Wichita State Upgrades to HD with Utah Scientific Equipment

Wichita State University has installed Utah Scientific equipment in its Media Resources Center (MRC) as part of a plant-wide upgrade to HD. The upgrade allows the MRC to supply HD content to the entire campus, and will soon enable it to serve the public via the local cable provider, Cox Communications. The MRC operates WSU-TV, produces videos, provides media for classrooms, and does some student training.

The MRC is now equipped with a UTAH-400 routing switcher V-64R frame loaded 32×32 for 3G HD/SD, an SC-400 control system with an MX-Lator Control Translation Unit, various panels and a Softpanel-2 GUI, and a TSG-490Y sync generator with changeover capability. MX-Lator will enable the new router to interface with the school’s existing Utah Scientific analog router, which has been in service since 1986 and is still in use. The MRC uses the new equipment for TV production in an on-air environment, with the UTAH-400 router feeding the production switcher sources along with monitors in Wichita State’s newly outfitted production studio.

“We chose Utah Scientific equipment for its versatility, as well as its ease of installation, programming, and operation,” said Marty Heffner, chief engineer at the MRC, Wichita State University. “We really liked the variety of router control panels, and the fact that the new digital panels allow us to continue working with the old analog router as we phase out of analog production. Plus, Utah Scientific is the only company to offer a no-fee 10-year warranty.”

The UTAH-400 is specifically designed to address the growing requirement for large switching systems with its ability to expand from 8×8 to 1152×1152 and beyond. The UTAH-400 is based on a new matrix architecture that greatly reduces the complexity of large systems, resulting in improvements in rack space and power requirements as well as yielding cost reductions.

The SC-400 is the control system at the heart of a Utah Scientific routing switcher. In addition to controlling any of the current or legacy Utah Scientific routing switchers, the SC-400 can also provide interface capability to many third-party control and switching systems. Because of its modular design and advanced software, SC-400 can adapt to any application, from simple stand-alone applications to the most sophisticated control systems.

“We’ve been working with Marty and his team at Wichita State for many years, and I’m happy that we get to collaborate again as the MRC moves from analog to digital operations,” said Tom Harmon, president and CEO of Utah Scientific. “Between the new Utah Scientific equipment and the existing Utah Scientific analog router, Wichita State will be able to keep one foot in the analog world as it embraces and transitions to the digital world, and we’ll be right alongside the MRC team as they do it.”