Snell's Kahuna is big

Post, May, 2005

BURBANK -- Production of seamlessly interwoven SD and HD content for TV is taking a step toward ease-of-use via a new line of switchers from Snell & Wilcox (www.snell-wilcox.com) called Kahuna. At NAB, Snell & Wilcox demonstrated a mix of widescreen and 4X3 pictures in a multiformat switcher environment that recognizes both formats simultaneously--within the same mainframe and with the same control panel. Kahuna also enables the integration of SD sources into HD production without outboard upconversion.

Kahuna users may work initially in HD-only or SD-only mode and then upgrade to the multiformat SD/HD operation. In its multiformat mode, Kahuna can mix SD camera feeds, graphics, handheld shots and archival footage directly into an HD production. Kahuna comes in fours sizes, at four price points. The high-end version offers up to four two-channel DVEs that can apply effects to the keyers and background transitions, including warps, tiling, ripples and lighting effects.