Independent Television Facilities Center (ITFC) and Molinare Adopt New

BEAVERTON, Ore., May 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tektronix, Inc. , a leading worldwide provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation, announced that the Independent Television Facilities Center (ITFC), one of Europe's leading providers of access services to the broadcasting, film and DVD industries, and Molinare, one of Britain's longest established and most highly respected post-production houses, have installed Tektronix' new WVR7100 rasterizer for monitoring the quality of high-definition (HD) content.

As more and more HD content is being produced, pressure is mounting on content providers to meet the consumer expectations for HD while also complying with the technical specifications for HD production and broadcasting. Operators in hybrid (HD, standard definition, and composite analog) video facilities need a cost-effective, feature rich, and easy-to-use monitoring solution that helps them quickly and reliably monitor the quality of content throughout their workflow. The new WVR7100 rasterizer enables engineers, technicians, video editors, and colourists to provide the highest video quality and conformance to in-house or client specifications. HD, standard definition (SD), and composite analogue signals, as well as digital and analogue audio, can be monitored in one place by using the WVR7100 rasterizer.

"We have installed the WVR7100 in our Master Control Room as the definitive quality control device for our video operations," said David Willis, Director of Video Operations at ITFC. "Since seeing an excellent demo and borrowing a unit for a week, we decided that its flexibility, accuracy and ease of operation were just what we wanted. As with many others in the UK TV business, we realize that HDTV is likely to be a customer format requirement within the lifespan of any new equipment and ITFC are adopting the strategy of looking for upgrade paths or compatibility for possible HDTV use for new business. The WVR7100 is a perfect match for those plans."

The WVR7100 is the only SD/HD rasterizer which incorporates the de facto industry standard, Tektronix-patented, gamut displays (diamond, split diamond and arrowhead) that ensure that the content meets color gamut compliance in both component and composite color spaces.

"We bought the WVR7100's for our color grading suite, and one for each of our Avid Nitris suites which are used for both SD and HD," said Darren Woolfson, Technical Director, Molinare. "I'm very impressed with the product. The user interface combined with the WVR7100's shallow menu structure and user presets allows us to quickly access all of the unit's key functionality. Moreover, the Tektronix gamut display is the de facto industry standard. With any other monitoring kit we would be questioned about the quality and accuracy of our equipment. That never happens with the Tektronix name on the box. The WVR7100 is absolutely essential to our work."

About the WVR7100

The WVR7100 provides customers in the multi-format environments -- composite, SD, and HD video and/or analog, digital, Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Dolby E audio -- with a cost effective and easy-to-use monitoring tool that enables them to ensure production and broadcast of quality content that adheres to legal broadcast specifications. With the WVR7100's powerful FlexVu(TM) display, customers can uniquely configure their instrument to display in four different tiles any of the Waveform, Vector, Gamut, Picture, Status, and Alarms displays. With the audio option, the instrument can also display Audio Level Bars, Lissajous, Surround Sound, and Dolby Audio Metadata (Dolby Digital/Dolby E option only) displays. The WVR7100 is the only HD Rasterizer with the de facto industry standard, Tektronix-patented, Gamut displays (Diamond, Split Diamond and Arrowhead) that ensure that the broadcast material meets gamut compliance in the component and composite color spaces. The WVR7100 reduces the time and effort needed to assess the quality of multi-channel audio content and to diagnose multi-channel audio amplitude or phase problems.

About Tektronix

Tektronix, Inc. is a test, measurement, and monitoring company providing measurement solutions to the communications, computer, and semiconductor industries worldwide. With more than 55 years of experience, Tektronix enables its customers to design, build, deploy, and manage next-generation global communications networks and advanced technologies. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix has operations in 19 countries worldwide. Tektronix' Web address is http://www.tektronix.com/.

NOTE: Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.