About any product purchase it's good to ask: what features might save time? What features could you live without?

For the purposes of this article, I’ve assumed that most users are interested principally in SD (serial digital) working, and it is certainly my format of preference. Analog switchers are available, but the range is limited, and the vulnerability of the analog format to noise and high-frequency attenuation make it (in my view) a poor second to the SD format. The SD signal is rugged and can be sent over considerable distances without external assistance.

One of the key features in today’s market is portability. Some cameras can fit in your pocket, an edit pair can be carried like a suitcase, and appreciable processing power can be squeezed onto your credit card. With this kind of miniaturization available, it’s no surprise that some switchers have also moved from the megalithic to the microscopic. For field operations in particular, this is a blessing. Where once you needed an airport cart for your switcher, now you can find one to fit in the pocket of your all-weather jacket.

Of course, this reduction in size is not without its drawbacks, and there’s always the risk of the loss of what might be termed operability. Some small production switchers attempt to compress all the features offered on a 32-channel 3ME presentation model into something the size of a large hardback book. Unfortunately our fingers have not shrunk commensurately to match the size of the buttons on such devices.

TIP #1: Go for big buttons. They’re easier to find in low-light situations and (usually) more rugged. It’s often fair to say that the smaller the button, the easier it is to break.

TIP #2: Make sure the switcher is strongly built, especially if you’re planning to do a lot of location work with multiple rigs/de-rigs. Generally, the smaller the box, the less respect it gets from baggage handlers, so a small portable switcher needs to have the structural integrity of a nuclear materials flask. A metal frame unit is recommended; though heavier than plastic, it will take a lot more hard knocks without folding up. The weight is an advantage in the field too, since you can load the rear panel with a full complement of broadcast video cables without the switcher falling over backwards.

Moving now to the actual operation: what do you need on a front panel? The most extreme adherents to the KISS principle, would restrict front panel operation to an M/E bank (program and preview source selectors) and a “take” button. This is not as unreasonable as it might sound. In practice, most live mixing tends to consist of straight cuts (try watching almost any current music video) with the occasional slow dissolve for dramatic effect. That being said, it is good to ring the changes once in a while, and you may need to do a split screen from time to time, so in practice simple wipes are handy to have. With the wipes come the border and soft edge features, and these can add a nice touch to a transition, so these probably need to be on the front panel as well.

You’ll want to be able to change the rate of the auto transition, so some kind of set control and a simple display is very useful, and a similar feature for fade to black is also an advantage.

TIP #3: Look for an uncluttered control interface.

Here’s a list of the basic features you’ll probably need on the front panel.

Source (channel) selection/program and preview
Wipe select
Border/soft edge/wipe reverse
Mix/wipe
Fade to black
Auto/manual (fader) transition
Take/cross-cut

Needless to say, a switcher is a lot more powerful than this simple list of functions would suggest. Here are some features that you might see in the menu.

Test pattern generator (useful for setting up levels downstream)
Wipe border color
Wipe edge softness
Wipe border width
Frame/line mode
525/625 selection
Editor control
GPI assignment

TIP #4: Keep the audio separate. It’s cheaper and makes the operation simpler.

This is a subject of some substance, and the full list of tips could run to many pages. If there’s anything you’d like to ask, feel free to visit AVTechnologyOnline.com or BrickHouse Video.com and send us an email.

P. Julian Hiorns is the managing director of Brick House Video in Owslebury, UK.