Article Overview

TV2GO Buys Additional FOR-A FRC-7000 Units

Conversion and Transmission of NFL Season to Europe

FOR-A, a leading manufacturer of video and audio systems for the broadcast and professional video industries, recently sold two new FRC-7000 HD Frame Rate Converters to TV2GO Inc., an international satellite transmission and video production company. TV2GO has been engaged by Sm2 Sports Media Solutions, hired by the National Football League (NFL), for conversion and transmission of the entire NFL season to Europe, including the upcoming championship game to be played on February 6th.

“Now, for the first time, all NFL games are distributed internationally in high definition,” said Lawrence Partington, TV2GO partner. “Previously, we were transmitting only selected games to Europe in HD, but the majority were going over in PAL.”

The upcoming NFL championship match marks the fourth year for TV2GO to broadcast that event to Europe using the FOR-A FRC-7000 units. What’s new this year is the sheer volume of data. “During the regular season TV2GO would transmit four high-definition games simultaneously with full frame rate conversion and remixed Dolby audio,” Partington added.

With the new FOR-A purchase, TV2GO has gone from two to four FRC-7000 Frame Rate Converters. TV2GO converts the various North American video signals to a standardized global signal at 1080i/50. The company now broadcasts and/or records seven or eight games on a typical Sunday during the NFL season. “We offer the NFL the ability to do back up recordings,” he said. “So we need to be able to record every single game that comes through here.”

The TV2GO teleport studio is built around a FOR-A HVS-300HS switcher and includes other FOR-A equipment, including: two FA-9100 HD/SD frame synchronizers, two FA-9000 HD/SD frame synchronizers and an MV-1610 HS 16-input multi-viewer in the studio, and an MV-410HS quad multi-viewer.

advertisment

The FRC-7000 uses motion compensation processing by motion vectors to convert field frequencies and enables conversion between different HD frame rates. This makes it an ideal piece of gear for converting the frame rate prior to transmitting at international sporting events. The FRC-7000 has Scene Cut Detection to automatically ensure that the conversion is performed without generating a motion compensation image from unrelated cuts in the frames before and after. The unit also provides for genlock. Process control can be performed for the post-conversion video. The video level, chroma level, chroma phase, setup level, and clips can be adjusted to produce the optimal video quality.

“The NFL is the top sports league in North America. It was a very prestigious contract to win, for a specialty teleport like ours. There are larger teleports out there, but none as successful in our niche of ultra-high end international HD sports,” said Partington.

About FOR-A

FOR-A Corporation of America is a major manufacturer and distributor of video and audio systems to the broadcast, postproduction, and professional video markets.

advertisment

FOR-A