FOR-A Corporation of America will showcase its live production workflow at this year’s Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB) show, August 3-4 at the JW Marriott Downtown Austin. The company will showcase some of its latest gear used for studio production and live events, including some of the world’s most high-profile sporting events.

FOR-A Corporation of America today announced that industry veteran Satoshi Kanemura has been appointed president of the company, effective April 1. Mr. Kanemura joins FOR-A America from Sony Electronics where he was Vice President of Professional Products and Solutions. Former FOR-A America President, Ken Truong, has become Chief Technology Officer of FOR-A America.

FOR-A Corporation of America today announced Mobile TV Group, which maintains a fleet of more than two dozen mobile production units across major U.S. cities, added four new FVW-700 telestrators to its live production trucks this year, including two last month. Based in Englewood, Colo., Mobile TV Group provides live production services extensively for NBA, NHL, and MLB coverage, among other projects.

Camping World usually hosts its annual Ultimate RV Show in Hershey, Penn., but COVID-19 restrictions required the company to pursue a virtual option in 2020. Over the five-day event in mid-September, Custom Media Solutions, a live event video production company based in Cumming, Ga., produced 49 hours of programming that was streamed to multiple sites. During the event, CMS anchored its production efforts with its HVS-2000 video switcher from FOR-A Corporation of America.

InSync Technology and FOR-A today announced the latest in its range of motion compensated UHD frame rate converters, the MCC-4K-A, developed by InSync Technology Ltd. and exclusively distributed by FOR-A.

For live events produced and delivered in UHD, uncompromising quality standards conversion is critical to international audience satisfaction. Meeting the needs of today's live UHD workflow demands, MCC-4K-A is a highly advanced motion compensated frame rate converter that also provides essential workflow tools such as HDR/SDR management, closed caption handling, and multi-channel audio.

FOR-A Company Limited, the parent company of FOR-A Corporation of America, is celebrating its 50th year in business this month. Through its new slogan, FOR-A is inviting broadcast and video professionals to “Find Your Next Innovation” during its yearlong celebration. The company has also updated the for-a.com website to highlight the milestone and provide easier navigation for visitors.

A host of FOR-A equipment was essential to coverage of the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission when the Mars-bound Hope Probe launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on July 19^th. The probe successfully established

two-way communication and is expected to reach Mars by February 2021. It marks the first time the UAE has orbited Mars, and the probe will stay in orbit for a Martian year -- equivalent to 687 days on Earth -- to gather data about Mars' atmosphere. Eager to communicate such a critical part of the UAE’s growing space sector, live video signals from the launch were sent to control rooms in Japan and the UAE.

KitchenFish LLC, the video production company responsible for the nightly broadcast coverage of the South Carolina Education Lottery, is using a new FOR-A HVS-390HS video switcher for its productions. Located a few blocks from the state capitol, the KitchenFish studio hosts the nightly lottery drawings, and also supports live shots of state and local officials for national news outlets. The switcher was installed on April 14 and used for that evening’s production.

“We need to show all these graphics and video inserts simultaneously, and the new FORA switcher gives us a lot of flexibility,” said Jim Simmons, chief engineer for KitchenFish. “Price made a difference, but reliability is the one thing that has to be foremost, because we don’t have a second chance.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Orange Conference 2020, an annual event in Atlanta for Christian family ministry teams, to convert from a live, arena-sized event to a three-day streaming program, Custom Media Solutions relied heavily on its FOR-A HVS-2000 video switcher. The coverage required 16 inputs, 10 keyers, 11 DVEs, and at least four AUX buses.

Due to social distancing requirements, CMS had to produce the event using less than half of its usual crew in its production trailer. “We automated as much as possible using the features from the switcher,” said Marc Shroyer, president of CMS. “We had a couple of still stores with user flags and a lot of lower-thirds from the ProPresenter presentation system. We used DVEs for picture-in-picture looks that we could display on the multi-view at all times, so we could decide when to use them on the fly.”

First Baptist Church of Jackson in downtown Jackson, Miss., began broadcasting its Sunday services on a local TV station in the 1950s, but had not significantly upgraded its production facilities since the 1980s. Last summer, the church made the jump to HD production and anchored its redesigned control room with a HVS490 production switcher and MFR-3000 routing switcher from FOR-A Corporation of America.

Today, First Baptist Jackson streams live 1080p video to Facebook Live, YouTube, and its own website, with local 720p replays the following Sunday on WDBD (FOX) and WLOO (MyNetworkTV) in Jackson (DMA #92). According to Michael Bowen, minister of media and communications, any new switcher had to be “super volunteer-friendly,” because the church relies on more than 50 volunteers (as well as paid staff) to run its weekly production and other projects. The new HD system went live in late August, and he said it has created renewed excitement in their volunteers.

FOR-A Corporation of America has built integrated live production solutions that combine its HANABI series of video switchers with Variant Systems Group replay systems, ClassX graphics and playout software, ODYSSEY Insight video servers, and Brainstorm Multimedia virtual studios.

“Together with our technology partners, FOR-A is creating live production systems that make integration easier and more reliable,” said Ken Truong, President of FOR-A Corporation of America. “With the combined expertise from these companies across the professional video industry, we can offer best-of-breed solutions that improve workflows while delivering broadcast-quality results for HD, 4K, and beyond.”

Variant’s Envivo Replay offers a cost-effective sports and live event replay solution, with an intuitive user interface and continuous multiple iso-channel recording capabilities. It offers simultaneous clip storage of multiple angles, playlists for highlights playback, built-in branding capabilities, and direct publishing to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms. FOR-A is the exclusive distributor of Envivo Replay in North America.

FOR-A – the exclusive distributor of ClassX in North, Central and South America – also combines the latest ClassX real-time 2D/3D HD/4K CG and live motion broadcast graphics and playout solutions with its HANABI video switchers. An expansion I/O card for HVS-100, HVS-490, and HVS-2000 production switchers enables a close integration of the ClassX graphic playout from any HANABI video switcher directly by the switcher operator. ClassX’s real-time graphics playout software suite is popular with TV channels, news broadcasters, live event productions, and live sports productions.

FOR-A Corporation of America continues to develop products that support 12G-SDI infrastructures for live production workflows. Among its offerings are the new MFR-4100 and MFR-6100 12G/6G/3G/HD/ASI routing switchers, as well as the HVS-6000 Series of HANABI video switchers, which support HD and 4K production.

“For live event production and broadcasters, 12G offers increased bandwidth for uncompressed 4K/60p/59.94p/50p video over a single SDI cable,” explained Ken Truong, President of FOR-A Corporation of America. “That single SDI cable means reduced weight and wiring for mobile production units and easier troubleshooting for engineers. FOR-A offers a number of switchers, routers, and other products to help video professionals take advantage of 12G-SDI technology.”

Built to support 12G-SDI infrastructures, the MFR-6100 provides single-cable transfer of 4K video for less complex cabling. Users can add up to 16 input and 16 output cards (nine channels per card) to configure a matrix up to 144x144 in a 13 RU frame. For smaller installations, the MFR-4100 routing switcher supports up to 72x72 I/O in a 7 RU frame.

FOR-A Corporation of America today announced CG-Portable, a compact character generator designed for broadcast and digital signage applications. Through its intuitive, browser-based GUI, CG-Portable makes it easy to produce and display lower-thirds and other graphics. FOR-A will demo CG-Portable at the 2020 NAB Show, which runs April 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nev. (Booth C5016).

About the size of a smartphone, CG-Portable features four SDI ports for easy integration with production switchers and HD displays, as well as an Ethernet port for network connectivity. Two independent, multi-lingual text overlays support horizontal crawls and vertical rolls, while a timer overlay provides up/down count. Plus, CG-Portable supports more than 70 frames of graphic playback buffer, so users can insert animated as well as static logos over programming. Also, 70 frames can be used for frame memory.

With CG software developed by Brainstorm, CG-Portable provides a simple solution for fill and key mixing over live video or graphics for PEG (public, educational, government) channels. Broadcasters can also use it for downstream logo insertion for multicast channels. Plus, CG-Portable offers its own CG mixing capability over a background input. For digital signage applications in corporate and worship environments, CG-Portable can quickly provide customized updates about room schedules, daily menu specials, weather advisories, and other notifications.

FOR-A Corporation of America will showcase its processing solutions at the 2020 NAB Show (Booth C5016), which runs April 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nev. Designed to support today’s multi-format production environments, FOR-A’s multi-purpose signal processors and frame rate converters offer a variety of features to improve live production and newsroom workflows.

“From HD to 4K and beyond, today’s broadcasters have to juggle content in multiple formats from multiple sources in multiple locations, sometimes within the same production,” said Ken Truong, President of FOR-A Corporation of America. “At NAB, FOR-A is devoting an area of our booth to signal processing solutions, so content creators and distributors can find the right solutions for their conversion requirements.”

The versatile FA-9600 multi-purpose signal processor, which was featured at a world rugby event in October, will be used again by premiere broadcasters at the 2020 Tokyo summer games. Ideal for transmission centers, mobile production vehicles, production studios, and news stations, the compact FA-9600 simplifies all types of video conversion, and has been highly evaluated for its fully compliant HDR/SDR conversion specifications. Each of its two HD/SD inputs includes a frame synchronizer, HDR and Wide Color Gamut support, and conversion of multiple formats, including 12G, 4K (UHD), 1080p, and HD/SD. Users can switch between simultaneous 4K/HD mode with single-channel up/down conversion or dual HD mode with dual-channel up/down conversion.

Designed for live HDR broadcast production, the FA-9600 also supports 3D LUT for advanced color grading. The processor features unprecedented conversion accuracy with its built-in LUTs and support of 3D LUTs for SDR-HDR, HDR-HDR, and HDR-SDR conversions in mixed SDR and HDR production environments. The flexibility of the FA-9600 also allows user LUTs to be saved for instant recall. Several SDR/HDR log curves are supported, including SDR BT.1886, SDR BT.709, HLG BT.2100, SMPTE ST 2084 (PQ), S-Log3, Canon Log 2, and Canon Log 3.

FOR-A Corporation of America today announced PBS39/WLVTTV, part of Lehigh Valley Public Media based in Bethlehem, Penn., upgraded its control room last August with a FOR-A HVS-2000 HANABI video production switcher and ClassX broadcast graphics system. The new equipment has improved the on-air look of the station’s original programming as well as its live production workflows.

For example, the HVS-2000 can load and playback graphics from the ClassX, so the TD can access them during live productions. As a result, PBS39’s graphics designer does not have to be in the control room for “routine” productions. “When I saw how well the two integrated together, plus the price, it seemed like an obvious choice,” said Andrea Cummis, chief technology officer.

The ClassX also supports the use of RSS feeds for updating election results and other data in graphics, a feature that was not supported by the station’s older graphics system. Cummis said the system “worked great” for local primary election coverage last year, but she is looking forward to using the system to its full potential for Election Night in November.