Testimonials - Synergy 3

Ross Synergy 3 Passes Engineering and Operational Tests at RDS

Richard Baril
Chief-engineering
Le Reseau des Sports (RDS) Inc.
Montreal, Quebec

RDS is the only French sports exclusive broadcaster in Canada and we broadcast 24hrs/day, 7 days/week.

The nature of our business is to cover a variety of live events, from anywhere in the world, at any hour of the day, so we need fool-proof efficiency from our broadcast infrastructure to accommodate our flexibility in production without affecting the quality of our on-air product.

When RDS launched a modernization plan two years ago, it was clear that we intended to move to a complete numeric infrastructure. My role was to supervise an in-house committee (operators, engineering, managers, etc.) and manage demos from different manufacturers of devices specific to the upgrade of our three control rooms.

When the choice of a new switcher was broached, the following criteria were prioritized: ease of operation, good engineering contruction, capacity of inter-connecting external devices, flexibility (could we use the switcher for live and post-production events?), modularity of the system and, of course, a specific budget to respect.

We knew of the Ross switcher's good reputation (we are still using the RVS-216) so we decided to go forward for the Synergy 3 model because of its engineering and operations abilities.

From an engineering point of view, we examined the capacity to add within the same modular frame, another complete MLE, because it opens a door for us to a growing path migration at low cost.

Also, the low dissipation and power consumption were two more good points in favour of Ross.

And a major plus was the procedure of the upgrade software from the internet through a jumper setting which is very easy to operate. Add to that the clear and easy to understand process through different installation menus, convivial set-ups, etc.

From an operations point of view, our operators appreciate the physical layout of the controls and functions of the control panel. The ease with which the re-assigning, on the fly, of sources to different primary inputs is simply great!

We use many of the custom controls to pre-assign different functions for VTR, DVE controls through this feature. The Ross interface protocol offers us integration with our DVExtreme from Pinnacle, giving us a particularly efficient production tool.

And finally, we also put the "Squeeze and Tease" option to good use in preparing our "dual windows" packaging.

Since January 1999, we have had two Synergy 3s installed; each installation was done on target.And their performance and stability of platform are greatly appreciated -- we are looking forward to adding a third one soon!

I can warmly recommend the purchase of a Synergy series digital production switcher to anyone.