Test Equipment Grows to Fit New Niches

ALEXANDRIA, VA. It doesn't take long working out in the field to learn that just about everyone has a different definition of what constitutes the field. Therefore, an overview of test and measurement equipment used in the field is fairly far ranging, and it might include some gear that also gets used in a studio/control room environment. With the steady improvement of cameras, recorders and remote equipment over the years, even classic video test equipment such as waveform monitors and vectorscopes are used much less than they used to be for routine field operations. For example, it's common for a remote news crew never to glance at a waveform monitor in the process of sending video back to the studio for a live broadcast most crews rely on the camera viewfinder's zebra display to let them know if the video is overexposed.

New cameras have much more dynamic range and sensitivity, so getting a decent picture is not as hard as it used to be, said Joey Gill, chief engineer at WPSD-TV in Paducah, Ky. Most modern cameras do pretty darn good not compressing the whites or blacks.

One piece of gear that Gill takes to remote shoots is the Harris/Videotek HD-Star test set.

It's a handheld color monitor, vectorscope, waveform monitor, test signal generator, embedded audio monitor and serial data analyzer, all in one, he said. If a camera doesn't look right, I just plug it into the HD-Star and I can check waveform and vectors. If there is no embedded audio, I can trace the signal back through the path and see where the audio is disappearing, and it's invaluable for checking cables and switches for SDI.

More elaborate field production requires an array of test and measurement devices, including a product that affects practically everything else in the video chain: a sync generator. Tektronix is finding that its SPG8000 sync generator is a popular choice for remote production trucks.

Highly reliable and stable facility timing is a mission-critical requirement for content creation and content distribution operations to maintain system timing of the facilities, said Richard Duvall, video marketing manager for Tektronix. The SPG8000's optional GPS lock support is ideal for mobile truck and OB van applications, and it also features NTP server capability that serves as a master clock unit for computer-based video equipment.

Blackmagic Design Streamscope Duo

A NEW PLAYER

Those same production trucks and OB vans definitely still use waveform monitors and vectorscopes, and in the past couple years, there's been a new player in that corner of the industry: Blackmagic Design. Bob Zelin, president of Rescue 1, a systems integration company in Orlando, Fla., recently started using Blackmagic's Ultra- Scope and SmartScope Duo in his projects for reasons he finds obvious.

Blackmagic UltraScopes were chosen simply because they cost less than similar scopes from the other manufacturers, Zelin said. In the future, I will only specify the new Blackmagic SmartScope Duo for my installations.

Zelin has installed Blackmagic Pocket UltraScopes in the Kavis Production Services 53-foot editing truck that is used for Bellator Fighting Championships and the Barrett-Jackson Automobile Auction.

He's also installed them in various facilities in Florida, including Disney Broadcast Operations and Adrenaline Films.

The display on the UltraScope is as good as or better than any rasterizer product from other vendors, Zelin said. Although advanced features like lightning display and diamond pattern are not available on the UltraScope, I have found that most technical personnel have no idea how to use those features. The UltraScope offers display modes that are not available on more expensive scopes, such as digital audio metering and audio phase, picture monitor display, and histograph.

We all know the benefits of digital video, but it's also clear that testing and monitoring digital video streams requires its own skills and equipment. Rohde & Schwarz's ETL TV analyzer can be used to keep on top of virtually the entire video signal chain from camera to transmitter.

I use my ETL TV analyzer anytime I'm at an ATSC broadcast site, whether I'm doing a new install or troubleshooting an operational transmitter, said Steven Ramer, owner of SJ Ramer Associates, a broadcast consulting company based in Warminster, Pa. I use all aspects of both the built-in 3 GHz spectrum analyzer and the 8-VSB signal analyzer.

Ramer is called on to maintain a variety of broadcast facilities and he's impressed with the Rohde & Schwarz ETL, although he recognizes that it's not necessarily a product needed by every broadcaster.

The ETL is a powerful instrument and thus may be a bit much for a single TV station unless used for 24/7 monitoring of a remote transmitter site, he said. It is ideal for field or regional engineers at station groups and networks. As a contractor for service, installation and engineering of everything from the encoder to the transmitter, I use the ETL every day.

Triveni Streamscope Portal

MPEG STREAM ERRORS

Digging into the MPEG stream to find errors is a necessary part of life in the DTV world. Triveni Digital just announced its new StreamScope Portal, a portable MPEG stream analyzer that runs on an iPad.

Many broadcast and cable engineers manage multiple locations simultaneously and need an MPEG measurement tool that can perform real-time MPEG-2/MPEG-4 analysis at the office, onsite, and on the road, said Ralph Bachofen, vice president of sales and head of marketing at Princeton Junction, N.J.-based Triveni Digital. Triveni Digital's tablet-based StreamScope Portal brings the much-needed portabi

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