Crystal Vision has revealed that 165 of its interface boards are being used in the newly upgraded Studio Four at BBC Television Centre.

Included in the bundle are 20 Up-and-Down converters and 13 Q-Down123 short-delay down converters.

The Up-and-Downs will convert existing legacy SD equipment to HD while the Q-Downs will provide SD feeds when the studio is in HD mode.

The rest of the boards are made up of distribution amplifiers, synchronisers, colour correctors, embedders and PAL converters.

The boards are mainly housed in Indigo 4SE 4U frames - selected because they offer the highest density of boards, ideal for BBC Studios where there is limited space for rack equipment.

Control comes from the Statesman PC software, with BBC Studios using the Signal Path add-on which provides a view of the system based on the way the boards are used - rather than their rack location - to graphically monitor its signal paths.

The equipment was ordered and installed by Dega Broadcast Systems, with the studio going on air in early September.

BBC Studios, part of BBC Resources, is investing nearly two million pounds in HD cameras, lenses, vision and monitoring equipment to support its entertainment production customers.

Studio Four comprises 8,000 square feet and is home to A Question of Sport, The Jonathan Ross Show and ITV1's The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Based near Cambridge, Crystal Vision provides digital keyers, picture storage modules and a full range of interface equipment including converters, decoders, encoders, distribution amplifiers and audio embedders to the broadcasting industry.

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