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Sync Pulse Generators (SPGs) | |
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"We
bought an SPG from Courtyard and never talked to them again. What I
mean is, we didn’t have to talk to them again. It worked straight
out of the box, it did evertything it was supposed to do and it
interfaced correctly with all our other equipment. It’s not often
that happens." | |
| CY490 pdf data sheet | |
| HISTORY Back in 1988 we at Courtyard were surprised to find that there were only a few high performance general purpose sync pulse generators (SPGs) on the market. Some of those were not adequately addressing the issue of colour framing (very important at the time), and reliability was clearly an issue. It was also apparent that there was a demand for a single product which offered test patterns and audio tones together with the SPG facilities. These factors (coupled of course with intensive market research!), encouraged us to enter the market.  | |
| FIRST PRODUCT The CY420 was launched in 1989 and was aimed at the broadcast and post production market. It was primarily an SPG, as this is the market we originally targeted, but the range of test patterns it provided ensured demand from the T&M market. Our goal was to produce a precision tool with impeccable performance and reliability. Able to perform equally well in master and slave SPG applications the CY420 offered test patterns simultaneously in both composite and component (unique at the time). Multiple colour black outputs reduced system installation costs by reducing the requirement for distribution amplifiers. The
range of test patterns was restricted to those in regular daily use
and did not include the likes of Multiburst, Pulse & Bar. It was
our belief that patterns like this were used infrequently (in the
targeted application) and that most installations already had a high
performace stand alone test pattern generator. This allowed us to
keep the cost down whilst offering a high performace, feature rich
product. This highly successful product was the catalyst for the
state of the art range of SPG's and Test Pattern Generators we
currently produce. | |
| CURRENT MARKETS Whilst there is a significant move from analogue to digital worldwide, it is important to remember that the majority of digital equipment needs to be locked to an analogue colour black reference. It is also very true to say that there is much analogue equipment which will continue to be used and the need for analogue test signals will remain for the foreseeable future. Any SPG & Test Pattern generator produced now has to cater for a wide variety of applications. | |
| CURRENT PRODUCT The CY490 has been produced to answer almost every requirement in the current SPG and Test Pattern arena. Stabilty and reliability are of paramount importance and are provided on the back of 10 years experience in the field. There are three basic models with the top offering pattern ouputs in YC, Composite,Component and serial digital. A comprehensive range of test patterns is supplied as standard with the CY430 including Pulse & Bar, Multiburst, Sweep, Bowtie, dedicated serial digital patterns and many more. Very wide genlock timing (±4 fields) is now required along with the possibilty of indepentently adjustable colour black outputs over the same range. These are
offered as an option to those who require them, as are AES digital
audio, embedded audio, word clock and digital black. The intention
is to keep the basic model costs as low as possible but still
offering the extras to those who need them. | |
| SPG CHANGEOVER The SPGs and Test Pattern Generators are complemented by the CY465 Universal SPG Changeover unit. | |
| FUTURE PRODUCT There is a clear path for us to take in the sync pulse generator, test & measurement market in the immediate future. | |
| THE PRODUCTS : | |