Entertainment Technology News

(Pictured: Rolf Mendez, a Cinema-Television professor at Los Angeles City College, instructs students on the functions of the FOR-A HVS-1500HS switcher.)

(Cypress, CA) As part of a recent studio conversion to HD, the Cinema-Television Department at Los Angeles City College (LACC) in California installed a FOR-A HVS-1500HS digital video switcher with an HVS-16OUB 16-button control panel.

According to Rolf Mendez, professor, Cinema-Television Department, "The FOR-A switcher was a great improvement over our previous switcher. My students and I learned the new switcher with ease, and the intermediate class has already begun producing their five-minute productions after only four class sessions."

The 1.5 M/E HVS-1500HS features 16 inputs, four still stores, six keyers, and is switchable between HD and SD formats. The Cinema-Television Department is using the new FOR-A switcher in the renovated Studio B, along with a new Compix HD CG, Sony HVR-M15U VTR, and three Panasonic AG-HPX500 camcorders. In its facility, the department has two television studios and a cinema soundstage, plus multiple computer editing labs, three screening rooms, scene dock, and carpentry and machine shop.

Mendez credits the new HVS-1500HS with increased interest in chroma key use for student projects. "Now, we have the capabilities of six chroma keys where before we had only one," he explained. "The ease of use of the FOR-A switcher has even encouraged our beginning students to experiment with chroma key shots that were, up to now, time consuming and tedious to set up. This comfort level with the FOR-A switcher will only encourage students to advance more quickly in the Intermediate class and enable our students to have an advantage when competing for their first jobs in the industry."

Regarding the sales and technical support from FOR-A during the installation, Mendez was thoroughly pleased with the help from the FOR-A engineers when working through the connection issues that invariable crop up with other video components. "In fact, when one component from another vendor failed to convert a digital video signal, FOR-A provided us with a new converter, the FOR-A MC-10AD," he said. "This did the trick in proving the superior quality and standards of FOR-A components."

Resources:

FOR-A Corporation of America: www.for-a.com