UK-based Gearhouse Broadcast has purchased 96 LYNX Technik yellobrik CDH 1811 SDI-to-HDMI converters for use in the 2010 World Cup international broadcast center in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The yellobrik CDH 1811 converters are being used as monitoring solutions to convert SDI signals to HDMI to drive 23in and 46in HDMI displays. SDI video inputs from a multiviewer and a routing switcher are fed through the yellobrik converters onto 1920 x 1080 Sony, LG and Samsung monitors as standard HDMI signals for reference monitoring and display of incoming game feeds.
The enhanced audio de-embedding feature of the converters also enables Gearhouse Broadcast’s clients to drive several separate audio monitors. Any two of the 16 supported audio channels from an incoming video signal can be de-embedded and output as digital AES or analog audio, or embedded into the HDMI output.
“After a shootout with several other products, the HDMI signal quality from the yellobrik SDI-to-HDMI converters proved to be superior,” said Kevin Moorhouse, chief operating officer for Gearhouse Broadcast, Gravity Media Group. “The audio functionality was also extremely important to us, and the ability to easily switch to various AES audio groups was a unique feature in the yellobrik converter. It also offers a looping HD-SDI output, which is useful for feeding additional displays from the same SDI source.”
Also unique to the CDH 1811 yellobrik is its selectable time code and metadata overlay mode. The converter detects and displays time code formats, indicates audio presence and also detects the presence of key metadata parameters in the incoming SDI stream.
All user controls are located on the top of the module and are clearly labeled and easily accessible. This facilitates simple changes to module function and configuration without referring to a manual. Audio selection is facilitated using the integrated rotary switch.