READING, U.K. — Oct. 20, 2009 — Broadcast television system design and integration specialist Neil Wilson Enterprises (NWE) has integrated Snell routing and control systems at the heart of a newly refurbished and upgraded HD unit for CTV Outside Broadcast (CTV OB), one of Europe's largest and most respected independent OB companies. CTV OB's "OB4" is a unique quadruple expando, originally engineered and integrated by NWE for the light entertainment market, and it is the last of three CTV OB units converted by NWE to meet the demands of HD production and broadcasting.

"In the highly competitive U.K. OB market, it's important to keep downtime to a minimum, and so the key challenge was to design and build a system that fully satisfied customer requirements within the tight delivery schedule specified," said Neil Wilson, engineering director at Neil Wilson Enterprises. "To achieve this goal, we needed a routing system that met our performance specifications while minimizing installation hassles. The Snell systems fit the bill, as they are priced keenly while still offering a full level of resilience and redundancy backup, an important factor now that OB design has become reliant on routing infrastructure."

Within OB4, a large 576 x 576 Cygnus HD video router is coupled with a powerful 192 x 192 Sirius 256 AES/EBU audio router, commanded by an updated Aurora Control system with refurbished control panels from the original truck design and new control panels from the Snell 6700 and 6276XY range. Snell's Cygnus and Sirius routing systems enabled a smooth installation, integrating and operating just as expected. The multiformat routers enable seamless operation in either the HD or SD domain with very rapid conversion between the two formats.

NWE also upgraded the truck to include HD signal monitoring and Dolby 5.1 digital audio support that satisfies today's extensive multichannel audio requirements. Because the new Snell systems support a convenient upgrade path to 1080p (3 Gbps) operation, CTV OB can easily adapt its truck to 3 Gbps as dictated by customer requirements.

"We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Snell for more than 15 years, and we have always found the company's products to be well-made, reliable, and equipped to meet our clients' expectations," added Wilson. "Ease of configuration, reliable performance, and responsive support are crucial in getting complex systems like these up and running in a short timescale, and we enjoy all of these benefits when working with Snell and the company's wide range of solutions."

More information about products from Snell is available online at www.snellgroup.com.     

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About Snell:
Established in 2009 through the merger of Pro-Bel and Snell & Wilcox, Snell is a market-leading player in the global film and broadcast market. The company provides customers with a comprehensive range of solutions for the creation, management, and distribution of content, as well as the tools necessary to transition seamlessly and cost-effectively to digital, HDTV, and beyond. Headquartered in the U.K., the company serves more than 2,000 active customers in more than 100 countries through a worldwide team of sales and support personnel. For more information, visit www.snellgroup.com.             

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ENDS