Testimonials - Synergy 2

Ross Synergy Switcher and Editware's Editor Come Together for KMPH and Pappas Teleproductions

Dale King
Senior Editor
Pappas Teleproductions
Fresno, California

PAPPAS TeleProductions is the premier production facility of Central California, offering a complete menu of location and post production options including: 16mm and 35mm film, Beta SP and DVC PRO50 videotape, with linear and non-linear digital editing, state-of-the-art digital effects, Graphics, and 3-D Animation. We are in constant production of high quality broadcast commercials, as well as long format industrial, training, documentary and marketing videos.

Within the last year, Pappas TeleProductions/KMPH FOX 26 completely remodeled its Online linear suite and jumped into the realm of Digital Television.

As Senior Editor and Post Production Supervisor, I was one of several people involved in researching, evaluating, then making equipment recommendations for the new Digital Suite. Since the Linear bay runs 22 hours a day, 5 days a week, the timing of this transition was critical and the downtime had to be minimized. As we got around to deciding on a digital switcher, certain requirements were set. It was imperative that the switcher work right out of the box with easy installation, minimal training and video-wise be ready for those 16:9 inputs and outputs of the future.

Most of all, the digital switcher had to be controllable by an Editware editor. We won't mention brand names, but suffice it to say we looked at the Ford, Chevy, Cadillac, and Saturns of digital switchers that the market had to offer. The video switcher of choice became the Synergy 2 from Ross. Our engineers had maintenance histories dealing with older, analog Ross switchers in our plant and were pleased with past reliability, and stability. After about 20 minutes of hands-on at NAB, it became a no-brainer that the operators would not have a training problem with the Synergy 2.

But would it interface with Editware's editor? After only a couple of phone calls, Ross people were talking to Editware people, and they actually communicated. Both parties were convinced that the Synergy 2 could be controlled by Editware. Ross shipped a Synergy 2 to Editware HQ, in Grass Valley, CA accompanied by 2 technicians.

Ross and Editware personnel sat down and broke code together, then wrote code together. The result was CONTROL. Two vendors sharing and making something new work for the customer. What a concept.

Synergy 2 installation, and training, came off without a hitch. Now, months later, we are pleasantly surprised that those FREE system upgrades, so frequently talked about in earlier sales presentations, actually did appear. In fact, there have been several upgrades and they were Free. We're not talking about 2 engineers, and 6 hours of downtime to upgrade either. The software upgrades arrive via email, or can be downloaded from their website. You can literally take a half-hour break between edit sessions and complete a Synergy upgrade.