The task facing the station as it relocated, would be replacing 120,000sq.ft with just 65,000sq.ft of real estate, into which they would force an expanded infrastructure.
Project director, Tom Gallagher and head of broadcast technology, Gary Welsh, weighed up their options - knowing that in applying advanced connectivity via a Cat6 copper fibre cabling infrastructure they had the opportunity to future-proof the facility at the dawn of the new era of high-definition.
The plan for Pacific Quay was to allow offices and newsrooms to intermix with post-production, dubbing/editing suites and rest areas, while included in the ground floor layout adjacent technical and transmission studios would be divided by a glass partition.
For these critical regional transmission control rooms the station had to decide whether to opt for a traditional control bridge, a rear projection solution or individual LCD monitors as they had at Cowcaddens. The monitor wall had to provide an easy reference for the programme schedulers but the main proviso was that the new hardware needed to handshake with the station's existing Evertz MVP multi-image processors and be able to operate a 24/7 duty cycle 365 days of the year.
Both technicians had been exposed to Christie's CSP70 rearpro display with 70in blackbead screens at last year's IBC Show. Since this system is server-agnostic, it would allow the station's existing processors to drive either analogue or DVI signals directly to the cube.
Thus Christie were invited to STV for a demonstration. "We didn't need a complete control room solution and we liked the fact that Evertz processors and Christie cubes both spoke to each other," said Tom Gallagher. "One of the underlying concepts is that we knew we would be putting nothing on the system that was unproven."
As a result STV wasted little time in placing the order for four CSP70's. The 70-inch cubes are driven by Christie's RPMSP-D100U projectors, fitted with dual 100W UHP lamps (run at 80% brightness) and 0.7:1 lens. The cubes were delivered in their own purpose-built chassis, mounted on dollies so they can slide forward for ease of service and lamp replacement. "The main reason for adopting this solution was the complete flexibility it offered us - and the reduced installation costs," Welsh reveals. "This was installed by us in a day."
The tiled walls with 1mm edge butt provide an elegant and cable-free solution with just a single fibre carrying the SDI-embedded signal. The cubes display SXGA+ and STV run this in 1400 x 1050 native resolution. With two Evertz frames in the back office the system has built-in redundancy.
Back in Cowcaddens each of the individual CRTmonitors had needed to be individually driven and cabled. "With this solution," says Tom Gallagher, "The Evertz drives the entire system, producing graphics and time codes, and the CSP70's take their feed direct from the rack via a DVI converter. This enables us to monitor vision, sound, timings and alarms from a common platform that can be easily reconfigured to suit changing requirements."
The versatility of Christie's purpose-designed product range is also in evidence up on the building's penthouse floor, where the main boardroom/conference suite offers stunning views from its terrace over the Clyde to the SECC and 'Armadillo' concert venue.
Clearly needing a compact projector that was HD ready in this partitionable room, they tasked Wave Integrated Systems of East Kilbride with devising a rearpro solution in an AMX-controlled environment. Wave's Ewen Grimes opted for a twin mirror rig solution, using a Christie DW30 firing onto a 120in dnp New Wide Angle display, with a focal length of
