AMV BUILDS NEXT GENERATION FLIGHT CASE SYSTEM

AMV BUILDS NEXT GENERATION FLIGHT CASE SYSTEM The All Mobile Matrix is a mobile production flight case system that can support large-scale productions in both HD and SD.. The All Mobile

All Mobile Video (AMV) is an internationally known provider of audio and video solutions for entertainment, sports and news programming Based in New York City, AMV offers a full array of services ranging from sound stages and post-production facilities in Manhattan to 20 state-of-the-art mobile production and editing trucks Increased demand for remote programming, especially for out-of-country operations,

prompt-ed AMV management to re-enter a familiar line of business—flight cases

Flight cases, of course, were nothing new In fact, AMV was in that busi-ness some years ago but chose to focus instead on mobile trucks, a strategy which has proven successful as AMV mobile units are deployed

on many of the most high profile remote productions worldwide To successfully differentiate the flight cases and earn new business, AMV decided it was going to have to raise the bar for flight case capability

AMV BUILDS NEXT GENERATION

FLIGHT CASE SYSTEM

The All Mobile Matrix is a mobile production flight case system that can support large-scale productions in both HD and SD Shown are four VTR racks with HD decks as well as router panels and dual flat screen monitors.

The new flight case system—dubbed the All

Mobile Matrix—was designed with advanced

capabilities and on a scale not available in the

marketplace The All Mobile Matrix would

approximate the functions of a full 53-foot mobile

unit including support for up to 16 cameras, a full

80 input by 48 output switch, and both high

definition and standard definition capable

Beyond advanced production and editing

capabilities, AMV established other criteria for the

All Mobile Matrix Given that the new flight cases

would be subjected to repeated, rough handling

and widely varying environmental conditions,

components must be both rugged and highly

reliable In addition, the flight cases would have to

be highly flexible for not only maintenance and

troubleshooting, but also for accommodating the

varied wiring configurations and production

requirements of different venues and engineers

SELECTION THROUGH

DISSECTION—CHOOSING AUDIO

AND VIDEO PATCH BAYS

An important part of the All Mobile Matrix design

was flexibility through use of audio and video

patch bays Granted, hardwired components may

withstand the bumps and grinds of being carried

by airlines across the world or by donkeys up a

mountain better than patch bays Yet AMV valued

the ability to quickly and easily reconfigure and

troubleshoot using patch bays Still, the challenge

was to find highly reliable and rugged patch bays

Not choosing to believe every promise in

marketing brochures, the AMV team purchased

audio and video jacks and shelf assemblies from

several manufacturers and dissected each to the

subcomponent level

The engineers were surprised when one vendor’s

patch bay was actually wired incorrectly The

engineers were not surprised, however, to find

that the ADC audio and video products were

designed for long-term use and exceptional signal

response

Keeping most cases under 70 pounds was important, making the weight of each component

a critical factor While all tested products featured fairly comparable weight, the ADC patch products clearly stood out on features and performance

Lee Blanco, director of operations for AMV, works in the engi-neering section of the All Mobile Matrix, patching video through ADC’s MVJ-3 video patch bays.

”Weight is always a concern with flypacks,“

said Lee Blanco, Director of Operations for AMV

and the chief architect of the All Mobile Matrix

”But weight takes second place to performance

and that is why we chose ADC,“ he said

During the evaluation process, Blanco and his

team found that lighter sometimes also meant

flimsy “These cases need to take punishment

I had the impression (with other bays) that if I had

to mount several Edacs on the back and allow

the case to bounce down the road, I would

question the unit’s ability to stay together ADC

has the most rugged patching products available,”

said Blanco

AUDIO PATCHING FOR THE LONG

HAUL

The evaluation pointed to ADC’s Pro Patch®

Programmable Bantam for audio patching in the

All Mobile Matrix From a construction standpoint,

use of WECO platinum/gold crossbar contacts,

instead of non-crossbar type springs, offered a

superior design Combined with mechanical

wiping action and high contact force, the Pro

Patch would deliver steady performance even as

dust and other residues cling to contacts Both

modular jacks and chassis pass MIL-202

environmental testing for moisture, heat, corrosion

and vibration, making them a good fit for flight

cases

“Our experience with ADC says these (Pro Patch)

jacks will have zero problems for the first five years

By year seven, we might expect one or two bad

jacks and by year 10, just a few more—well within

spec,” said Paul Brinkman, Senior Field Engineer

with AMV “We have occasionally been lured into

buying other jacks but always end up switching

back to ADC For the long run, it pays to get the

right products,” he said

Content that the Pro Patch would provide

consistent, long-term performance, AMV

engineers were then won-over by the all front,

individual jack access of the Pro Patch series Each

bantam jack card slides out of the panel for access

to a seven-position DIP switch for configuring

circuit normals and grounds on individual circuits

Changes can be made on individual circuits

without removing a panel from the rack or affecting other circuits and without using pins and jumpers

ADC Pro Patch series audio patching products are used in the communications section of the All Mobile Matrix.

“We have occasionally been lured into buying other jacks but always end up switching back to ADC.

For the long run, it pays to get the right products.” – Paul Brinkman, Senior Field Engineer with AMV

“It was obvious which audio bay to use The

design of the (ADC) audio patch bay gives us

complete control to instantly swap jack points You

can’t do this with other systems,” said Brinkman

“Anything can happen in the field The case could

be in a rain forest today and in a desert next

month Knowing you can swap jacks in and out in

seconds versus an hour adds tremendous value to

the All Mobile Matrix,” he said

SEALED VIDEO JACKS

FOR PEACE OF MIND

As video jacks and panels were subjected to the

scrutiny of the AMV staff, ADC’s MVJ-3 Midsize

Super Video Jack surfaced as the top pick for video

patching First of all, the jack performed well on

the bench, showing its capability to handle high

bandwidth with acceptable return loss and

minimal insertion loss, making it suitable for high

definition productions

To AMV engineers, the design of the MVJ-3

revealed nothing but durability Dust-sealed,

gold-plated/beryllium copper cantilever switching

springs, with only a fraction of the moving parts as

contained in jacks with micro-switch designs, was

a design that the AMV staff thought could offer

increased reliability and performance consistency

over the life of the jack

Yet there were other design details—often

minor—that helped make the MVJ-3 the obvious

choice RFI suppression through use of a two-piece

center conductor impedes unwanted signal flow,

improving frequency response and return loss

characteristics Other elements such as solder free

construction and a grounding clip that makes

contact with the coax plug in seven points

contributed to the conclusion by AMV that for

video patching in the rough and variable world of

flight cases the ADC video jack was the correct

choice

“All components of the flight case need to take punishment and still perform ADC has engineered-in the right set of features to make this (MVJ-3) jack the most durable on the market today,” said Blanco

THE KEY INGREDIENT FOR SUCCESS—FLEXIBILITY

As a next generation flight case system, the All Mobile Matrix was designed to be highly flexible

It is a hybrid unit, supporting high definition, standard definition or any mix for the same show For customers who need just a few additional cameras, there is the flexibility of adding just several cases from the All Mobile Matrix to provide adjunct capability in support of a mobile unit Also, with wiring and set-up different for every venue and producer, use of ADC audio and video patching adds critical flexibility that allows extensive reconfiguration to support the specific needs of each show For AMV customers, all of this flexibility translates into savings of time and money—without short cutting production

“We have built-in the capabilities to meet the full production requirements for any event worldwide

in a compact, easy to use system,” said Blanco

“With any flypack, you have to be concerned about cases being abused and broken I don’t believe there was a better choice of patching gear for what we are doing ADC has helped make this flypack project a success,” said Blanco

ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis ADC Telecommunications, Inc views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S or foreign patents An Equal Opportunity Employer

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