The Kahuna 360 video switcher is now driving production at Sky Deutschland’s Sky Sports News HD, Snell has revealed. A native 1080p/3G switcher, Kahuna 360 supports any format in and out, on any input or output including 1080p (single link). It features up to six mix effects (M/E), four of which are currently in use by the Sky Sport News HD production. Snell said the reserve power would provide ample room for growth as the new channel, Germany and Austria’s first 24-hour sports news broadcaster, expands. Working in conjunction with Mosart Newsroom Automation, the Kahuna 360 will benefit the realtime, graphics-intense channel by providing seven keyers per M/E, 120 HD/SD inputs, 64 HD/SD outputs, and an audio/video clip store with 40 minutes of capacity for SD or eight minutes for HD. The switcher supports up to 16 simultaneous broadcast productions from a single mainframe. It also offers multi-format switching through FormatFusion3, providing high-quality 1080p outputs for low-latency multi-viewer feeds. “Since it’s so closely integrated with our automation systems, the switcher is able to deliver fully automated playout without anyone having to touch the console,” said Francesco Donato, vice president of broadcast operations for Sky Deutschland. “FormatFusion3 is critical to our ability to handle mixed-format inputs and outputs. Furthermore, thanks to the switcher’s user-friendly graphical interface, Kahuna 360 makes it very easy to produce sophisticated effects to wow our viewing audience.” – Michael Burns8.B68
