The worlds of Live Event Production and Studio are vastly different creatures. What we see as the norm on the road, they see as completely abnormal from their air-conditioned cush-domes. We do share some things — killer deadlines, the need for super-high-performance gear, long hours. I’ve seen “studio” types get thrown into road situations and just completely fall apart from the exposure to chaos. Likewise, put a roadie in a studio, and you’ll have no problem picking out which “one of these things is not like the other.”
So it goes with gear. Just a few years ago, you’d rarely see a moving light near a studio — let alone the video kit. Switchers? With the exception of a few pioneering spirits who would throw their beloved Ross or GVG out into the world, you’d almost never see a studio switcher in a rock ‘n’ roll environment. Video world has come a long way in a short time, and our needs have grown exponentially.
Enter the FSN-3G from Barco. The need for a reliable, rock-solid piece of switch gear has finally been met.
The Hardware
The FSN 3G 150 control surface is a 2.5 M/E switcher that comes paired with the FSN-1400 video processing chassis and the FSN GUI display. I’ll start with the 1400. It is the heart of the system — a 6 RU, fieldconfigurable chassis providing all the system’s video processing functions. It offers 14 card slots, (all hot-swappable) with room for universal input and output cards, native SDI inputs and outputs, dualoutput multiviewer cards and the mix effects card.
The unit I tested was the FSN3G-1802 with 1xNIC, 5xUIC, 2xDVE, MVR, 1xUOC, 1xNAC. It’s available in two other configurations, the 1004 and the 1804 (see barco.com for the details). It can also be controlled from the FSN Full GUI, a graphical interface program that can run from a Windows or Mac PC. The FSN Full GUI can run stand-alone or in parallel with the FSN150 providing backup capability to the system.
It has dual redundant power supplies on-frame and is quite sturdy. The piece is very loud, and in a studio environment, this is not a problem, as the unit would be installed well away from your work area. In a concert touring rig it won’t matter, either — it’s already loud out there!
With a fully outfitted frame, the input/output options are insane. Up to 32 SDI native with 10 scalable (SDI/analog/DVI), and options of up to 28 native SDI and up to 6 universal (SDI/Analog/DVI). The FSN is not lacking in options. You also get four fully outfitted 2D DVE channels should you need them. There’s an integrated 16-channel multi-viewer port for your external display and a second to boot. Additional auxiliary output cards can be installed for up to 16 AUX outputs, 8 additional mixers, or multiformat outputs and blending. Dual-redundant power supplies make for a little peace-of-mind.
The integrated external touchscreen is a pleasure to use. It gives complete access to all controls as well as button mapping functions and system updates. There are also four encoder knobs to facilitate menu management. The GUI is clean, minimal, and easy to navigate — you’re never more than two or three menus deep to get back to where you were. Another great feature is the under-touch menus. While on a menu, you can touch a source or other menu to affect the one you’re on, making for fast work of patching. You also have the ability to add Remote Control Panels (RCPs) that allow other users (LDs, DPs, directors, etc.) to switch inputs to other screens — extremely convenient, given the number of feeds we have to serve up on a constant basis. You could add up to 32 of these units to make for a dizzying array of switch capability.
“I. Am. Speed”
The quote popularized by Lightning McQueen, the anthropomorphic racecar in Pixar’s Cars, holds true here. The FSN 3G is fast. Crazy fast. Multi-camera fast. So much so that you can’t outrun it (I tried, I really did). In a live camera situation, this is critical. For corporate gigs, a couple of frames of delay are acceptable and your camera switching is not usually as fast as rock ‘n’ roll. Not the case here — the FSN-3G is designed to switch super-fast.
Since all the processing is done off-controller via the FSN-1400 frame, the switching on the controller is completely independent and, as stated before, stupid fast. Patching was quite easy. All the UIC’s are configured to “auto-acquire” and with five, two-channel cards, it was like having 10 ImagePro’s on command. In fact, they use the same Athena scalers, so it’s exactly that. Each UIC has a DSUB-HD15 for analog, a DVI, and an SDI input tap for ease of connection.
All inputs are completely scalable. All inputs are also map-able to any button or Aux, with the ability to change the name on the daylight readable LCD displays above each button on the console. And, speaking of buttons, they are of the NKK-style, rigid variety, so anyone familiar with switching on a 110 or ScreenPro should feel right at home. I love a good “thunk” when a button is pushed. It gives no small measure of confidence.
While the FSN was completely easy to set up and patch for me, it is not for the uninitiated. It’s true that, given a few hours, a user could acquaint oneself with the FSN to make a show, but you’ll need some switching chops to really make this one scream. The GUI for the system is easy to use and laid out quite logically, but if you don’t know what you want where — you’re in trouble.
What Else Can It Do?
Depending on the output card config, the FSN-3G can be outfitted to do three-screen blends right out of the box. Again, the GUI made easy adjustment of overlap areas, screen assignments, and feathering. PIP functions are numerous with the 2D-DVE effects card installed. Keyframed PIP events are easily created and stored via the GUI. And the DVE card enables you to create a variety of stunning special effects, such as a full color image tinted to appear in sepia tone, monochrome, strobed at variable rates, frozen, or flipped both horizontally and vertically. Each of the RGB components for any selected input also can be modified independently, allowing you to colorize images according to the creative requirements of your program.
Features at a Glance
Switching at Warp Speed
There isn’t a whole lot this console can’t do. It’s so supercharged and so well-thought-out that I can’t think of a situation where you’d be lacking in switching capability. Touring rig that needs 8 to 16 cameras and high-res graphics switched at lightning speed? Check. Corporate rig that needs extreme flexibility for sources and multi-screen blending? Check. Retentive directors and DP’s who need to see their own source and save memories? Check. Need to send all this to record or a streaming box? Check.
It was a pleasure to lay hands on this system and special thanks go out to Tim Kuschel for walking me through it — if only for a few brief, glorious hours. —JG
PROS ?Unbelievable speed and switching capability.
CONS? Can be a bit intimidating for the newbie. Also, most likely not the cheapest switching solution out there. (For pricing, contact Barco at 888-414-7226.)
More Info: barco.com
