Here is the deal, the TV station just hired me because they havent had an audio engineer on staff in almost 15 years.  They still run mono for heaven sake.  Here is my question, since we are moving to digital, I would love to get them to a digital desk with a lot of internal options.  Im extremely used to a PM1d both inside and out and I love what I can do with the desk.  Now is there a console out that there that doesnt cost as much but has a lot of functionality?  My search includes a lot of AES/EBU if possible and preferably nice preamps.  Any ideas on what to get?  I appreciate the help.

Hi dalbert, welcome to the forum.

No one could presume to point you to a brand/model without a lot more information - and you should be suspicious of anyone who tries. In general, Yamaha does have some nice options for you, with a lot of different models to choose from. Presumably, you're used to their functionality, which is a plus. Overall, Yamaha, Digidesign and Soundcraft probably sell more hardware than anyone, due to their investment in live sound. The big guns in broadcast -- SSL, Calrec, Euphonix, Studer, Lawo et al. -- have dedicated designs for stations of all sizes. You will also want to check out Logitek and Wheatstone, two companies that have been through the same A/D transition in product design that your station is making in production.

At the end of the day, the two biggest drivers of your decision will be budget and interface. For stations making a transition to digital audio, a desk with an "analog feel" can help with the learning curve. The best way to sort through the options is to get your hands on some hardware. I strongly recommend attending the NAB show in April. You can test-drive actual products, get real-world pricing, and compare apples to apples.

 If your facility is going down the digital root, do you need to incorporate line feeds?

What systems are you using?
 

Buying an audio mixer is kind of like buying a house.  You know it will be around for a long time and you don't want something that will be a disaster later on.  Maybe you may want to compare models by asking what is the total processing delay between input/output.  Then ask, OK, so what happens if the audio board does not get proper sync in the middle of the TV program...  Will it still work? Will it gracefully re-sync once sync is fixed or does it just cut program audio ungracefully?  You may also want to ask... What if the AES/EBU signal is arriving at the wrong sampling rate... what will the processing delay be then (taking for given that the mixer does have a sample rate converter in the inputs)?  Finally, compare the mixer boards based on how many watts it consumes.  This may be a surprise, but accountants / controllers don't appreciate electronics that consume too much electricity.