Texas Southern University (TSU) School of Communication has added a Broadcast Pix Granite 5000 Video Control Center to its student control room.
- The new system is part of an equipment upgrade for the Houston-based school to support HD and SD video production.
- The control room serves as part of the school's production laboratory, where sophomores, juniors, and seniors work with external producers to create content. Students produce a variety of projects, from news programs to short films, and much of the content is distributed through Comcast Cable's on-demand portal. "It's an excellent platform for our students," said Cliff Edwards, director of broadcast engineering, School of Communication.
- Because projects are produced in both SD and HD, it was important that TSU invest in a video switcher that could handle both. "The ability to go HD or SD, that was the goal," said Edwards. "I wanted something that was going to last and be state-of-the-art quality - and give students a leg up when they went into the real world."
- The Granite 5000 was purchased from and installed by Houston-based Industrial Audio Video last summer, and TSU began using it for classes last fall. It replaced an aging Echolab switcher and CG, and its built-in Fluent-View allowed the school to replace its cumbersome wall of CRT monitors with four Panasonic 42-inch flat panels. Edwards said students enjoy using the built-in Fluent Clip Store, which allows them to bypass time consuming, tape-based workflows. "Now, they can focus that time on putting packages together," he added.
- According to Edwards, the School of Communication needs to invest wisely when it purchases new equipment. With its Fluent workflow tools, regular software upgrades, and modular expandability, he said the 2 M/E Granite 5000 essentially sold itself. "I was sold on the product from day one," Edwards added. "It's a wonderful tool. We wow the students, we wow visitors, and when we generate content, we wow the viewers."
