Testimonials - Synergy 4

WEHT Building Remodeling Includes Adding a Ross Synergy 4

John Watson
Chief Engineer
Chris Tate
News Production Director
WEHT
Evansville, IN

We are a commercial UHF station and an ABC affiliate. We place a major emphasis on local news by doing 3.5 hours of local news each weekday and 2 half hour shows each day on weekends.

We are the first station in the market to broadcast a digital signal. Associated with the move to digital, we began remodeling the building to include a new news production control room, studio, master control and equipment room. Replacing the production switcher at this time allowed us to remain on the air with the old Ampex AVC switcher during building construction and assembly of the new control room.

Since we were replacing the switcher anyway, we wanted to go with a digital unit. We compared features to cost on several switchers and found the Ross Synergy 4 had the features we wanted at a significantly lower cost than Grass Valley or Philips.

We installed new digital 16x9 switchable cameras in the studio, however, we are not doing any local 16x9 production at this time, the capability of Aspectizers in the Synergy 4 was a significant factor in the selection process.

Being we are an old analog (mostly 1960's and 1970's equipment) station, we opted to replace virtually all of the terminal equipment with RossGear analog video and audio distribution amps, as well as serial digital DA's and conversion equipment. We used component analog conversion to digital, where possible, from our existing analog equipment.

The switcher installation went quite well, the auto-timing feature made it easy to time both the analog master control switcher and the Synergy 4. There were some issues that we ran into with communication with other manufacturers equipment. However, the latest version of software appears to have solved the problem.

We installed all new analog audio and video frames that were RossGear 8000 Series compatible to permit installing digital DA cards to replace the analog cards as we retire older analog equipment. We also used a number of serial component monitor adaptor cards to drive analog video monitors from serial digital sources.

Currently, we use the switcher for live newscasts, live newsbreaks, weather cut-ins, minor promotion editing and some graphic building. The switcher is smooth to operate and the ability to save and call up switcher memories has been easy.

We love the Squeeze and Tease option. For me, it leaves the DVE open for wipes. We also love the DVE Send and the options it incorporates when used in conjunction with WIPE.

Also, the Preview Overlay is a great option. It's kept me from leaving on a key when I might not have noticed before.

Sales support was good. Customer service has been very good for both the Synergy 4 and terminal equipment. In most cases, customer service has been able to supply a loaner card when we have a card failure and the Synergy 4 has performed very well, especially with the latest version of software.

In my opinion, our training sessions went rather well. The instructor was very thorough and informative and everyone caught on quickly. The Ross manual was easier to understand than most of the other manufacturer's we've used.

In terms of ease of operation, I'd say that the switcher is very doable and the Synergy 4 offers us a lot with extra flexibility. I've found myself able to do so much more production wise with my show.