Hamlet Assures Quality and Compliance with New Product Launches at NAB 2011

The new DS900 test and measurement platform is a new way of tackling signal monitoring in busy production or master control area. The current Hamlet DigiScope performs multiple tests simultaneously, displaying up to four windows on an external display. With the DS900, Hamlet has added the capability for four inputs and a multiviewer, so on a large screen there can be four windows for each of the four signals. The modular structure of the DS900 means that the inputs can be different formats: analogue or digital, component or composite, standard definition or HD.

To get the maximum benefit from file-based workflows the infrastructure needs automated quality control tests which run without operator intervention, raising a warning only when problems are identified, in the technical quality or in the metadata. The new VidChecker software system from Hamlet goes one stage further: not only does it provide comprehensive testing, messaging and direct interfacing to workflow systems, it also incorporates intelligent automated correction for both video levels and audio loudness. The correction is far more sophisticated than a simple legaliser, allowing the Hamlet VidCheck to provide a complete solution to quality control.

For critical image viewing, Hamlet now also offers 24” grade one and grade two monitors, and a 17” grade two monitor, based on carefully selected and calibrated LCD panels. The grade one version uses LED illumination to provide absolutely even and consistent performance for the most critical of applications. The grade two monitors, which uses a cold cathode light source, provide almost equivalent image quality, and also include an integrated quad split multi-viewer for added flexibility in crowded control rooms.

“There are a number of suppliers in the test and measurement business who provide highly technical tools aimed at engineers, but we believe there is a real need for practical solutions which meet the real day to day operational needs of broadcasters and production facilities,” said Steve Nunney, director of Hamlet. “That is where our products sit – they are the tools you can work with, day in, day out. Accurate, easy to use and with the right combination of measurements and displays for operational people.”

See the new DS900, VidChecker and graded monitors, along with the rest of the Hamlet test and measurement product range, at NAB2011 on booth C4841 in the central hall.