Testimonials - Synergy 2

SF Giants Hit One Out of the Park with 2 MLE Ross Synergy

John Tyler
Manager of Video and Scoreboard Operations
San Francisco Giants
San Francisco, CA

Pacific Bell Park, a baseball stadium constructed in 2000, is home to the MLB team the San Francisco Giants. As Manager of Video and Scoreboard Operations for the Giants, I oversee all broadcasts including approximately 80 games between April and September, concerts, corporate events, functions, socials and as well as other sporting events.

During the new facility build, we wanted to get in-line with the digital world and have room to expand for future needs. The Ross Synergy 2 digital production switcher was chosen as the switcher of choice for our specific requirements.

On game / event days, the switcher is used for live production - the switcher takes all in-coming feeds and runs them to the Panasonic Astrovision and in-house monitors. During a game, the Synergy 2 receives feeds from 5 of our stadium cameras: 2 studio, 1 handheld (by homeplate), 1 wireless (that runs throughout the stadium) and 1 robotic camera as well as 5 analog camera feeds from mobiles which get converted into digital signals.

When the game is on, the switcher is on. However, during inning breaks there's a two minute window of opportunity (when players are swapping sides) where we use the switcher for sponsorship and interactive features with the audience.

At other times, the switcher is used for post-production as we prep for games. For example, just last week we were setting up player highlights. We threw footage into the switcher, effected it, chopped it up, edited the footage and brought it back to tape for playback during a game.

We throw a few challenges at our Synergy 2 and it always manages to perform flawlessly. During the baseball season, there are a few times when there is no tv feed - our TDs have to cut a show to the Astrovision on one MLE (so as not to distract the batter up) and to in-house monitors and the networks on the other MLE - making for a pretty hectic show.

Do we find Synergy to be user-friendly? I'm not a TD by trade, but I can run this switcher. Setting up inputs, creating effects and using the menu are easy.

The installation went well and the reliability of the switcher is great - no complaints!

Working with their Regional Sales Manager, Ken Gould, was and is great. Ken gave us excellent training and showed us shortcuts and tricks to improve and setup our broadcasts. What's great is that I can count on him to answer any and all questions I might have and get me anything required.

Overall, our partnership and our experience with Ross has definitely been A+.