ACCESS HOLLYWOOD INSTALLS FOR-A FA-395 FRAME SYNCH/TBC TO REFERENCE-LOCK LIVE SATELLITE INTERVIEWS

Lip Sync Issues Also Addressed

Jan 26th, 2005

BURBANK, CA, January 26, 2005 - NBC's hit entertainment magazine, Access Hollywood has installed FOR-A Corporation of America's FA-395 Frame Synchronizer/Time Base Corrector, it was announced today by Erick Diaz, Technical Manager, Access Hollywood.The decision to implement the FA-395 comes during the show's ninth season in national syndication..

The installation of the FA-395 is part of the overall initiative at Access Hollywood to streamline the show's time synchronization without any video break-up or lip-sync complication to the signal received at the show's studio in Burbank.

The frame sync locks the incoming signal to our production switcher, so that we can play it back in the show, do cuts, wipes, and dissolves without any reference locking issues, said Diaz.We do a lot of live interviews, with the on-set talent talking to movie stars or those in the TV business, via satellite. We can take in feeds from anywhere. We also have a lot of clips coming in from the New York Bureau at 30 Rockefeller Center, and can lock any signal coming in and go live.

Access Hollywood was left without a dedicated frame sync for incoming satellite feeds when it moved in July 2003 from its home in Studio 5 to renovated and digitally upgraded Studio 1, once the home of The Johnny Carson Show.

When Access Hollywood was located in Studio 5, the show used Tektronix 210 frame synchronizers on its two lines from NBC Burbanks Master Grid routing switcher. But after the move, the show relied on transmission from the networks Central Hub to take in their feed and lock it to house plant reference. According to Diaz, Eighty percent of the time, it didnt happen. We would have reference delay lock issues. Our producers would complain that they couldnt do dissolves and cuts.

Access Hollywood was already familiar with FOR-A, with six CCS4360 color correctors and one old CCS4200 color corrector in use.Access Hollywood installed the new FOR-A FA-395 Frame Sync in July 2004 in their equipment racks for impending Olympics coverage.

It was a very seamless installation, Diaz said. Its been so solid from the beginning that we have not had a problem where we needed support from FOR-A.

The new frame sync is connected to one of the Access Hollywood dedicated Master Grid feeds, which are analog. The analog output of the FA-395 is then fed to an analog-to-digital converter before hitting the digital video switcher. The FA-395 also has SDI inputs and outputs, one factor in the devices favor, and a feature that Access Hollywood could use as other portions of NBC Burbank convert to digital. The fact that we can do digital was more than we had before, but we also gain audio flexibility, Diaz said.

A key feature of the FA-395 that attracted Access Hollywood was the incorporation of audio delay in the 1RU unit. Lip sync is the most crucial part for us, Diaz said. The old Tektronix frame sync didnt have audio, and lip sync issues were a problem. Now, the FA-395 handles both the audio and video in one unit. We set up the device once, lock in the audio, set the delay, and let it go. Its very easy.

Diaz also didnt want to buy a card slot frame sync for this application. With a single frame box, we can use a remote control panel dedicated to that one device, he said. With multiple card slotted devices, you could inevitably end up controlling something that you shouldnt. Having a separate unit makes it as simple as possible.

Diaz installed the FOR-A FA-350RU remote control for the FA-395 at the Technical Directors position, which allows for the flexibility of adjusting any lip sync issues on the fly.

In one unique application, Diaz noted that someone came up with the idea of having a Nintendo game cube display put on the big video wall, through our switcher, and the FA-395 handled it perfectly.

About the FA-395:

The FA-395 is FOR-As newest Frame Synchronizer/Time Base Corrector, and supports analog composite, analog component, digital component, digital audio, and analog audio I/O. The unit permits switching between RS-232C for PC control, RS-422 for remote control, and a special remote terminal. Other standard features are GPI control and a remote terminal for connecting up to 100 different units (from FA-350 to FA-395 Series units). The FA-395 features frame-correlated recursive filtering on both Y and C for noise reduction (NR), full-frame memory to prevent picture field inversion, 10-bit digital encoder/decoder for improved bit precision and stability, and 4:2:2 digital component system for internal signal processing.

About FOR-A

FOR-A is a major manufacturer and distributor of audio and video systems to the broadcast, postproduction and professional video markets. For more information about FOR-As product line, call 1-714-894-3311 or visit our web site at www.for-a.com.