CO
It's becoming far less common and practical.
The cost of bringing everything in and out of jackfields is high, and requires a lot of space.
It is much easier to rely on a matrix, which allows flexibility, and also replaces distribution amplifiers, plus can be remotely controlled.
The technology has moved on hugely.
An example - when I worked in the BBC's main London Switching Centre for Video circuits, it was based on a 25 x 25 way matrix.
It was driven by buttons on a desk, which switched relays, which had associated audio circuits through it, and that in turn drove a solid state BBC designed video matrix.
It took up around 4 bays, maybe more, plus another bay for the jackfields (video and audio).
It was replaced at the end of the 1980s with a 64 x 64 matrix which could be remotely controlled.
That was far smaller, and bought about the closure of the area as it could now be controlled from TVC.
Now a scanner would be built with a large matrix over 1000 sources and1000 destinations and it would be one bay.
Even so, with 4K it is now easier to use IP rather than a discrete video matrix!
The cost of bringing everything in and out of jackfields is high, and requires a lot of space.
It is much easier to rely on a matrix, which allows flexibility, and also replaces distribution amplifiers, plus can be remotely controlled.
The technology has moved on hugely.
An example - when I worked in the BBC's main London Switching Centre for Video circuits, it was based on a 25 x 25 way matrix.
It was driven by buttons on a desk, which switched relays, which had associated audio circuits through it, and that in turn drove a solid state BBC designed video matrix.
It took up around 4 bays, maybe more, plus another bay for the jackfields (video and audio).
It was replaced at the end of the 1980s with a 64 x 64 matrix which could be remotely controlled.
That was far smaller, and bought about the closure of the area as it could now be controlled from TVC.
Now a scanner would be built with a large matrix over 1000 sources and1000 destinations and it would be one bay.
Even so, with 4K it is now easier to use IP rather than a discrete video matrix!