Testimonials - Synergy 4
Ross and CFMT Stand Behind Ross Switchers
Frank Bruno
Engineering Manager
CFMT TV
Toronto, Ontario
CFMT TV (a division of Rogers Media) stands for Canada's First Multicultural/Multilingual Television system. We have been producing and broadcasting programs in 23 different languages on a weekly basis for the past 21 years. Many of our programs are sold throughout Canada and globally. Located in downtown Toronto, we are surrounded by a rich cultural diversity that makes this city a true treasure for tourist and restaurant goers alike. As a broadcast market Toronto is rated number 1 in Canada and has been often been compared to New York and L.A. On a personal note, I've been with CFMT for 16 years, the last 10 as their Engineering Manager.
In 1999, yours truly, along with the VP of Operations, the Engineering Project Coordinator and the recently appointed Studio Supervisor set out to replace our analog studio production facilities. This was the last area that needed to be upgraded, as the rest of the station was now SDI. Our 2 existing CDL 680 switchers with over 14 years of life had served us well but their time had come. Before the CDL 680 was a Ross 505 switcher that CFMT purchased in fall of 1979, now that's a classic. So off we went to NAB 1999 to hunt down the perfect switcher.
The one thing you must understand about CFMT is our station's look relies heavily on Ultimatte keying. We don't use virtual sets, but because we broadcast in different languages we use still full graphic backgrounds with dynamic over the shoulder bullets in English as a means of capturing as much market share as possible. You can actually follow a Chinese newscast even if you can't speak Mandarin or Cantonese.
Each of our analog switchers had external routers feeding foreground and background signals to external Ultimatte 45 units. This set up worked well but it was clumsy, inflexible and not capable of growing with our needs. We needed to buy switchers that would eliminate all this external gear and at the same time provide very fine detailed clean keys on par to the Ultimatte 45 or better. With today's competitive market you also know that you have to get it right the first time, otherwise you will be living with the wrong decision for a very long time. Usually until it has fully depreciated off the company books.
Up to this point, CFMT had purchased numerous Sony 2000, 6000, and 7000 switchers for our editing area and for the on-air needs of our sister station, The Shopping Channel. This has proven to be an excellent product and the right fit for those applications, however for this job we needed 64 inputs in a very compact frame. We also wanted advanced keyers with access to all of the 64 inputs. The GVG Kalypso was not on the market at that time and we could not consider the GVG 4000 due to the size of the main frame and it's power consumption. Our complete broadcast facility is on UPS power. This was a shame as the GVG 4000 has superb keying capability.
The Synergy 4 seemed promising and at NAB 1999, we had a chance to give it our first acid test. The Ultimatte Insider technology even though in its first stages with the Ross switcher already looked good. The built in 2D Squeeze and Tease feature would allow us to free up our external DVE for more demanding tasks. Since Ross doesn't make an external DVE, they were wise enough to work with other DVE makers, when it came to the control integration. This allowed us more freedom to consider several DVE options instead of just 1 or 2. Finally, when it comes to DVE's, Ross introduced a feature called "DVE Send". This is a keyer-control-re-entry feature that is so intuitive and flexible that we immediately saw its potential to add extra depth to DVE moves and enhance our stations look, while not tying up the majority of the hardware in the switcher.
One issue for us was the Synergy 4's lack of a time line control display as found on the Sony or GVG products. We closely debated this issue and in the end the Operations staff were satisfied with the Synergy 4's programmable macro buttons. With a few button presses, complicated layered switcher effects with DVE, VTR and external audio devices can be edited and repeatedly played back with frame accuracy.
Since both companies are Canadian, the U.S. currency exchange was leveled out. With a $1.60 Canadian equal to a $1 U.S., buying a foreign switcher becomes very expensive, very fast. For us, it meant that we could get a lot more switcher for the same dollar. Ross also manufactures a large line of SDI terminal gear. Since this project needed SDI distribution, A to D and D to A gear, we were able to develop a larger package, which gave us some additional leverage at the negotiation table.
At the time, the Ross Synergy 4 was still new to the market, we were worried about performance, software bugs and reliability. Our dealer, Acura Technology who sold us the switchers, worked with Ross and gave us a warranty that put our minds at ease. Ross also had their reputation at stake. You must remember this is a company that doesn't make car audio or CD players and can't fall back on the profits of it's other divisions. If they lose the broadcast market they can be out of business.
The first few weeks after power up proved to be a rough road. We discovered some serious problems with reliability, software and the Ultimatte insider. Our on-going testing and inspection created some tense moments and at one point it looked like we had everyone at Ross R&D working on the switchers, including David Ross. When training started, the Ross trainer discovered some additional issues, he took them personally, you would have thought he was working for CFMT and not Ross. Every chance he had, he would get on the phone with the designers, discuss the problem and a day later we would have a new software revision waiting in our email.
In the end, Ross came through; they delivered what they promised. We have powerful, easy to use, compact switchers with great keying, 3 channels of built-in DVE, seamlessly integrated with 3 channels of external DVE and at a cost that was not changing every time the U.S. dollar flexed it muscles.
Looking back there was a tremendous amount of teamwork and respect during this project. It reminded me of the time when you would see your parents do business with a handshake. Solutions just happened!
In closing, we at CFMT believe that as a Canadian corporation we should support Canadian made products and that the world class switchers that are now shipping to your door from Ross have benefited immensely from the collaboration between CFMT TV and Ross Video.