Testimonials - Synergy 2

Ross Synergy Switcher Scores High with The Score Television Network

Mike Trigiani
Master Control Supervisor
The Score
Toronto, ON.

The Score Television Network Ltd. Is located in the heart of downtown Toronto Ð just blocks from the Skydome and the Air Canada Center. Formerly Headline Sports, The Score has gone from "the highlight station" to a national rights carrier for Major League Baseball, National Lacrosse League and of course the World Wrestling Federation. When I started here in 1998 as Master Control Operator, it was still a fairly new network and we did not even own a production switcher. Three years later, we have evolved from a television station to a television network.

In a competitive industry like sports journalism, it is important to have an edge over the competition. Our edge is bringing live coverage as it happens. To accomplish this, an average day of live coverage begins at noon and ends at midnight with updates on the hour and live coverage in between.

My role is necessary in bringing together the live elements and the automated elements with the highest possible standards. I am responsible for the training, scheduling, and coordinating of all technical production and master control staff.

When we purchased the Ross Synergy 2 in late 1999, it was the first step of changes to come. We needed a switcher to accommodate our rapidly growing live content and the Synergy 2 was a good choice for a small network with limited involvement in live production. The Synergy 2 gave us the ability to effect graphics the way we wanted to and to build custom banks for dedicated shows. While this helped our on-air look resemble our larger network competitors, they have the advantage of time to purchase and train on much larger digital switchers and DVEs.

The installation of the Synergy 2 went fairly well. Our engineering and technical department did an excellent job getting everything organized and the main cut over was done in one day.

The two days of training supplied by Ross was very helpful in that most of our questions were answered. We have a very intelligent group of operators and they took it on themselves to learn all of the little tricks. Once everyone was aware of what the switcher could do, the operation became simple.

The primary use of our Synergy is hourly sports updates and full length live events. Using Squeeze and Tease, we have had up to four keys on air, designed our own graphics effects and stored them as custom controls and built various aspect ratios for our live programming. Overall, it has performed well.

The Ross support staff has been helpful. When calling in to inquire about any problems, they have been direct and courteous. One of my staff members went on a training and information seminar that Ross held in Ottawa and had all of his questions answered and returned satisfied.

The Ross Synergy 2 is a decent, small production switcher. Our needs have surpassed the size of the Synergy 2 and we will need to expand to a multi-MLE board in the future. Fortunately, the Synergy series of switchers was designed using a common 11 RU frame. When the time comes, we will be able to option up to a 3 MLE Synergy 3 or a 4 MLE Synergy 4 by simply installing additional MLE cards in our existing switcher frame and replacing our control panel with the appropriate Synergy 3 or 4 control panel.

Our Synergy has definitely given us a dimension we did not have before which is the ability to customize our live productions.

While I was not involved with the purchase of the Synergy, it has served us well since its installation in early 2000.