By: Luz García
That technology is advancing at a frantic pace is a truth that admits no discussion. Although a few years ago having a projection from a single entry was effective, perhaps today there are businesses in which it will continue to be and others in which this type of projections will definitely fall short.
To talk about switchers or video switches, AVI LATINOAMÉRICA invited Graciela Llamas, regional manager of sales and market development for Latin America of Wohler Technologies, Inc; Alessandro Amoretti, sales manager for Latin America at Analog Way, and Ankit Patel, senior product manager at Echolab. With them we enter this interesting world to know the details of a technology that is gradually opening more market.
Video switchers ?
When talking about these equipment, reference is made to devices that allow the input of several video sources to later send or mix them to an output for visualization, which can be done through a television screen, the video monitors of a church or the giant screens of a concert, just to mention a few examples.
"There are simple video mixers , that is, they accept several video sources and send them to another video source, and video mixers that are at the same time scalers, that is, they accept several different sources (video, PC, DVI, HD) and that convert them all to the same resolution to send them for example to a display", explained Alessandro Amoretti.
For his part, Ankit Patel made the following precision: "The most sophisticated devices include special effects such as fades, fades and other interesting transitions between scenes, screen dialog boxes, animation, words, logos and other graphic elements."
On the ease of operation of these solutions, Patel said that "some devices are huge and seem as difficult to handle as a fighter jet. Others are relatively small and can be operated intuitively."
"As technology advances, switchers with more capabilities and more functions are manufactured, for example increasingly surprising effects. Little by little a minimum of training is necessary above all to know everything that the machine can do," Amoretti added.
The importance in the industry
Nowadays video users increasingly demand effective and convincing programming in their video solutions, it is precisely this aspect that makes switchers so important in the industry. "The switcher is like the backbone of a skeleton. This device receives all the signals and manages, converts and harmonizes them to later send them to the display (projectors, LED screens, plasmas, etc.). One can have several television cameras, PCs and DVD's to send to a projector and that is why you need a switcher to be able to have them all at the same time. Without this device you would need to change cables all the time," Amoretti said.
On this aspect Patel added that video switchers avoid additional costs in external devices, helping to make the production system more aerodynamic and compact, thus saving money and energy compared to traditional systems. He also said that the design of the current switches, smaller, allows a greener production and with a lower carbon footprint than the old ones. "It also saves money on the use of raw material for the manufacture of the components, as well as the expensive cooling and ventilation system, essential to keep it running," he added.
Current uses and trends
"This equipment is mainly used in production environments, such as newsrooms, studios and mobile units. They are also used in military, security, public order and any other applications that require multi-channel monitoring," said Graciela Llamas of Wohler.
In addition to what has already been pointed out by Llamas, these devices are used in churches, schools and concert halls. Precisely on the use made of this equipment in churches, Alessandro Amoretti said that "churches always have more equipment and sophisticated devices. In an enclosure of this type a video switcher will allow them, for example, to take the musicians with a television camera and insert the text of the songs into a Power Point presentation at the same time."
When talking about trends we find that in the case of Wolher, the novelty is the Digital Touch-It that includes a contact screen for easy handling and a compact design to save space in places that have this limitation. "The heat control and the clear visibility of the screen make the Digital Touch-It a very competitive option," explained Llamas.
The digital world has led to the gradual entry into the market of switchers that accept several digital inputs (DVI or HDSDI). Amoretti said that "Analog Way was the first to launch a seamless switcher and continues to innovate with switchers that convert analog signals to digital and vice versa."
Ankit Patel said switch manufacturers, including Echolab, are taking full advantage of the processing technology available to provide more functionality to these devices. "Specifically equipping them with the ability to handle and synchronize signals coming from various formats."
The challenges and the current market
Already from the beginning of the article it had been mentioned how changing the industry is. Precisely this fact becomes the main challenge that the manufacturers of these technologies must face to meet the demands of customers.
"A challenge for manufacturers is the widespread use of HD and the advent of 3G. It seems that there is always a new format that must be added to technology, while the old technology never disappears. For us that means building switches that can handle the ever-increasing number of signals," said Echolab's Patel.
Very much in line with what Patel said was what Amoretti said, who said that "the challenge is to listen to the people who handle video in companies, see the direction where they are going and study the new video formats that are invented. The Diventix II is the example of a machine created by customers for customers. Analog Way saw the needs and decided to respond to them by launching a user-defined device."
Finally, our guests agreed that the current economic crisis has affected all industries, but there are always alternatives to stay afloat, as Ankit Pantel of Echolab explained: "Manufacturers of large, expensive and complex switches are feeling the effects of falling prices on sales ads and this has affected large radio and television stations. At Echolab we are taking advantage of new markets such as churches and schools where the staff of the audiovisual area is excited by the creative possibilities of these new niches."
This expert said that for these cases the Atem switch has been very well received, which is a compact and multiformat 1 M/ E model, ideal for small stations, production companies and non-profit and corporate environments.
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