The Briefing Room

BILLERICA, Massachusetts (January 31, 2008) The Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), a known authority in the field of hydrodynamics, has purchased four Broadcast Pix Slate 100 switchers through dealer, Burst Video, to augment their research programs and create a new digital video workflow within the research facility. The Slate 100 switchers replace analog legacy switchers in its main research facilities.

The MARIN facilities serve as test laboratories where seagoing vessels are monitored under a variety of ocean conditions. New cruise ship or yacht designs are often proven first against currents, winds and waves simulated at the facility. As many as eight fixed remote cameras that monitor activity both above and under water are routed into the Slate 100 switcher. The video content is then combined through the Slate 100 with logos and graphics and fed to a recording device specially developed by technicians at MARIN.

The Slate 100 switcher mixes up to eight live inputs with up to two clips and five channels of graphics from its included workstation. This proved helpful during a recent project in MARIN’s offshore basin where all eight camera inputs were utilized. The ability to connect all eight cameras to one device streamlined the process, according to MARIN Project Manager, Robert Braam.

“We never could have used all eight cameras into one output device before installing the Broadcast Pix switcher,” said Braam. “Our old mock-up arrangement would not have handled it. In addition, we were able to combine more than one camera image as a layer to the output channel, confirming we’d made a good choice with the Slate 100.”

MARIN technicians have no prior television or video production experience, making the flexibility, functionality and user-friendly set up of the Slate 100 important to the operation. Braam added that recognizing the unique nature of the work his technicians performed required a great deal of adaptability from the switcher that was chosen.

“We selected the Slate 100 because of the possibilities it offered,” he said. “We use the switcher’s preview and program output as two separate output channels which allowed us to replace two switchers with one. The switcher works well with our proprietary recording device and improves quality at the same time.”

The Slate 100 offered a cost savings to MARIN when deciding to purchase equipment. MARIN technicians were able to customize the Slate 100 so that all required functions can be run from one device. This eliminated the need to purchase multiple switchers for each channel of video. Furthermore, Slate’s TCP/IP based control interface opened up the possibility to control it from an external computer. MARIN technicians do not operate the Slate switcher manually, rather, they use it to completely automate their workflow – eliminating errors and possible test re-runs.

Braam says plans to utilize the Slate 100 in the remote control of camera functions are also being developed. “In the future we expect to save even more time and resources since we will be able to simply enable a second or third switcher output channel without having to install twice the amount of recording hardware into the facility.”

About Broadcast Pix Broadcast Pix is the leader in integrated live television production systems that are more powerful, easier to use, and far more cost effective than a traditional control room of individual components. Broadcast Pix Slate switchers streamline workflow with edit bays, and enable a single operator or small team to create compelling live video. Broadcast Pix is based in Billerica, Massachusetts, with offices throughout North America and in Europe. Customers include over 600 leading broadcast, web-cast, pod-cast, cable, entertainment, mobile, corporate, education, religious and government studios in 50 countries. See www.broadcastpix.com. Broadcast Pix and Slate are trademarks of Broadcast Pix, Inc. Patents pending.