Everyone has seen presenters tapping on their microphones saying “one, two…” and clapper boards, which were invented in the early days of motion pictures to synchronise vision and sound.
These methods rely on a human, subjective interpretation of whether a sound is in sync with the video. This is hard to rely on for accuracy, especially as distances between the subject and a master control room increase. And any misalignments are much more noticeable these days with audiences enjoying hyper-clear pictures and near cinema-quality audio in the home. Even the slightest mismatch of sound and video is noticeable and all too often can lead to viewers switching channels.
Hitomi takes guesswork out of the equation, replacing subjective estimates with highly accurate, electronic test audio and video generators along with a state-of-the-art analyser.
Hitomi MatchBox Solutions
Step 1: Precision timing with test pattern generators
What if you replaced mic tapping and clapper board with a very specific test pattern that had a repeatable, known, highly precise quality accompanied by a sound that was equally repeatable and precise?
That’s what a signal generator like MatchBox Generator, IdentBox or our new iOS app MatchBox Glass does. It transmits a known, verified, and perfectly timed signal.
Choose from:
MatchBox Generator
A fully-fledged test pattern generator with advanced audio/video identing
MatchBox Glass
A complete lip-sync and latency test source on your phone!
IdentBox
All that MatchBox Generator offers without the lip-sync option
Stuck for choice?
Check out our comparison guide here:
Step 2: Precision measurement with the MatchBox Analyser
So far so good? Having perfectly timed test pattern generators is great for a start, but if at the other end there’s still a human being making subjective observations and adjustments, it makes the whole process less accurate than it should – in fact has to – be these days.
So, to close that loop, you need a device at the receiving end that replaces eyes and ears.
AND THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT MATCHBOX ANALYSER DOES…
MatchBox Analyser
MatchBox Analyser calculates the difference between what it knows should be there and what it actually receives and measures it to generate a precise reading that indicates the difference between audio and video feeds.
Guesswork is replaced by a highly accurate, mechanised generator and receiver that compose and submit their respective signals to the best and most accurate pair of mechanical eyes and ears you could ever imagine.
Step 3: Keeping it all together safely with the xFrame
xFrame
A modular 1RU frame
The xFrame hosts up to 4 MatchBox Modules of any combination enabling expansion and future proofing. With a distributed frame reference, it provides a single ethernet control interface for access to all MatchBox Modules. Keeping your trusted, rock solid Matchbox technology inside.
Benefits of Precision
What MatchBox ultimately means is that instead of having someone tapping a mic or clapping a board in front of a camera to take subjective readings from, you have a known, verified, highly precise test pattern that in turn enables you to measure and confirm the veracity of your links before you even start sending video or audio signals down them. Knowing that those links are solid is a fundamental parameter of any broadcast, and MatchBox make it much easier, many times faster, and with total reliability.