A lot has happened over the last fifteen years. In synchronizers, they have become smaller, less expensive and easier to operate. We have had field syncs, frame syncs and four field syncs pop up all over the place. We have seen proc amps, TBCs, and effects units added to the basic boxes. I also intended to help sort out the differences between all of these features.
Synchronizers are electronic devices which record, store and play back video pictures.
The purpose of a synchronizer is to lock a video source to a local system when genlocking that source is not possible. The situation might not be possible when using a picture off satellite, or from a network feed. If you do that record and playback on a VTR, it's called delayed broadcast. If the record and playback is done in a fraction of a second, then it's called synchronization. What goes on in a synchronizer then is a record section and a playback section - in digital, not tape.