Nepal Television Commits to HD Upgrade by January 2019; FOR-A to Provide Key Tech
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Given a mandate from the country’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Nepal Television, the national broadcaster of Nepal, must fully upgrade to high-definition by January of next year – which also marks the broadcaster’s 34th anniversary.
By January 31 2019, Nepal Television will be running three HD studios, replacing all of its current equipment from SD to HD. As of that date, all new equipment must be installed and on-air so that Nepalese viewers can enjoy HDTV broadcasts from the country’s national broadcaster.
The selection was made in October to work with FOR-A’s Southeast Asia office to fulfill the networks’ quick turnaround, future 4K upgrade path, and budgetary requirements. Nepal Television will utilize two FOR-A HVS-2000 2 M/E video switchers for two of its studios, one HVS-2000 3 M/E video switcher for a biggest production studio, and dual-channel FA-9520 signal processors for frame synchronization, color correction, and up/down/cross/aspect conversion. The Nepal Television has been using HVS-390 video switchers in two studios, including one regional studio in Kohalpur.
Nepal Television will also upgrade the master control room (MCR) and program control room (PCR) for its two national channels (NTV and NTV PLUS) to full HD. Nepal Television will use two FOR-A MFR-3000 routing switchers – one in the Master Control Room and one as a redundant router. In the program control room, FOR-A’s MFR-1616 routing switcher will serve as the upstream router, the HVS-100 as the on-air production switcher, and FA-9520’s for all signal processing.
“FOR-A is known for the ruggedness and reliability of its product range and its modern design,” said Mr. Chinta Mani Baral, HOD, Engineering and Mr. Hari Prasad Bhandari, Chief of Studio Transmission and Maintenance of Nepal Television. “From video switchers, to routing switchers to signal processing, we were able to deal with one premier manufacturer in Japan, which was a big benefit to us. They’re able to meet our pricing and tight turnaround time and make sure we’re fully HD by January 31st 2019. We expect to enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with FOR-A for a long time.”