Corplex’s Chromium Geared Up and Ready for the Future

Corplex President Scott West has been so pleased with his fleet’s second HD unit, Iridium (introduced in 2008), that he easily could have built an exact copy to help handle the increased work load headed his company’s way. However, future-proofing Corplex’s newest mobile unit, Chromium, quickly became a top priority.

“The original goal was to build the same truck,” said West, “but it’s been three years since we did the last one. There’s been a number of advances in technology, and we wanted to take advantage of those in this next truck. So the look and feel is very similar to the last one, but the infrastructure and power is much greater in Chromium.”

Designed by VP of Operations and Engineering Dave Greany, Chromium and its support unit, Nickel, build on the success of their sister units — Iridium and Zinc, respectively — and have similar floor plans. However, Chromium has significant infrastructure improvements intended to set it up for success for years to come.

The most notable upgrades include a new Calrec Apollo 128-fader audio console, fully equipped with eight TFT meter screens and eight touchscreen assignment panels, and a Grass Valley Kayenne production switcher, with integrated Summit four-channel ClipStore server.

For West, however, the most important improvement on Chromium is the Evertz EQX and EMR router with its Magnum unified control system, which allows significant embedding and de-embedding.

“That’s really a big change in the industry over the past few years,” said West. “It kind of sneaks up on you because we have a little bit of that on our first truck, and we have more on Iridium, and it just seems like you never have enough when you go to these shows. So we revised the audio plant and decided to make the embedding and de-embedding all within the router, make it very simple, and have there be a lot of it.”

To help round out the foundation of the mobile unit, an EVS XT[2] server was also added to the plan and has worked well. Other items “in the racks” — MADI for the ADAM intercom; the Wohler MADI 8 speakers; Evertz HD2014 PassPort converter, frame synchronizer, and decoder; and fiber connectivity — give Chromium/Nickel the ability to handle large signal quantities in multiple formats.

Integrated by Diversified Systems, Chromium debuted on Sept. 1, broadcasting the Green Bay Packers-Kansas City Chiefs preseason game. It’s the third HD unit in the company’s fleet and was booked through the fall by CBS Sports Network (Army Football), CBS Sports (NFL), and MLB International for the MLB postseason. It will also be involved with the Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas for Winnercomm and with the 2012 Super Bowl for NFL Network.

“There had been a lot of business that we had been turning away over the past several years just because we didn’t have the capacity to cover it,” said West. “So now we’re able to look at different packages and be able to retain a lot of that business that we had to pass on.”