COURTYARD EXPANDS PRODUCT RANGE AT IBC 2004

 Farnham, 20^th August 2004

Courtyard Electronics is introducing four new products at IBC2004 involving new designs and ideas that redefine master sync pulse generators and legalisers as well as new engineering and control for the SportsDog graphics generator. The fourth product marks a revolution for SNG/flyaway units, with an entirely integrated solution for baseband signals.

Products on show include:
The CY490 is an entirely new design that provides all the features needed to meet the modern requirements of high definition as well as standard definition television. An astute awareness of customer needs coupled with unrivalled in-the-field experience and leading-edge technology means that Courtyard is again re-defining the master SPG. Housed in a 1RU box (half-width available soon) it includes timecode and a full range well as SD and HD test signals including Courtyard's rolling ident.

The new compact, lightweight integrated hybrid baseband solution for signal processing in SNG/flyaway applications handles all the video and audio elements required for an uplink in a single unit. Audio and video line-up is very straightforward with two integral LCD video monitors and audio level meters, as well as a bars (with Courtyard's rolling ident, much favoured for
uplinks) and tone outputs. It has analogue and SDI inputs and outputs and is PAL/NTSC switchable. The solution is already implemented in SISLink's uPOD modular SNG/flyaway system.

The new HD and SD serial legaliser and monitor follows the tradition of Courtyard's highly rated Sheriff, to detect and correct out of gamut video signals HD-SDI and SDI video signals. Housed in a 1RU box it also includes a safe area generator.

The updated software and hardware for SportsDog extend the price-performance benefits of this very capable on-air live graphics generator. Already able to handle live sports events and matches, now extended graphics add a lapsed-time clock and switching logos on/off. Remarkably, all the capabilities come from a single-channel machine that is easy to use and does not need specialist operators. Also introduced at IBC, a Virtual Control touch screen further simplifies live operation.

Also on show are:
. SoftClock - Leader Clock, a must for NLE
. LogoDog - Logo Generator with animation and multi-language character generation . Diamond CREDIT - Character Generator and subtitling option, TrueType library font access.

Representatives attending the exhibition:

Steve Cranny, Sales Director
Hugh Reynolds, Technical Director

Note to editors: The CY490 SPG and the SNG/flyaway integrated baseband solution have been covered in more detail in previous press releases - available on request.

About Courtyard
Established in 1986, Courtyard Electronics Limited designs, manufactures and sells a product range whose success stems from its high performance and reliability supplied at competitive prices. Current products include SPGs and changeover units, test pattern generators, colour correctors, on-air and VT clocks, logo generators, character generators and serial legalisers.

For further information contact

Courtyard:
Steve Cranny
Tel: +44 (0)1252 712030
E-mail: steve@courtyard.co.uk

Press:
Bob Pank
Tel: +44 (0)1342 836056
E-mail: bob.pank@virgin.net