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Snell & Wilcox assists transfer to digital with new products at CABSAT 2005

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Snell & Wilcox has increased its presence at CABSAT 2005 in a move that reflects the market growth the company is experiencing in the region. With a larger stand than in previous years, Snell & Wilcox is unveiling products and technologies that give Middle East broadcasters solutions that deliver value today and allow them to manage the transition to new digital formats and an open-standard, IT-based future. A major attraction will be the company's graphical presentation of Kahuna, the first production switcher to offer simultaneous high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) operations in the same mainframe with the same control panel. In the technology exhibit, key highlights are infrastructure modules for the IQ range, products which strengthen a broadcaster's ability to interconnect islands of analog, digital and file-based equipment.

"Every customer is at a different place in the transition from analog to digital, from digital to HD, and from HD to file-based operations," says Joe Zaller, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. "At whatever point they find themselves, Snell & Wilcox has a solution for them. We want customers to know that they can buy with confidence from S&W today with the knowledge that we'll be there for them in the future."

IQ Modular demonstration shows enhanced Control & Monitoring, Including SNMP
Snell & Wilcox IQ Modular infrastructure products are the smart building blocks facilities need today to bridge and interconnect existing islands of analog, digital standard and high definition. At CABSAT 2005 Snell & Wilcox will be demonstrating a selection of products from the huge IQ modular range, showing powerful control and monitoring of video and audio in a typical standard definition environment.

All of the new IQ Modular and conversion products can be networked using the company's RollCall software, streamlining the management of infrastructure components and allowing every new device that a facility buys to be integrated instantly into its network. RollCall now supports IT infrastructures and has built-in capability to recognize metadata and to identify file movement throughout an existing SDI television operation. Both RollCall and RollMap are now SNMP-compliant, enabling the monitoring of products from other vendors and RollSNMP has already been integrated with products from Pinnacle, Cisco, Pro-Bel, Barco and Omneon as well as Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP workstations and servers. Other devices are easily integrated using XML, the industry standard for metadata exchange.

The Kahuna HD/SD Production Switcher: A Breakthrough in Design and Operation
Snell & Wilcox's Kahuna is the first production switcher on the market to offer simultaneous high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) operations in the same mainframe with the same control panel. It is also the first ever switcher to enable the seamless integration of SD sources into HD productions, without upconversion. The future-proof flexibility of the system enables users to work initially in SD-only or HD-only mode, and then to upgrade to multiformat SD/HD operation whenever they choose. In multiformat SD/HD mode Kahuna users can mix existing SD camera feeds, graphics, handheld shots and archive footage directly into an HD production with no need to purchase expensive HD upgrades or extra HD upconversion equipment. This not only provides unparalleled operational flexibility, it also delivers tremendous cost savings to users, making Kahuna a versatile solution for any business model in the emerging multi-format world.

Archangel Real-time Motion Compensated Video Archive Processor: Removes prohibitive cost barriers to restoring all types of video or film material
This real-time restoration system can correct artifacts using motion compensation working on both 525 and 625 video originated material as well as film originated material. Archangel Ph.C is highly popular in the Middle East, where the market is realising how cost effective it makes restoration and improvement work.. Archangel Ph.C cleans up, fixes and stabilizes, in real-time, material that has deteriorated or been damaged, either by age or other factors. This simplified process allows typical material to be restored within two or three times its running length. Until now such a level of restoration quality could only be achieved by laborious, time-consuming and expensive processes, so much material was left untouched as restoration costs were prohibitive. Archangel Ph.C has removed that barrier as now virtually anything can be treated - not just high-value footage - at a cost far less than frame-by-frame restoration.

Support for open standards with free MXF Development Tools, and SD/HD Ingest Station
At CABSAT 2005 Snell & Wilcox continues to take a leadership role in the movement toward the proliferation of open-standards, IT-based broadcast facilities with the free release of a comprehensive set of developer tools, called MXF Express, that will help broadcasters and equipment vendors ensure interoperability among file-sharing products and systems through the MXF file format.

Snell & Wilcox is also demonstrating how its Ingest Station performs the highest possible quality MPEG2 encoding in either standard or high definition. This total mastering solution, is based on an open architecture, and works with a variety of video, audio and file formats, making it suited to all ingest applications.

SwitchPack 16 Standard Definition Switcher
Snell & Wilcox is demonstrating the SwitchPack 16 that sets a new standard in flexible, compact SD and HD switchers for live production and post production applications and is ideal for broadcasters expecting to make the transition to HD. As an SD system, SwitchPack 16 provides 16 directly controlled inputs on a 1 M/E architecture with 2 full effects keyers and 3 downstream keyers, giving a total of 5 keyers, each capable of linear, luma and chroma keys. To make the system HD capable, all that is needed is a 1U HD mainframe that can be connected simultaneously with the SD mainframe. This gives the operator the option of working in either SD or HD, from the same control panel with only a software switch between the two and no need to re-boot of the system.

At CABSAT 2005 Snell & Wilcox is on Stand E6-1. For more information visit www.cabsat.com

Snell & Wilcox, the leader in its field, delivers technologies and products that give television and satellite broadcasters, post production facilities, film makers, and communications professionals the freedom to move content seamlessly between analog, digital, high definition and file-based systems and to bridge the world's multiplicity of line/field and color standards, without sacrificing picture quality. The company provides switchers and keyers, standards conversion systems, networked infrastructure components, and products for noise reduction, image enhancement and restoration. In business since 1973, Snell & Wilcox maintains its U.S. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif. and European headquarters in Hampshire, United Kingdom. Additional offices are located in New York, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Russia. Visit www.snellwilcox.com for more information.

Americas' Press Contact: Laura Schoeggl, Wall Street Communications. Phone: 253-404-0020. Email: laura@wallstreetcom.tv.

International Press Contact: Karen David, Wall Street Communications EMEA. Phone: 01865 310422. Email: karen@wallstreetcom.tv.

Snell & Wilcox, Engineering with Vision, Alchemist, Ph.C, IQ Modular, Kahuna, Kudos, Magic Dave, Mosalina RollCall, RollTrack and Switchpack are all Trade Marks of the Snell & Wilcox Group