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Sound & Video Contractor - December 1, 1999

Supporting digital broadcast standards for the Connecticut Network ensures a system design that will survive the implementation of HDTV.

Digital technology steadily continues to expand the horizons of systems contractors. It seems that not a week goes by anymore without the announcement of a new development that could present new opportunities. A recent project for the state government of Connecticut provides one such portal of possible opportunity to take advantage of digital technology in the near future. The new Connecticut Network (CT-N) makes the state's legislative sessions, held in the state capital of Hartford, available to the TV-viewing public on a daily basis. By itself, this concept is not novel; C-SPAN accomplished the same thing two decades ago, and almost 20 other states now offer broadcasts of their legislative leaders in action.

Consider, however, that CT-N's system has been designed specifically to be ready for impending digital broadcast standards. All switching and distribution elements were designed from the outset to be compatible with serial digital signal and operate both in the current 4:3 analog standard and 16:9 high-definition television (HDTV) format. The fact that such a relatively low-profile application as a state government broadcast has already committed to this future - even while major market broadcasting outlets struggle to bring their digital facilities on line - could be an important indicator of the near future.

"We're on the verge of a logical progression to increased proliferation of digital broadcasting at a number of levels," said Rich Gibbs, director of broadcast sales at HB Communications, North Haven, CT, which partnered with the Connecticut Public Affairs Network to develop the systems for CT-N. "Certainly there's already a good amount of video and broadcast-type activity by systems contractors in areas such as videoconferencing and distance learning, and the house of worship market increasingly seeks to utilize video for recording, and in certain situations, for transmission as well. It's foreseeable that digital broadcast tools could soon be viable in these applications."

Established more than 50 years ago, HB Communications provides a wide range of design and installation services, including specialties in fixed installation and broadcast applications. A recent focus has been in presentation systems, with a current project of this type ongoing at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT.

Gibbs credits the staff of the Connecticut Public Affairs Network, headed by president and CEO Paul Giguere, for the push to a digital-ready solution now rather than waiting until it becomes mandatory. Although nearly $1 million in state funds were allocated for equipment purchases, it is an initial investment that will not have to be duplicated, which would have been the case with an analog-only approach.

For their money, approximately 60% of Connecticut cable TV-connected households can view live and live-to-tape sessions of both the House and Senate sessions of the state general assembly along with select public hearings. The program feed is supplied to several Community College Instructional Television (CCIT) channels in the state, and it can also be viewed live with a Windows-based multimedia player on CT-N's Web site, www.ctn.state.ct.us.

"Although it may superficially seem that digital equipment is overkill for what might be termed lower-level broadcast and even non-broadcast applications, it's a good idea to take a closer look," Gibbs said. "Already, we're seeing prices dropping dramatically, and logically, this will only escalate. At the same time, it already provides a quantum leap forward in terms of quality, flexibility and reliability."

Essentially, then, this indicates a trend toward digital broadcast and video technology's soon becoming viable for higher-end systems applications, say, for example, in videocon-ferencing on the corporate level. In fact, boardrooms are already being outfitted with 16:9 plasma screens to accommodate current digital playback formats. One piece of the puzzle is already being realized.

Budgets and understanding may also soon make digital broadcast technology more widespread among distance-learning systems in the educational market. Also, as evidenced by CT-N, there is already a general awareness of the digital issue at the state level, which will logically filter down to the local level. Further projection: Mainstream systems contracting could also present increased opportunities in the design and installation of digital broadcast systems. The aforementioned house of worship market is one notable market in this regard; the ability to provide a quality digital broadcast on a local affiliate or cable access channel helps houses of worship fulfill their goals of reaching larger audiences.

One of the looming issues in this scenario, of course, is the Internet. Significantly upgraded capability for data transmission on the Internet, promised to be on its way, may completely change the way we think about broadcasting. The college or high school that wants a new sound system for its gymnasium may also soon be interested in a small-scale digital broadcasting system to distribute its games to viewers - particularly alumni - around the planet. Churches may find this method an attractive, cost-effective way not only to reach parishioners who may have moved away, but also to increase their presence locally, perhaps to shut-ins or even hospitals.

All systems under a scenario of this type, whether it be in a corporate headquarters or high school gym, would in all likelihood be established on a network with centralized control from a single location. Of particular interest to the systems contractor, this network and the individual elements on it would be remotely addressable from anywhere in the world with Internet access, including the con-tractor's office. In fact, we are already seeing increased implementation of this type of networking with higher-end, digitally controlled audio and routing systems. With all of this in mind, let's have a look at the system established for digital broadcasting by CT-N. It could very well offer some clues as to what's coming.

Both the House and Senate chambers, ensconced within the state capitol building, are outfitted with Sony DXCD30WSL digital processing wide-screen (16:9) color cameras, switchable to 4:3 aspect ratio (their current setting). Three cameras are strategically positioned in the House, and four cover the Senate. All are mounted on Crestron's CPC-CAMI network-connected, remotely controllable pan/tilt units that also include lens control.

All of these cameras, as well as the pan/tilt units, terminate in an equipment room on the fifth floor of the building. From there, feeds are transferred to a single-mode fiber optic link (provided by the state) that takes them to Panasonic WV-BM503 monochrome video monitors mounted in a master control room carved into a legislative office building down the street. Meanwhile, three identical camera/pan/tilt combinations can be set up in any of 10 hearing rooms, all properly wired and linked monitors to the control room. Cameras are simply moved around and plugged in on an as needed basis.

Two identical system operation positions were established in the control room. "Both of these stations offer the capability to control the House, Senate and hearing room systems simultaneously, so there's redundancy," Gibbs said. "However, when things are in full swing in the capitol, there's too much for one person to handle, so each operator position is manned by two people."

Each position includes a Grass Valley Model 1200 component digital production switcher (also 16:9 compatible), which enables quick, seamless changing between cameras. Meanwhile, the pan/tilt and lens control units are controlled with Crestron CPC-2000 master control units, offering touchscreen selection and dual joystick controls for fine tuning the aim, zoom and focus of each camera.

"The House, with 156 members, can be tough to cover. Presets are established on the Crestron control unit that allow the operator to zoom in on a group or individual quickly, so essentially it's just a push of the screen and then tailoring with the joystick," Gibbs said. Another operator at each position is responsible for running a Pinnacle Write Deko broadcast character generator, used to identify speakers and to provide viewers with other useful information such as ongoing vote tallies.

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