Netherlands-based Viditech, part of The Facility House Broadcast Partners, a supplier of outside broadcast services, is the first customer for Grass Valley’s new Trinix Multiviewer, writes David Fox.
A Trinix NXT router including the multiviewer is being installed in Viditech’s new OBV5 truck, which goes into operation in the next few weeks.
The multiviewer is fully integrated, which means no extra cabling or external hardware, and supports up to 3Gbps, and provides up to eight SDI multiviewer monitor outputs per card—including the ability to monitor audio for each source. All existing Trinix frames can be upgraded to support it.
“It was important for us to ensure that our new OB truck would not only be technically up-to-date but also sustainable,” said Jan de Pijper, Viditech’s CEO. “We’ve relied on Grass Valley’s equipment for our trucks for a long time, so after reviewing the technical benefits coupled with the fact that it saves rack space, weight, and energy, the Trinix Multiviewer was the obvious choice.”
The new OB truck is being built by Dutch system integrator, D&MS. It has a single expanding side and will have 12 Grass Valley LDK 8000 cameras, plus a Kayak HD video switcher.
“By eliminating secondary, external components and connections which consume valuable space, the Trinix Multiviewer is a superb solution for monitoring in OB trucks as well as in studios,” said Jeff Rosica, Executive Vice President at Grass Valley.
Power consumption for eight outputs should be under 75W, and it features: two MADI inputs for discrete AES audio monitoring in addition to embedded audio monitoring from any source; sophisticated graphics, tally (TSL and Image Video), and UMD support; signal monitoring, status, and alarming functions; and support for Grass Valley control systems.
By using the card’s cascade capability, the system can support up to 128 images on a single output without rescaling the cascaded signals. Users can also set up a single image to span multiple monitors. Each multiviewer board includes 32 scalers with all inputs and outputs on each board supporting all video standards (from 480i to 1080p).
