TC Electronic UpCon - Manual (Page 12)

UpCon: An introduction
8 UpCon
UpCon: An introduction
Thank you for choosing UpCon.
UpCon is a state-of-the-art upconverter that
gives you absolute piece of mind that your trans-
mission is always optimized for 5.1 HD TV.
We have combined uncompromising upconver-
sion and downmix in a single, high-density rack
unit.
UpCon continuously monitors the channel for-
mat of the incoming audio – and if the signal falls
back from true 5.1 to stereo, it seamlessly cross-
fades into a convincing 5.1 surround upconver-
sion without adding any interruptions or artifacts.
Cinema-quality upconversion
UpCon is based on our famous UnWrap HD al-
gorithm, the “go-to” upconverter for film and
mastering professionals that can be heard in
countless cinema movies and music tracks. It
offers the same ultra-low latency and overkill
processing resolution, always delivering unpar-
alleled and convincing 5.1 content from a stereo
source.
Uncompromised Downmix
When you downmix, one of the main factors to
consider is the 5.1 source itself.
A 5.1 signal generated by UpCon translates bet-
ter into stereo than one made by any competing
upconverter – regardless of whether you let Up-
Con handle the downmix or if it happens at the
end-listener’s TV set. This is essential to broad-
casters that generally transmit 5.1 signals, but
receive commercials in stereo, or air newscasts
relying on signals coming in from around the
world - some in 5.1 and others in stereo.
In short: With UpCon in your signal chain, your
downmix will be optimized – no matter what.
Loudness Transparency
In terms of perceived loudness compared to the
source, many format converters will output a sig-
nificantly different signal. But this is not the case
with UpCon - the upconverted audio is loudness
transparent.
Broadcasters often need to stay within certain
boundaries according to regulations or recom-
mendations, and by letting UpCon handle the
conversion from stereo to 5.1, you can stay com-
pliant – regardless of the signal’s channel format.
Redundancy and reliability
We are aware that UpCon is inserted at a very
critical point in your audio signal path. It’s an “al-
ways-on” type of unit that needs to deliver non-
stop performance – year after year.
With dual fuses, dual fans and dual power, you
are virtually risk-free of losing power while on
air. And in the unlikely event of the UpCon losing
power, rest assured that your transmission will
go on – thanks to the Relay Bypass feature that
passes your stream directly from input to output,
no matter what happens. And if one of the power
sources fails, you can be notified using GPIO or
SNMP traps.
Operating UpCon
As you can easily see, UpCon is a „headless
system“ – it has no front panel controls (with the
exception of the Reset button).
UpCon is operated using the TC Icon software,
which you can download from the TC Electronic
website.
You can use the same version of the TC Icon
software to operate UpCon and other profes-
sional broadcast products from TC Electronic
(e.g. DB4 and DB8 MKII).
Accordingly, a significant part of this manual
covers operating UpCon using TC Icon software
running on a standard computer, and the screen
shots you see are taken from the OS X or Win-
dows versions of this software.
Please invest some time in learning TC Icon’s
basic concepts
– you will benefit from it when
operating systems that may include many net-
worked TC signal processors.
Expanding UpCon
UpCon comes with the ability to process one
stream right out of the box, but users can install
one or two additional 3G Transmission cards.
3G Transmission cards
Each 3G Transmission card can process one
SDI audio stream. Accordingly, an UpCon with
two extra 3G Transmission cards can handle
three independent streams – making it the
perfect high-density solution for any TV station