Product Reviews

Seamless Switcher

By: Anthony D. Coppedge, CTS

Church Media Consultant

Originally published --

Altinex's attempt at an all-in-one universal seamless scaler is big on quality but low on ease of use.

I really wanted the AP445-103 (Altinex really needs to name stuff beyond cryptic model numbers) to be able to find a nice place in the church market for the lower-cost seamless switcher. Instead, I'm having to cautiously recommend this unit to churches with techies who love reading manuals and remembering coded preset values.

To be fair, if you like buttons and are not used to a production switcher, then this is a simple enough unit to use. I suppose one of my biases is my preference for any unit that uses the "preview" and "program" nomenclature to follow the design principles of a broadcast production switcher.

Instead, operation is straightforward for selecting the current source (just push a button on the Main bus) and for previewing a source (alternately, push a button on the Preview bus). This isn't bad, per se, but it does mean you've got to remember which source is plugged into which input, since there isn't a built-in way to rename inputs to common names (PC, Laptop, VCR 1, DVD 1, etc.). Prepare to use a labeler to create the labels so you can stick them over each button.

Main and Preview are indepent buttons on a top/bottom configuration

It is seamless

Unlike many of the other products on the market using the term "seamless" to describe their single-processing scalers, the AP445-103 does allow for dissolves (fades) between two sources. If you're tired of glitches showing up on the screen whenever you change inputs, then you're ready for a cost-effective seamless scaler like the AP445-103.

VGA, BNC and S-video Inputs

The unit also sports a keying mode, but due to the difficult setup and operation of this feature, churches would be advised to use worship software or a dedicated character generator for all keying functions.

Connectivity

There are a total of 9 inputs. 3 inputs for S-Video, 3 inputs for video and 3 for computer (VGA). While I do like the preview function of being able to check sources before they go live, the AP445-103 doesn't let you preview them all to one monitor. Instead, you must connect the video (composite and S-Video) previews to a video monitor and the VGA previews to a VGA monitor. To me, this is a mistake, as it requires two monitors instead of one.

Connecting audio and video to the unit is fairly straightforward, allowing all nine inputs, their corresponding outputs plus the preview outputs to be connected with relative ease. For churches that have setups similar to this and are tired of plugging and unplugging sources to make your system work, feast your eyes on this: Connectivity made easy

Pricing strategies?

In an odd press release, Altinex stated that the introductory list price for the AP445- 103 is $3,995 until December 31, 2005. The recommended list price afterward will be $4,995. Now I'm all for saving money, but new technology prices tend to drop over time, not increase. Still, for the churches that have sharp techies and want to get past the blue-screenof- death transitions, the quality of the AP445-103 is right on target. But for churches needing an easy to use and easy to program scaler, consider the similarly named but much simpler AP445-401.

Anthony Coppedge provides consulting to Churches for developing and growing a Media Ministry, building teams, casting vision and even choosing the right equipment. He lives in Bedford, Texas with his wife and two daughters and can be reached at anthony@anthonycoppedge.com WEB: www.anthonycoppedge.com | E: anthony@anthonycoppedge.com | PHONE: 817.819.7288 | FAX: 817.887.3700

Copyright 2005

Do not duplicate in any form whatsoever without the written permission from Anthony D. Coppedge.