Government Productions
While designed for broadcast television, Broadcast Pix switchers have always been very popular in government applications, and are now used by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, voice of America, and many municipalities worldwide.
Slate switchers are perfectly suited to government video applications. Now a single operator, with a limited budget, can create a show with the same polish as network television, thanks to all the built-in capabilities. The low cost of  Slate switchers bring high impact live productions to organizations that previously simply could not afford it. Switchers start at under $10,995 complete with an Inscriber CG, clip store and multi-view..
Using Broadcast Pix switchers, government entities can televise state house and town hall meetings, and school board discussions with broadcast-quality production values. The integrated camera control option is very popular as it enables a solo operator to control robotic cameras. With the Slate 100, you can build a complete 3 cameras live production studio for under $20,000, including 3 cameras, switcher, CG, clips store, monitors, audio mixer and microphone, and it can be well run by one operator with integrated control of cameras and audio.
Broadcast Pix User Reports
Douglas County Television, DCTV23 Selects Broadcast Pix Slate Switcher for Live Broadcast
 Billerica, Massachusetts (November 12, 2008) Broadcast Pix™, the company that redefined the production switcher as a live integrated production system, announces the sale of its Slate™ system to the Douglas County Television, DCTV23 in Georgia. The switcher is being used to air the Board of Commissioners meetings twice a month as well as planning meetings once a month.
DCTV23 recently televised runoff election results live using the Slate system, something that could not have been done before. T.J. Jaglinski, DCTV23’s Technical Director explains the process: “I created titles for the two runoff races and combined it with a live feed. We ran it through the switcher with our regular programming, shrinking it into a lower right-hand screen with a wraparound title. We also wrote a script so that it would alternate from title to title and I could update the results. In one night, our coverage went from government access channel style reporting results to something we’d see on a major news channel.”
DCTV23 department consulted with and purchased its Slate system through Broadcast Pix dealer, Media Products – located in Atlanta, GA. Media Products then assisted the media department in conjunction with Broadcast Pix during the integration of the switcher. The Broadcast Pix Slate system integrates a production switcher, production control panel, Inscriber CG, clip store, and multi-view monitoring, among other functions, in a single system.
DCTV23 purchased its Slate to replace the original equipment that had been installed at its facility one decade ago. Several options were researched before selecting Slate, but a demo of the features and having all control room functions built into Slate helped cement the decision, according to Jaglinski. He also says DCTV23 uses the Sony BRC 300 cameras that interface with the Slate, taking full advantage of the remote control functionality the interface offers.
“We really loved the fact that with this upgrade, we weren’t going to have to buy a separate camera control for the cameras; we’d get integrated clip store, integrated CD, and keying flexibility. I especially appreciate the ability to adjust iris exposure, zoom and all other configurations with the presets. It allows me to input settings that automatically compensate for an area of the courthouse that is especially bright or dark.”
The all-in-one design and single operator configuration of the Slate provided a significant cost savings to the DCTV23 when compared with the financial outlay involved in installing a legacy system. Separate components, according to Jaglinski, would have taken more time to integrate and require additional staff to operate. A two-person staff handles DCTV23’s coverage of board of commissioners meetings, while the planning and zoning meetings are produced by a single operator.
“Our experience with Broadcast Pix has been stellar from start to finish. Technical support is immensely important for people in my position where budgets do not allow for additional staff to address technical issues. Broadcast Pix is there to take care of the technical stuff – we can draw on their knowledge base as if they were a member of our staff.”
City of Brea Selects Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 Switcher for Live Broadcasts
 Billerica, Massachusetts (July 29, 2008) Broadcast Pix™, the company that redefined the production switcher as a live integrated production system, announces the sale of its Slate™ 2100 switcher to the City of Brea, California. The switcher is being used to air the bi-weekly City Council proceedings live from a control room above the council chamber in Brea, CA.
The City of Brea Media department consulted with and purchased their Slate 2100 through Broadcast Pix dealer, VMI Video – located in Los Alamitos, CA. VMI  Video then assisted the media department in conjunction with Broadcast Pix during the integration of the switcher. The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 system integrates a production switcher, production control panel, Inscriber CG, clip store, and multi-view monitoring, among other functions, in a single workstation-based system.
The City of Brea Media Department previously used a Play Trinity switcher for its broadcasts. According to Senior Media Specialist, Scott Pettinger, the media department saw the need for an upgrade and began researching a variety of equipment. Having all control room functions built in to the Slate 2100 was a deciding factor according to Pettinger. “When we were faced with this purchase decision, I thoroughly examined my options, visiting trade show booths and putting equipment through its paces, as well as talking to people already using the various systems we were considering,” explained Pettinger. “The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 provided absolutely everything we needed, making it a hands-down winner.”
In his role as Senior Media Specialist, Pettinger calls upon an extensive broadcast engineering background as well as years of technical experience. Pettinger said that the professional broadcast quality offered by Broadcast Pix’s Slate 2100 stood up to that close scrutiny: “It became clear to me that the Slate 2100 was designed for professional productions. It provides us with broadcast-quality graphics, an easy to use soft panel, and touch screen all within a fail-safe configuration. The switcher is very simple to use, offers multiple ways to switch and it literally makes novices look like pros.”
The all-in-one design and single operator configuration of the Slate 2100 provided a significant cost savings to the City of Brea when compared with the financial outlay involved in installing a legacy system. Separate components, according Pettinger, would have taken more time to integrate as well as require additional staff to operate.
Voice of America Selects Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 Switcher for Live Broadcasts
Billerica, Massachusetts (July 23, 2008) Broadcast Pix™, the company that redefined the production switcher as a live integrated production system, announces the sale of its Slate™ 2100 switcher to the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, D.C. A second Slate 2100 is also in place at VOA’s London facility.
VOA is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people.
The Slate 2100 switcher is being used to produce newsbreaks and remote inserts to enrich news of national, international and regional import for inclusion in VOA’s recently expanded Persian TV broadcasts. VOA’s round-the-clock operations already fully utilized staff and production resources necessitated a supplemental studio. The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 manned with a single operator fulfilled those specific operational needs efficiently.
According to Steve Hocker, Senior Broadcast Engineer at VOA, “The ability to broadcast a newscast complete with clips and have the same unit drive an audio board, clip store, and lower thirds, while being controlled by a single operator, was a very important operational benefit.”
The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 system integrates a production switcher, production control panel, Inscriber CG, clip store, and multi-view monitoring, among other functions, in a single workstation-based system. The multi-function system and single operator design of the Slate 2100 simplifies engineering and allows ease of installation and operation, compared to the complex integration requirements of a conventional control room that involves many pieces of equipment.
VOA plans to expand production of daily news inserts for Spanish language broadcasts to Latin America.
Idaho Public Television Selects Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 Digital Switchers to Televise Live Coverage of Idaho Senate and House Proceedings
Powerful Integrated Features Enable High-Quality Live Productions by a Single Operator
June 4, 2007
Idaho Public Television has selected two Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 integrated digital production switchers to produce its new “Legislative Live” service covering Idaho Senate and House proceedings. This “C-Span-style,” gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Idaho State Legislature, which premiered on January 8, 2007, is distributed as a public service via several different media platforms including over-the-air broadcast, digital cable, the Web, mobile phones, and audio podcasts.
The powerful, compact design of the Slate 1000 was a critical consideration since the production control room is located in a 15x9 foot “closet” in the basement of the Idaho State Capitol building. The affordable, HD-ready, Slate 1000 packs the same functionality found in a room full of broadcast equipment—such as character generation (CG); digital video effects (DVE); still store; and a digital production switcher—into an integrated unit that only requires a single person to operate.
“Our live coverage of the State Legislature in action is done with very high production values,” said Jeff Tucker, production manager for Idaho Public Television. “We’re able to produce this high-quality programming from the Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 systems and deliver the finished product to a variety of new and conventional media outlets. Our “Legislative Live” service rests entirely on the Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 switchers, which have proven their capabilities and reliability.”
With identical configurations, both Slate 1000 systems are configured to accept SDI inputs from three Panasonic AW-E860A 2/3-inch 3-CCD SD cameras located in the House and Senate Chambers respectively. These cameras are equipped with Fujinon A20x8.6BMD 20x Professional Motor Drive Zoom lenses and Panasonic AW-PH36ON Indoor Pan-Tilt Systems. The cameras can be controlled via the Broadcast Pix camera control system, and their pictures displayed on the Slate 1000’s integrated multi-view VGA monitors.
“The Slate 1000 is designed to enable a single individual to control every aspect of this polished, professional live show, which would otherwise have required a room full of equipment and a three-man crew,” said Tucker. “The Slate 1000 enables us to work within our severe space constraints and tight budget without making quality compromises. The control panel offers easy access to everything the operator needs—including the DVE, CG, Wipes, Keyers, chromakeyers, still store, plus camera switching. With integrated VGA monitoring, all of the camera signals can be displayed on a single monitor screen, instead of a bank of video monitors. This is much more ergonomic for us considering that we have essentially two production control rooms operating out of a closet,” said Tucker.
While Idaho Public Television's station infrastructure has been upgraded for native 1080/60i HDTV production and broadcast, “Legislative Live” is broadcast in SDTV on two of the PBS station’s DTV subsystems—digital multicast Channel 3 (Learn) and Channel 4 (Citizen), which carries public affairs programming. Idaho Public Television’s SDTV and HDTV programming is broadcast across the large state by five DTV transmitters as well as by CableOne and Time Warner on their digital cable tiers.
Anyone with an Internet connection can view the live coverage of the House or Senate proceedings at either 56k or 300k broadband at http://idahoptv.org/idreports/LegislatureLive.cfm). Cingular/AT&T “Edge” customers that have subscribed to the data service may access the same streaming media from any Windows Media 9.0-compliant cell phone or other mobile device. The Slate 1000 systems produce all of the content that feeds these various media platforms, and the SDI output is converted downstream by two Digital Rapids DRC 1400 Streaming cards and passed on for Web streaming. During the 2006 legislative session, Legislature Live Web streaming service had 17,508 visits, 23,993 views, and an average viewing time of 7:34.
Since its January 2007 premiere, “Legislative Live” has been providing live coverage of the Legislative session running from January 1 through April 1. However, beginning April 1, the Idaho State Capitol building is scheduled to undergo extensive renovations and repairs through 2009. During this time, all of the activities that normally take place at the Capitol will be moved across the street to the old Ada County Courthouse across the street.
“Since this temporary location will not have enough room to accommodate the viewing galleries that are in the Capitol’s House and Senate Chambers, our live broadcasts during 2008 and 2009 will take on even greater importance. This is because our live broadcasts will be the only means that the public will have to watch the legislative process, as well as annual ‘State of the State’ and ‘State of the Budget’ addresses,” said Tucker. “For this reason, the Slate 1000 systems were an especially good choice because they offer rock-solid operation.”
Broadcast Pix Slate 100 System provides Watertown Community Access Center with live mobile production capability
Slate 100 brings live broadcast quality to local community programming
March 12, 2007
Watertown Community Access Center (WCAC), one of the largest public access facilities in the country, recently built a mobile production vehicle with Broadcast Pix’s Slate 100 system at its center. The Broadcast Pix Slate system is the industry’s first TV production platform to merge a switcher with a computer card. With this addition, WCAC became the first public access station to purchase Slate 100. The unit was purchased to produce live community events, such as town meetings and local high school sports competitions.
Peter Zawadzki, executive director for WCAC, said that he was held to close scrutiny by the private, non-profit organization during the selection process and only Broadcast Pix was able to combine function, ease of use and quality in a single unit for the right price. “I’m a huge fan of Broadcast Pix equipment. Other products are out there, but they just don’t fit into a public access budget,” he said. “Broadcast Pix’ Slate 100 did everything we wanted and more for a price that guaranteed we were making a responsible choice for the subscribers in town.”
WCAC has already enjoyed more than a year of successful productions with Broadcast Pix’s Studio 2000. Zawadzki says the positive experience with Studio 2000 and its compatibility to the Slate 100 factored into the decision to add the Slate 100 to the center’s existing equipment. Because the two systems work together, WCAC is able to take its studio productions out into the field if need be. The Broadcast Pix system’s compatibility also saved WCAC money because they were not forced to upgrade analog monitors and other existing equipment. WCAC has used Slate 100 side by side with its brand new digital and older analog components.
“The low-cost, feature-rich platform of Slate 100 makes it the obvious answer for studios like WCAC, who are interested in creating compelling, broadcast quality, live television” said Ken Swanton, Broadcast Pix president, “It simplifies production at a cost that works within limited budgets while maintaining quality and efficiency. Slate 100 adapts well to facilities of any size and allows for growth as their needs change.”
WCAC depends on volunteers from the community, many who have no prior television production experience. The functionality and user-friendly set up of the Slate 100 saves valuable time while training volunteers. In many cases the volunteers are also rolling in video and creating graphics effects as well.
“When it came time to build the mobile production vehicle, we went with the Slate 100 so we wouldn’t have to worry about training people on completely different equipment,” said Zawadzki. “I’ve done workshops in the past with a variety of switchers. Never has anyone picked up technical directing as fast as they do with the Broadcast Pix system. They come in blind and within an hour they are directing a show.”
Slate 100 allows a single user to control an integrated switcher, graphics, clip stores and even cameras. Zawadzki says this feature increases productivity by saving WCAC time and money. “Slate 100 allows us to accomplish a lot more with a lot less staff. We don’t need to rely on a specific number of volunteers to show up for a production. When it comes to WCAC sports productions, the benefits of having a solo operator really stand out. There have been times when we’ve had a crew of two producing a game. In a legacy environment, that presents an enormous technical challenge. Since purchasing Slate 100, viewers can’t tell if we have a full crew or a skeleton.”
The Slate 100’s simplicity in no way diminishes its ability to create good-looking productions. WCAC is planning to install a second Slate system into City Hall. This will allow one person to direct an entire municipal meeting using robotic cameras. “We can do that with unbelievable quality at an extremely entry-level price,” says Zawadzki.
Slate 100 mixes up to eight live inputs with up to two clips and five channels of graphics from its included workstation. The live inputs support both timed and asynchronous inputs for a wide range of cameras, video tape recorders, DVD players, etc. WCAC has also successfully used laptop presentations with Slate 100.
Zawadzki says Slate 100 allows them to continue moving the quality of public access productions forward. WCAC’s showpiece facility has been toured by staff from public access centers across the United States. “We’re not limited by small budgets or reduced staff. Our Broadcast Pix 2000 switcher can be controlled remotely from our reception area if need be. Slate 100 lets us produce broadcast quality shows with minimal personnel at a fraction of the price. This is where public access is going in the future.”
Broadcast Pix to Deliver Next Generation Slate 1000 System
to Danish Armed Forces TV
Broadcaster will produce half-hour defense program for both military and public channels
 FMC (Forsvartes Mediecenter), the television broadcast network for the Danish Armed Forces, will begin using a Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 studio system to produce its half-hour defense program Forsvaret.dk.
The unique Slate platform merges a switcher with a computer card (patent pending). Unlike other video production switchers on the market, Slate systems feature a built-in Inscriber TitleMotion Pro™ character generator, clip store, still store and monitoring system. The computer display provides full motion monitoring of program, preview, and all cameras, so separate video monitors are no longer needed, but can still be added. The Slate 1000 can mix up to six digital and analog live video inputs with five graphic sources and two clip channels.
FMC recently relocated to Holmen, Denmark, where it is building out a dedicated Broadcast Pix production studio. The FMC system includes additional inputs to accommodate a six-camera production setup, and also includes clip store and tally control options. MCI Videotronic of Denmark will provide studio and systems integration in preparation for the Broadcast Pix Slate 1000’s launch.
According to Jan Lykke Carlsen, Chief Director at FMC, the Broadcast Pix system offered a smooth learning curve and high production value at an affordable price. He expects to fully train up to 5 to 10 members of his production crew on the Slate 1000 within one year.
“The Slate 1000 offers an excellent way to produce quality programming for less money,” said Carlsen. “By our estimation, the Slate 1000, will produce an 85 to 90 percent savings compared to the costs of staffing and purchasing equipment for a traditional production suite. With Broadcast Pix, we can also prepare ahead of time by adding graphics, subtitles, and other features for easy recall on subsequent shows.”
The Slate 1000 is the mid-priced version of the new Slate family of products (beginning at $18,795), which also features the Slate 100 and Slate 2100. The introduction of the Slate family follows the success of the Broadcast Pix Studio 2000 system. The Studio 2000 has proven popular in Scandinavian countries, with installations in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Carlsen added that feedback from a Broadcast Pix user in Norway was instrumental in his choice of the Slate 1000.
“We evaluated a few competitive systems but turned quickly to Broadcast Pix after hearing positive feedback from customers and seeing a demonstration of the system at the Broadcast Pix office near Amsterdam,” said Carlsen. “It became clear very quickly that this system offered the best possibilities for our broadcast. We expect that this system will also help us launch a separate program in the near future that will be exclusively broadcast over the Internet.”
FMC’s current military programming reaches between 50-to-55 percent of Danish viewers over the terrestrial network DK4, which also can be seen on local cable outlets. The program can also be seen on an internal military network.
“Broadcast Pix is pleased to announce the sale and pending installation of Slate 1000 to FMC,” said David Hughes, Broadcast Pix Operations Manager for EAME (Europe, Africa and the Middle East), based in The Netherlands. “It’s our belief that the Broadcast Pix production platform brings greater value to broadcasters and program producers of all sizes, as has been demonstrated throughout the world with the Broadcast Pix Studio 2000. With its fast learning curve, high production value, and solo operator platform, the Slate 1000 is an excellent choice for broadcasters who need to get off the ground quickly with new programming.”
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The ability to broadcast a newscast complete with clips and have the same unit drive an audio board, clip store, and lower thirds, while being controlled by a single operator, was a very important operational benefit.