A Sync Pulse Generator is the Heart of a TV Station Sync pulse generators are the heartbeat of your facility. When you need a robust, flexible sync pulse generator with every signal imaginable — HD, 3 Gb/s, tri-level, time code, AES and more — look to Ensemble Designs. You get digital black, multiple frame rates of tri-level sync, plus your good old-fashioned black burst, all from the same VCXO, all from the same box which means all your gear is playing well together. A good SPG provides the correct reference signal to every piece of gear in the station, no matter what format or standard is needed. As an example, we recently worked with a post house that was getting ready to switch over to HD. Their needs were really expanding as far as the sync pulse generator. They needed a lot of different flavors of tri-level sync, plus digital black and the ability to still provide black burst, and everything needed to stay in time. The chief engineer looked at a lot of different solutions and chose Ensemble Designs. He was very happy about our solutions. When he looked at a competitor’s solution, he found it would take a full rack of gear just to provide what he needed. Our solution was three cards in the 3RU frame with room for expansion and so he was able to throw in DAs as well. He really loved the flexibility and features, too. A particular favorite of his was the fact that he could actually customize his own test patterns. He was able to build a custom test pattern that fit his needs, one that he couldn’t just buy off the shelf. In fact, he was so excited about our sync pulse generator that he actually gave a 15-minute talk about it at an SBE show and we didn’t pay him to do it. As an option, you can add a GPS receiver to the sync pulse generator which means you don’t have to buy an external box that takes up valuable rack space and costs you more money. The GPS receiver is a sub-module, an option on the card. It fits in the same slot, does not take up any extra room, but now you can lock everything to a GPS clock which gives you more accuracy and reliability.