PEG Capital Grant Expenditure Request_City of Dubuque 2 15 16 Copyright 2014
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 11.
ITEM TITLE: PEG Capital Grant Expenditure Request
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending approval of the Cable TV
Commission's request for funding from the Public,
Educational, and Government (PEG) Capital Grant for
Access Equipment and Facilities to reimburse the City of
Dubuque's Cable TV Division for synchronization
equipment purchased for transitioning to high definition.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Approve
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
PEG Fund Request-MVM Memo City Manager Memo
Staff memo Staff Memo
Grant Application Supporting Documentation
THE CITY OF Dubuque
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Masterpiece on the Mississippi 2007-2012-2013
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: PEG Equipment Funding Request
DATE: February 8, 2016
Cable TV Coordinator Craig Nowack is recommending approval of the Cable TV
Commission recommendation for funding from the Public, Educational, and Government
(PEG) Capital Grant for Access Equipment and Facilities in the amount of$6,285.35 for
the City of Dubuque's recent purchase and installation of equipment to counter some
unforeseen issues that resulted from the recent switch to a high definition operation.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Micliael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Craig Nowack, Cable TV Coordinator
Dubuque
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TO: Michael C. Van Milligan, City Manager
FROM: Craig Nowack, Cable TV Coordinator
DATE: February 4, 2016
RE: PEG Fund Request
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to forward a recommendation from the Cable TV
Commission for a request for funding from the Capital Grant for Access Equipment and
Facilities.
BACKGROUND
At its meeting on February 3, 2016, the Cable TV Commission approved a request from the City
of Dubuque for$6285.35 for the purchase and installation of equipment to counter some
unforeseen issues that resulted from our recent switch to a high definition (HD) operation. HD is
less forgiving than its standard definition (SD) counterpart, and our non-synchronous routing
switcher caused loss of signal on the Mediacom cable system for periods at times exceeding 10
seconds when switching between video programming and the graphics bulletin board server.
We fixed that problem prior to the holidays by installing a "cleanswitch" synchronous routing
switcher that was not available when we did the digital upgrade to the TV Control Room at City
Hall Annex in October 2014.
The second problem we encountered was with the up-converted HD signal originating from the
Media Room at the Historic Federal Signal. For some unknown reason, this signal has been
temperamental and caused the Granicus streaming encoder to completely freeze up. In
January we tested a frame synchronizer which can stabilize video sent to it and which solved
the problem we encountered. The synchronizer will also up- and down-convert video signals in
real time. As an example, a five-minute video on an SD DVD can be up-converted to HD in five
minutes through the frame synchronizer, to do the same in our video editing software would
take approximately two hours.
The frame synchronizer also has the ability to fill the side pillars created when upconverting a 4
x 3 SD signal to 16 x 9 HD such as what occurs with the SD signal coming from the Historic
Federal Building. Normally these side pillars are black and appear empty on the air. To fill
these pillars with a solid color, we purchased a test pattern generator which outputs an HD blue
background.
This funding request will reimburse the City for equipment already purchased and installed. The
application for this request is attached. The Capital Grant for Access Equipment and Facilities
currently has a balance to be awarded for$618,233.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
I respectfully request that the Commission's recommendation for this request be forwarded to
the City Council to receive, file, and approve. Thank you.
cc: Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
2
(1/27/2016) Craig Nowack- Online Form Submittal: PEG Fund Grant Application Page 1
From: "noreply@civicplus.com" <noreply@civicplus.com>
To: <cnowack@cityofdubuque.org>
Date: 1/27/20161:57 PM
Subject: Online Form Submittal: PEG Fund Grant Application
The following form was submitted via your website: PEG Fund Grant Application
Organization Name:: City of Dubuque Cable TV Division
Address:: 1300 Main Street
City:: Dubuque
State IA
Zip Code:: 52001
Organization Contact:: Craig Nowack
Email Address:: cnowack@cityofdubuque.org
Telephone Number:: 563-589-4181
Fax Number::
Total Amount Requested:: $6285.35
Provide a general description of what you are requesting and why:: This is a two-part request to stabilize
the signals coming out of the control room at City Hall Annex. Part 1 will reimburse the City for the
installation of a Black Magic Cleanswitch routing switcher to be the primary router in the control room.
The Cleanswitch automatically syncs its inputs in order to perform "clean switches" between signals.
After we started outputting an HD signal in December 2015 we noticed that the router we installed in
October 2014 was having extreme difficulty in making switches. The modulated signal going to Mediacom
would lose sync and often take 10 or more seconds to recover. During that time cable viewers would see
nothing, or a pale green screen. The Cleanswitch router was introduced in April 2015, so it was not an
option for us to install during the October 2014 control room project. Because it has only 12 inputs and 12
outputs, it is not large enough to handle all our routing needs, so we still need the 16 x 16 router installed
in 2014. The Cleanswitch router was installed in mid-December 2015 and has performed beautifully. We
still have one issue, and that is an upconverted HD signal from the Historic Federal Building. There is
something about that signal that is causing some problems for our equipment, so Part 2 of this request is
to install a frame sync in the control through which we can route various signals to stabilize them before
going to air. This will primarily be the signal from the Historic Federal Building, but we'll have the option to
route anything through it. We successfully tested a demo frame sync for the January 19, 2016, City
Council meeting and it worked very well. To fill the black sidebars created by upconverting a 4x3 signal to
16x9, we're also requesting a Maxtron TG-5100 HD-SDI Test Pattern Generator. One of the patterns
created by this generator is a deep blue background which we feed to the second input (the sidebar
keyer) on the frame sync. All items in this request have already been purchased and installed. This
request is to reimburse the City for those costs.
Describe how the community will benefit from your request:: The community benefits from this request by
having full 16x9 (letterboxed) meetings and events originated remotely on CityChannel Dubuque. In
addition, the channel is more enjoyable to watch with the switching between various video sources
performed cleanly.
Item#1:: Black Magic Smart Videohub Cleanswitch
(1/27/2016) Craig Nowack- Online Form Submittal: PEG Fund Grant Application Page 2
Price:: $2095.00
Item#2:: AJA Format Converter/Frame Sync
Price:: $3441.35
Item#3:: Maxtron TG-5100 HD-SDI Test Pattern Generator
Price:: $749.00
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Additional Items/Comments:: All prices include installation and shipping where needed. The requested
amount is the full amount needed.
Please attach all applicable quotations:: No file was uploaded
Additional Information:
Form submitted on: 1/27/2016 1:57:12 PM
Submitted from IP Address: 64.22.202.189
Referrer Page: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/319/PEG-Fund-Grants
Form Address: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/Forms.aspx?FID=46