Grass Valley’s Kayenne switcher
Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By David Casper
The new switchers support today’s multifaceted productions.
Grass Valley’s Kayenne switchers offer broadcasters 1.5 to 4.5 M/E, with unique functionality, such as six keyers per M/E.
When the design team at Grass Valley set out to develop the next generation of production switchers, it understood that any new platform would have to meet the demands of today's more complex productions, supporting sophisticated, multilayered effects and HD signal processing.
Most importantly, the switcher control panel had to be laid so its new features were immediately familiar to technical directors, whether or not they were used to working on a Grass Valley switcher.
The result is the 1.5 to 4.5M/E Kayenne video production center, which offers a wide range of solutions to address operators' pressing concerns. The switchers feature unique operational functionality such as six keyers per M/E, 20 DPM channels, define E-MEM, aux bus transitions and source rules.
Switcher operators not only have to be the creative person answering to the director, but also the mechanic who knows how to get the most out of the switcher panel in front of them. The solution has to be easy to use and powerful, which is why Kayenne includes a highly intuitive user interface.
This ease of use starts with source rules, which allow an operator to set specific rules regarding how to handle different program elements. At a live football game, a broadcaster would never show a “live” bug over a replay. With Kayenne, the operator can now preprogram the keys that should be added or dropped to match specific sources. These source rules can also be used on preview before being taken to air. Previously, the operator had to remember these implicit or explicit rules according to a director's wishes and then apply them. Source rules make this laborious task easy and protects against errors, providing a safety net for operators.
All of the features, menu items and buttons are more easily accessible on the control surface. The menu navigation structure has been simplified to enable TDs to do more with less button pushes. With new tools like “History” and “Favorites” — which mimic Internet browsers — the TD can recall a desired menu with a single selection using the newly designed widescreen touch-screen control panel. Navigation is fast and easy, enabling the operator to assign and then return to a favorite menu item at will.
A vibrant yet elegant control panel
The new control surface is perhaps the switcher's most visible attribute. Several ergonomic studies and prototype models were used to develop a control panel that makes switching sources and effects easy, even after long hours of operation. Its modular design affects how the switcher can be used as well as how it can be serviced. All of the modules are hot-swappable, so if one component fails, it will not affect the entire panel and can easily be replaced during production.
The panel can be curved or flat, depending on the installer's preference, making all of the buttons easy to see and reach. Two rows of configurable OLED source and function name displays provide crisp legibility at a wide range of viewing angles. All panel buttons are RGB. Color is used to aid the technical director by indicating M/E stripe and key row delegation, as well as functional delegation, and can be used to highlight sources.
Soft buttons feature a four-character LED display above them. The LED titles tell the operator which function is assigned, and the button color indicates the overall mode of operation.
By incorporating all three elements — OLEDs, RGB buttons and soft buttons — the system is simple to operate.
The features TDs need most
For many years the goal has been to add more features into the TD's toolbox. Kayenne offers 20 channels of DVE available at the touch of a button, as well as six keyers per M/E to support multilayer effects. It also includes one minute of HD storage for stills and clips, which is especially useful for animated transitions. This is all accomplished by leveraging leading-edge FPGA technology.
In addition, the switcher features several new control functions. It has a panel module dedicated to external device control, complete with a jog shuttle wheel, and access to a library of cues. These cues identify clips by device, name, duration (time code), etc. Cues can be recalled from an E-MEM directly or by being manually loaded from the device control module and then played in conjunction with an E-MEM.
The entire E-MEM system has also been improved for better performance. There's a finer granularity and more precise control, where the operator has access to 23 sublevels within each M/E. Prior to this new development, an E-MEM took a snapshot of the whole M/E. Now the TD can keyframe one iDPM channel or a single key without affecting the rest of the M/E. This flexibility allows a TD to build more interesting effects in less time.
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