Welsh production company Rondo Media has selected Crystal Vision’s new M-COCO-2 IP/SDI colour corrector and legaliser to increase the capability of its outside broadcast unit and expand the service Rondo can offer broadcasters. 

Crystal Vision-1

Crystal Vision: Rondo is primarily using the M-COCO-2 as a legaliser

The M-COCO-2’s dual channels allow Rondo to either derive two independently colour corrected feeds from one source or to colour correct and legalise separately, while its multi-format support means that Rondo can use it with SDI now and with IP in the future without changing anything.

Rondo Media is an independent multi-genre production company which produces content for a wide range of UK and international broadcasters. Productions include the Rownd a Rownd drama series which has been an established cornerstone of Welsh channel S4C’s schedule for more than 25 years. Rondo has two studios and post-production facilities located in Caernarfon and Cardiff, while its outside broadcast unit was built in 2018 to provide a high-quality and comfortable environment for events coverage, including sport, music and conferences.

In 2020 Rondo decided to further increase the capability of the OB unit. With broadcasters requiring content providers to ensure their video content is fully compliment with EBU R103, Rondo required a product for the OB unit which could be used primarily as a real-time legaliser but also serve as a colour corrector when required.

Seeking to use the latest technology, Rondo selected Crystal Vision’s M-COCO-2, a software app which runs on the MARBLE-V1 media processor hardware. Featuring a CPU/GPU processor and both SDI and 10GbE IP network interface connections, MARBLE-V1 is a card which fits in the Vision frame. Rondo’s OB unit already contained a Vision 3 frame – housing video D-As and audio embedders – which had some spare slots available, meaning that the M-COCO-2 did not use up any additional space.

Rondo is primarily using the M-COCO-2 as a legaliser, with the app offering both RGB and Y/C clipping and a choice of four RGB clip modes (hard, medium, soft and desaturation) to ensure the broadcast colour gamut remains legal. When required Rondo is additionally using the M-COCO-2’s colour correction tools, which include RGB gain, RGB lift, YUV gain, YUV lift, video gain, chroma gain, chroma hue, black stretch, highlights stretch and RGB gamma adjustment. Rondo has found the M-COCO-2’s dual channel functionality particularly useful as it allows the company to colour correct and legalise separately or to derive two independently colour corrected feeds from one source, such as for in-shot monitors working on different sets.

Although Rondo is currently using the M-COCO-2 in an SDI system, the company’s aim is to purchase kit which is as future-proof as possible while having minimal impact on budgets, which will meet current HD requirements and also work in future IP environments. This made the M-COCO-2 an ideal solution, with its ability to work with IP (ST 2022 and ST 2110 video), with SDI or with both IP and SDI at the same time.

Rondo Media’s head of engineering Mike Jones commented: “Rondo’s engineers have had extensive experience with Crystal Vision kit over the years and appreciate the reliability and functionality of the kit as well as the support, both pre and post sales, received from Crystal Vision.”