Solid State Logic (SSL) has announced that a third C100 HD-S digital audio console is now operational at state broadcaster Duna Telev_zi_ in Hungary.
Installed within a Sony OB Mercedes van, the 32 fader, 8 group digital audio broadcast desk complements a 24+8 fader version for Duna TV’s News Studio and a 40+8 fader frame for the Production Studio supplied last year. All replaced analogue desks that were at least 14 years old.
“Following the installation of the first two consoles we were more convinced than ever that this desk was the optimal choice,” said Mih_ly Bogn_r, director of technology at Duna Television.
Under Hungarian law, Duna TV had to follow a strict procurement procedure governing state organisations, whereby open tenders must be invited for all orders and the preferred choice submitted to Public Purchasing officials.
“We had looked at two other desks, one with a proven interface to our Reidel fibre-based matrix intercom network, and another using a Microsoft Windows operating system,” said Bogn_r. “The first turned out to be very, very expensive, while we felt that a system designed without Windows could cope better in serious circumstances – so we were very happy when the SSL C100 HD-S was approved by the purchasing authorities.”
Despite its successful deployment in studios, Duna TV had never used a C100 HD-S on the road. “To be honest I was a little bit nervous when the OB van was deployed on its first big production in July,” admited Bogn_r, while adding that all of his colleagues were very confident. In the event, everything passed off without a hitch.
“We have experienced no interfacing problems with our Reidel intercom system, and the training from SSL was excellent,” he said. “We are really satisfied with both the equipment and the service from SSL.”
Each of the C100 HD-S consoles utilise SSL’s new ‘Blackrock’ processing core that reduces the size of an associated rack enclosure to a compact 2RU, while incorporating a built-in signal routing matrix with 5.3 million crosspoints (2300 sources x 2300 destinations), 40-bit (floating point) internal audio processing resolution, and 64-bit internal data bus resolution.
“We are delighted to see that the C100 HD-S has met or exceeded both value-for-money and technical performance criteria,” said Peter Csillag of Audiomonde, SSL’s distributor in Hungary. “In particular we congratulate Duna TV’s skilled operators for making its OB debut in Hungary such a success.”
