Testimonials - Synergy 1

Cayuga Community College Chooses Ross Switchers Past, Present and Future

Steve Keeler
Professor, Director of Broadcasting / Electronic Media
Cayuga Community College
Auburn, NY

Cayuga Community College is a unit of the State University of New York offering 2-year associate's degrees in Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Audio and Sound Recording, and Telecommunications Technology. The college's facilities include a 32-track audio recording studio, 16-track remote recording facility, FM radio station, television studio and remote truck, digital media lab, and production suites.

At Cayuga, I teach broadcasting courses and manage an academic department that teaches students video and audio production skills. Our facility is known for our commitment to hands-on learning. We are a growing facility - student enrollment is higher than it has ever been.

Previously in our facility, we had a Ross RVS 416 which we had for 15 years and loved. It worked great and still does! But the purchase of a new switcher was decided on as we wanted to make the move to digital with the majority of our equipment - our studio and field cameras, CG, recording devices, and editing equipment is now digital.

When we bought the old analog RVS 416, we looked at Grass Valley as well and realized that the Ross switcher had the better value for the money. This time, we didn't look at any other switchers. We had a great experience with our old Ross switcher and knew that when the time came to upgrade to digital we would purchase another Ross made product. However, features were still important during the purchase of the new studio switcher. The Synergy Series growth path was extremely important as we are a state supported institution on a limited budget. The fact that we can grow in stages with Synergy makes it very cost-effective for us. Ease of operation was another attractive feature, we needed a system that can be taught to college students in a class environment.

Our purchase was a Ross Synergy 1 - a 1 MLE, 16 input switcher capable of handling both 4:3 and 16:9 inputs and outputs and providing as much capability as more expensive switchers.

Our Synergy 1 switcher has allowed us to make a quantum leap in our production abilities. Ross' Squeeze & Tease option allowed us to give our productions a much more professional and polished look. This feature is also something that encourages students to explore the switcher and its other features. Students definitely spend more time using the switcher now.

As mentioned, we're a facility that trains students for cable television productions. So far, we use the Synergy 1 for live and taped productions. It performs great on a day-to-day basis and thus far we haven't experienced problems - there's been no down time.

Ross makes one of the best video products in the world and their support for their products is second to none. The people at Ross are great! Their staff is always helpful, friendly and courteous, they always have time to answer questions and help us solve problems - though the problems are very few. Ross is the best in terms of providing support.

We've owned a Ross switcher in the past and expect to own another in the future.