DETROIT – As part of the renovation of its amphitheater, Fiat-Chrysler used a Vista Systems URS-1608 Universal Routing Switcher to support video feeds. Sources were a variety of graphics computers, two laptops running Playback Pro, and a switched HDSDI program feed. Chuck Laszyca, Chief Technical Officer at TVS Communications Solutions explains that, “since all the feeds were to discrete displays it was the perfect application for the URS. Four outputs with transitions fed the Crestron DM system that provided four unique signals going out to all these rooms. The remaining four outputs were used as a combination of “Source” and “Confidence” monitoring.”
More details from Vista Systems (www.vistasystems.net)
DETROIT – TVS Communications Solutions recently provided production services to the newly-formed Fiat-Chrysler Automotive group (FCA) at its Auburn Hills, Michigan world headquarters, using a Vista Systems URS-1608 Universal Routing Switcher (URS) to support the visuals.
Every five years the automaker holds an Investor Day meeting where presentations lay out a five-year plan for the company. This latest meeting, which attracted journalists and investors from around the world, took place in a fully-renovated amphitheater with 16 conference rooms surrounding it. It marked the biggest Fiat-Chrysler gathering in the last five years.
“In just four weeks the FCA team gutted and renovated a 300-seat amphitheater and 16 meeting rooms from the ground up, including all AV and Lighting equipment,” says Chuck Laszyca, Chief Technical Officer at TVS Communications Solutions in Detroit. “IGI installed three Crestron DM routers, which fed all the display devices – a combination of monitors and projectors in the various rooms.” Sources were a variety of graphics computers, two laptops running Playback Pro, and a switched HDSDI program feed.
“I’ve always wanted to use a Vista URS in this type of production environment so it was really rewarding to easily configure and switch all the presentations that were routed through the DMs to all the rooms,” he says. “With the critical nature of the visual material and the need for rock solid delivery it was clear that Vista Systems processing was the way to go.”
Laszyca explains that, “since all the feeds were to discrete displays it was the perfect application for the URS. Four outputs with transitions fed the Crestron DM system that provided four unique signals going out to all these rooms. The remaining four outputs were used as a combination of “Source” and “Confidence” monitoring.
TVS used the URS to provide PIPs, handle transitions and perform aspect ratio conversions as needed. “As dissimilar graphic and unusually-formatted presentations and video clips came in, the URS handled every source with ease.,” he notes. “URS provided programmed transitions via recalled macros with a High Resolution Systems’ UDC-400 Universal Device Controller. With the extensive configuration handles within the URS GUI there was never a question that any last-minute source would be properly configured and ready for screens in no time.”
Since the URS utilizes the same hardware as Vista Systems’ well-known Spyder X20 “the image quality was fantastic,” Laszyca reports. “And the scaling quality doesn’t get any better than Vista. In short, URS performed as expected; flawlessly!”
