New SD/HD Multiformat Production Switcher Offers Full Power of Kahuna in Cost-Effective, Smaller-Footprint Solution
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HAMPSHIRE, U.K. — Aug. 7, 2008 — Snell & Wilcox today announced the release of its compact new Kahuna 1 M/E HD SD/HD multiformat production switcher. Designed for live, fast-paced production environments, the Kahuna 1 M/E offers all of the breakthrough performance of the industry-leading Kahuna production switcher, but in a cost-effective, entry-level solution.
With the addition of the Kahuna 1 M/E HD, the Snell & Wilcox Kahuna line now provides the broadest range of mainframes and control panels of any production switcher in the broadcast industry. With a 3RU mainframe that accommodates a one-M/E card set, the Kahuna 1 M/E HD enables seamless, real-time mixing of SD and HD video, in any format, without compromise or loss of quality. The Kahuna 1 M/E HD offers a familiar user interface while delivering superior multiformat picture quality for live mobile, studio, and news productions. In addition, the Kahuna 1 M/E HD provides large input and output capacity with four full effects keyers (each with chroma keyer) and resize capabilities.
"The Kahuna 1 M/E HD brings the full power of Kahuna to smaller applications and those that are space-constrained, with all of the flexibility of a multiformat production environment for enabling a gradual, controlled transition to HDTV," said Joe Zaller, vice president, corporate development at Snell & Wilcox. "It is the ideal system for broadcasting operations that need a complete and self-contained solution for mixing in content from a variety of sources to deliver high-quality HD programs."
About Kahuna:
Kahuna from Snell & Wilcox is the world's first and only true multiformat SD/HD production switcher. Thanks to a Snell & Wilcox technology called FormatFusion, Kahuna enables simultaneous SD and HD operations in the same mainframe and on the same control panel. This vastly simplifies the HDTV transition for broadcasters by eliminating the need for external HDTV up/down/crossconverters in the live production environment, as well as the cost and the signal path delay associated with these products. Kahuna has the smallest size mainframe, lowest weight, and lowest power consumption when compared with other large switchers, and it has been integrated with dozens of third-party products including routers, servers, automation systems, and controllers.
