Panasonic Max

In fact a Panasonic WJ-MX50A 4-input vision mixer, is was only the second frame store vision mixer the station has owned, and the first to feature an accessible chroma key function (there remains some debate as to whether Magic DaVE can do Chroma Key. Suffice it to say it never has done on air). This meant either that two independent vision mix rigs could be set up without resort to Genlocking inputs to the older vision mixers, or that chroma key could be used as part of another live show, thus making it much more useful than if the main vision path had to be used for the purpose. Being a more manageable single unit rather than the separate controller and back end of DaVE, it is regularly used as an outside broadcast mixer as well as on the Off The Cuff set.

The mixer was christened "Max" by Ed Jellard, who wanted to give it a proper name as had happened with Magic DaVE, which was often referred to simply as Dave (causing much confusion when Dave Baker joined and serious potential for quotes board material). Although slightly tenuous in this case (it derives from the "MX" in the name) it finally stuck after much prodding...

The mixer was part of the enormous amount of equipment donated to the station by Accenture on 6th March 2003. It made its debut on air the following day when the Cox T8 mixer died during broadcast of Elections 2003, and so the new mixer was rushed across campus and hastily connected into the setup, before any testing had been done to its functionality or to find out how it worked. Suffice to say it did work and effectively saved the broadcast from falling off air!