Outside Broadcast NV, one of Belgium's most active mobile production facilities, has ordered six Leader LV7700 multi-standard SDI rasterising test instruments for installation in its new OB 14 HD vehicle. OB 14 is the fleet's largest addition to date, a 2.5 m wide articulated trailer expanding to 4 m along almost 13 m of its 14 m length. A member of the Image Media Group, Outside Broadcast NV operates a fleet of 10 vehicles from its headquarters near Brussels. The instruments were purchased via Diginet, Belgian partner of elQuip BV, Broadcast Master Distributor for Leader Electronics Corporation in Europe.

Outside Broadcast NV specialises in national and international broadcast services. Operating increasingly in high definition, it has covered a wide range of events including the Brit Awards in London, the European Music Awards (MTV) in Rome, music performances and festivals, athletics and individual shows such as Blind Date, Data Quest, Euro Millionaire, Family Feud, Jeopardy, The Price is Right, The Weakest Link and Wheel of Fortune.

"We had a total of nine Leader LV7700 rasterisers in our HD vehicles prior to this order," comments Ronald Meyvisch, Technical and Operations Manager at Outside Broadcast NV. "Two are installed in units 7, 8 and 9, and three in unit 11. We polled our operators before making this further investment and they were unanimous in choosing to stay with these instruments which they know and trust. Each of the six shading desks in the vision control suite at the rear of OB 14 is equipped with an LV7700, enabling us to check individual component signal levels and colour vectors and so ensure that our output conforms fully to HD broadcast standards. Our shaders can work faster and more accurately with the analytical information they derive from the LV7700 rather than relying entirely on a picture monitor for subjective colour matching."

"The LV7700 rasteriser has proved to be one of the best-selling instruments in the entire Leader range," adds elQuip Managing Director Paul Vos. "It combines all the features needed for colour shading in a unit just 1 U high by half a rack width. That very high level of compactness is ideal for OB companies and post-production studios who need to accommodate maximum operational power in limited control-desk space. The output can be viewed as a rastered image on whatever size and type of screen the client chooses, typically an LCD monitor with again a very small footprint."

Leader's LV7700 rasteriser enables waveform, vector, picture, audio and status/protocol screens to be selected individually or as four-in-one simultaneous displays. Source images can be captured and stored for subsequent superimposition over live measurements. Once captured, source images can be transferred to Compact Flash memory card as a bitmap for production applications such as stage set and position matching as well as proof-of-performance logging.

The LV7700 can convert Y/Cb/Cr to Y/R/G/B or NTSC display as an aid in gamut monitoring and to assist in colour correction. Y/R/G/B can be viewed as a waveform or bar-graph display. Embedded audio monitoring features include surround sound, multi-lissajous image and bar graphs.

Like the LV5750 and LV5800, the LV7700 incorporates Leader's unique patented equivalent cable-length measurement feature which provides efficient warning against deterioration of the digital pulse waveform as cable feeds approach their inherent 'cliff-edge'. Power is from a 100-250 V universal AC adapter or directly from 12 V DC (3A) via an XLR power input connector.

Founded in 1978, elQuip BV specialises in providing high-quality products for broadcasters, post-production facilities, edit suites and electronic equipment manufacturers. elQuip is Broadcast Master Distributor for Leader Electronics Corporation in Europe.