up to 1152 x 1152 inputs and outputs, a redundant crosspoint architecture, and auxiliary outputs for external devices such as multiviewers — all at the same time.
Snell also debuted a new newsroom automation system based on its Kahuna SD/HD multiformat production switcher. Deploying technology from Mosart Medialab, the Snell newsroom automation system tightly integrates with newsroom computer systems via a MOS gateway and controls an array of production gear, including the Kahuna production switcher, robotic cameras, audio mixers, video servers, graphics, routers, lights, multiviewer displays, and more.
The switcher enables simultaneous SD and HD operations in the same mainframe, and automatically mixes content feeds from any source or format into the news broadcast. The fully integrated system gives producers complete control over the newscast and enables them to drive various devices with the press of a button. The system's easy-to-use graphical interface offers clear and intuitive news rundowns, views of all story elements, and countdowns to the next story.
To see these products and more, check out the Snell booth at NAB. And view this video featuring Neil Maycock, who discusses the integration of the Snell & Wilcox and Pro-Bel product lines.