Magic DaVE

The station's main vision mixer, the front end control panel has been featured on air a number of times thanks to it's enamelled metal good looks and general air of sophistication.

Thanks to Matt Hammond's connections with Snell and Wilcox (his Dad worked for them!), YSTV acquired it's 4-input analogue Magic DaVE Vision mixer for much less than it should have cost (hence why we could afford it!). This wasn't some dodgy back room deal, however. The unit we have is an early Mark I back end, which has a subtle fault on the PCBs rendering the expansion slot unusable. This lead to it's return under warranty from the Middle Eastern broadcaster who had bought it when they acquired an expansion card. This left Snell wondering what to do with a perfectly good digital frame store vision mixer, which wasn't really saleable because it didn't meet the spec. It eventually found it's way to YSTV, and has been in active use ever since, although not many people have ever mastered the full range of special effects and sequences it can be programmed to produce.