The Story
The U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C. contracted Human Circuit to design, engineer and integrate a high–definition (HD) television studio and control room in the new U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center (CVC) as well as two high–definition (HD) television production control rooms in the Rayburn Office Building. Human Circuit has sustained a highly productive relationship over the years with the House and is still working to enhance and improve the House Recording Studio’s technical core and capabilities. We are currently installing the final phase of this $8.8 million system.
The House Recording Studio (HRS) provides the video recording and telecast of the proceedings from the main chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. The HRS currently sends the live signal to the Capitol closed-circuit television system and to the Capitol Hub room. The Hub room distributes the live signal to various news agencies. The HRS delivers recorded copies of all proceedings to the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Files of all proceedings are also available for House Members to review in the HRS main facility. Because the new control room is to be used as back-up in case of failure in the main control room, a high level of consistency was applied to the design, engineering and integration of the new venue.
The equipment utilized the latest in technology to include:
Production Room:
- 4 M/E high-definition (HD) production switchers
- 24 channel audio console
- HD character generators
- Multi-image video production monitor system with ten 57” LCD displays
- Monitors and video processors
- Custom designed operating consoles and production-monitoring wall
The Technical Core:
- HD video router, analog video router, and mono analog and AES audio router
- HD VCRs, DVD recorders and an eight-channel video server
- HD/SD encoders and HD/SD decoders
- HD MPEG-2 50 MB/s video and audio
- Desktop browse stations over the HRS internal Ethernet network
- Non-linear editing systems connecting to the server via Ethernet
- Fiber audio and video transports system—22 series transmitters and receivers
- Intercom system—32 port matrix and control panels
- Video and audio distribution and conversion system
- Video monitoring system—LCD video monitors
- Dual matrix switchers—redundant KVM switching
