BVTBC10 delivers SDI conversion solution for new high school TV studio

The studio’s designer, a parent in the district who is a video expert working for Wolf Coach, relied on the Keywest Technology BVTBC10 to convert analog camera sources that are fed to SDI switcher inputs.

by Emeric Feldmar
System Integration Manager
Wolf Coach Inc.

When Shrewsbury, Mass., allocated money for a new, “state-of-the-art” high school and included a budget for a television studio, I volunteered to design the facility. Being a community member and parent with two children in the school system, it made sense because I am the System Integration Manager for Wolf Coach, Inc., and have been involved in the television industry for more than 20 years. I saw this project as the perfect way to give something back to my community.

I decided I would design as much of a facility as I could within budget constraints and wanted to plan for a digital future for the plant. The facility has a studio, control room, four edit rooms, a director’s office and support areas. I decided to use the Ross Synergy 100 digital switcher.

Since most of the equipment would initially be analog, I would have to do an A/D conversion into the switcher, and a D/A conversion for the outputs. I chose Keywest Technology for these tasks. In my experience, Keywest Technology provided a high quality, reliable and cost-effective solution for my conversion needs.

I chose the Keywest Technology BVTBC10 TBC/Frame synchronizer. Within the space of two rack units, I have eight BVTBC10s. The units have both analog composite and Y/C inputs, which are selectable from the front panel.

Studio cameras are fed to the Y/C inputs, and the 16x16 Leitch router feeds the composite inputs. The BVTBC10 converts the signal to SDI to feed the eight primary inputs to the Synergy Switcher. In this way, any router or patch source can be sent to the switcher at time. The switcher program and preview SDI outputs are fed to Keywest Technology LVS2V for 8-bit conversion to analog for monitoring.

The result for the high school is a studio that is ready for any new SDI sources that are acquired in the future. The flexibility that we have to route sources into the switcher allows us to dynamically set up the switcher to accommodate a variety of shows and productions.

This setup has given the school an excellent way to work with students and teach the concepts of conversion, routing and patching. It is unusual for a high school to have an opportunity to build a facility like this from the ground up.

Bob Cornacchioli, the technology director of the Shrewsbury Schools, saw this opportunity and has built a first class broadcast facility within a high school environment.