TC Electronic Releases Cross-Platform Broadcast Processors
Story Highlights
Both the new DB4 MKII and DB8 MKII from TC Electronic conform to new EBU, ATSC and ITU Loudness and true-peak level standards across all platforms and all formats. “The broadcast world’s highest resolution, lowest latency and lowest distortion comes complimentary with DB4 MKII and DB8 MKII,” says the company.
The new MKII versions feature EBU R128 and ATSC A/85 compliant LM6 Loudness Meter, new SNMP functions and one week of detailed logging, even without connection to a computer. In DB4 MKII, the LM6 meter is always available in addition to its two multichannel audio processors.
With several thousand units operating constantly and globally, there is plenty of proof that the original DB4 and DB8 processors rarely fail. Now add the redundancy of the MKII versions: same power supply, but two of them. Also, double up on fuses, double up on mains inlets and double up on the Swiss-made Papst fans.
TC Electronic’s DB2, DB4 and DB8 processors are famous for their preset compatibility, allowing installations of any size to use the same settings. DB4 MKII and DB8 MKII are just as user-friendly and run presets from original DB4 and DB8 units straight out of the box.
DB4 and DB8 processors have a record of introducing novel solutions that facilitate multi-platform broadcast (‘Trickle-Down processing’) from one, low latency frame. The MKII’s continue on the same path with generous new functions that work regardless if metadata has been correctly set upstream or not.
Synchronous 48 kHz sampling and 48 bit processing throughout, in combination with massive jitter rejection, ensures high audio resolution and perfect timing, even when long transmission lines are used to feed a processor. Hundreds of DB processors can be cascaded without degrading the sound as much as a single pass through HDTV data reduction.