IX Technology upgrades CTS with no drama
Published: ASIA
TAIWAN: Founded in 1971 as a joint venture between the Taiwan Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Education, Chinese Television System (CTS) was Taiwan’s first VHF network to air. In 2006, the government's media reform law declared that the Mandarin-language channel could be incorporated into the island state's consortium of public television stations known as Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS). Over the decades, CTS has merited a formidable reputation for airing the best dramas in Taiwan, and as such runs an ongoing campaign to restore its status as the official drama channel. However, it continues to broadcast regional news and entertainment in its daily schedule.
Upgrades to CTS’ facilities and studios are a constant, for which IX Technology has been a consistent A/V designer, supplier and installer over the years. Used predominantly for live audience TV show dramas in an adjacent fourth floor theatre, studio 5 was recently refurbished. As the largest drama studio in CTS, it’s now home to the largest Studer V console in Taiwan in the form of a 52-fader version, assuring the CTS management of dependable and flexible broadcast audio mixing courtesy of the integrated Quad Star technology.
The Vista V is fully surround-capable with panning and monitoring functionality and for CTS’ studio 5 comes with an RTW TM7 touchscreen built into the meter bridge. ‘The TM7 meter was chosen as it complements the Vistonics touchscreen user interface,’ explains IX Technology general manager Paul Chang. The TM7 meter includes custom meter presets for loudness metering to EBU R 128 and ITU BS1770 in addition to bar graph and moving needle metering.
CTS engineer Yu Hong-En visited Studer’s Potters Bar headquarters for training on the Vista V and enjoys several aspects of the layout. ‘The Vistonics interface, together with FaderGlow, offers intuitive operation. In addition, the CPU-based processing power of Infinity Core is extremely powerful, allowing us to handle the largest productions with ease. It’s all future proofed for integration into AoIP broadcast networks such as Dante and AES67. All the mix is there in terms of tone and balance. The vocals during mix down sound perfect.’
In addition, Sound Devices 970 64-track Dante and Madi-equipped multi-track audio recorders have been added into the fabric of studio 5. Designed to simplify operations requiring high-track-counts and high-quality recordings, any input can be assigned to any track. The 970 records simultaneously to any of four attached drives, thus saving time-consuming post-recording copying. An integrated Ambient timecode generator allows the 970 to operate as either the master clock or it can be jammed to external devices such as cameras and other sources. Courtesy of the PowerSafe circuitry, the 970 operates for a further 10s following a power loss, before cleanly stopping any file operation and safely shutting down. When connected to the data network, transport controls and setup menu controls are available on PIXNET, offering simultaneous control of multiple 970 recorders. ‘With just two cables, we can send 64 signals to and from the machine for endless routing possibilities,’ explained engineer Tsai-li-yi.
Studio 5’s refit is further enhanced with the addition of Genelec 1032B surround sound monitoring. Additionally, a Clear-Com WBS-680 base station enhances 2-wire and 4-wire intercom communications between the recording studio and the adjacent live set. Consisting of a single-rack-space base-station transmitter and the RCV-2 belt pack receiver, a UPX-10 intercoms system offers talent cueing and intercom listen-only monitoring. ‘The install went smoothly for our team over a four week period,’ explains Mr Chang. ‘However, the previous console had to be fully operational whilst we were upgrading. As a result, we could only come in during the night time hours when the station was off air.’
Prior to the studio 5 refit, IX Technology was also called upon to upgrade the ground floor Live TV News studio operation. A Studer On Air 3000 console together with TC Electronics metering and Dynaudio monitoring was selected. ‘The On Air 3000 is very stable, easy to use and above all reliable,’ furthered Yu Hong-En.