Mobile Production

Flight pack applications take advantage of the exceptionally compact size of the Broadcast Pix Studio. And every Broadcast Pix system combines a great switcher with Fluent workflow tools, including Fluent clips, graphics, watch-folders, multi-view and macros. Only Fluent delivers the file-based and network-based workflow tools to turn a switcher into a live integrated production system.

Broadcast Pix User Reports

Broadcast Pix Granite Anchors New Production Van for Riverside Government Television

Riverside Government Television (GTV), the public, educational, and government (PEG) channel for the City of Riverside, Calif., has anchored its new production van with a Granite ™ 500 integrated live video production system. While the van was not ready for the beginning of the 2011 football season, GTV produced coverage of five high school football games during the final three weeks of the season – and has already covered one University of California Riverside basketball game live, with more planned in the near future.

Scott Brosious, senior communications technician, was already familiar with Broadcast Pix , as GTV has a Slate™ 1000 in its control room in City Hall for city council meetings. “We’ve never had a problem with it,” he said, “but what really sold me for the van was Rapid CG.”

An option for Granite and Slate systems, Fluent™ Rapid CG streamlines the creation of data-intensive CG graphics for sports and other fast-moving productions. It automatically integrates databases, RSS feeds, and custom actions like scorekeeping into templates, so specific fields are automatically updated within the templates. The result is customized graphics using Granite’s built-in Inscriber GS CG that are produced faster, with significantly less effort and fewer chances of operator error.

“Rapid CG works great. We’re using graphics more than we ever have before, because we couldn’t change them fast enough manually,” Brosious explained. “We drop in logos from the schools, so there’s no need to recreate graphics from scratch. And we can change info on the fly.”

Based in City Hall, GTV has one full-time and two part-time employees, along with a full-time department manager, to handle the production of local government meetings and a variety of local programs. Contractors are hired to assist in the production of sporting events and other multi-camera productions. Because GTV does not have a studio, all shoots beyond city council meetings are shot in locations across the community.

Multi-camera shoots were very limited before GTV had a production van, because there was no remote production unit in place. Instead, the team would edit footage from all its cameras to create a finished program. Now, if a shoot uses more than one camera, the production van is deployed to produce a compelling live-to-tape production.

According to Brosious, most of the season’s football games were over by 10 p.m., and coverage was broadcast by 11:30 p.m. on the city’s cable channel and online at www.watchriverside.com. The station has a LiveU video-over-cellular transmitter that allows live coverage of other events, such as last November’s UC Riverside basketball game and the Riverside Festival of Lights activities. A MotoSAT satellite transmitter was also installed in December, which can send a signal to a dedicated receive dish at the city’s emergency operations center.

Purchased from Frontline Communications, GTV’s production van was delivered in September, and systems integrator Rich Rosensweig of Vidiflo in Long Beach, Calif., helped the GTV team install all the equipment. The Granite 500 was purchased through Snader and Associates, a California-based independent reseller and systems integrator. Four JVC ProHD cameras capture the action, and programs are recorded to two AJA Ki Pro recorders (one records Program Out and the other records a clean feed). Back at City Hall, programs are down-converted to SD for broadcast.

With three workstations packed in the production van, Brosious did not have the option of installing a large production switcher. The 1 M/E Granite 500 control panel’s compact footprint provides GTV with a tactile control surface to switch up to 11 HD/SD-SDI inputs. It also provides comprehensive monitoring of video and files, as well as complete control over Fluent workflow tools including the built-in clip store, which is used for the intro and closing credits during game coverage. “It’s a pretty tight space,” Brosious admitted. “There’s not much room for a bigger panel. For us, it works well. The quality is outstanding.”

Broadcast Pix Brings Versatility to LeSEA Productions Denver

SLATE 1000 SYSTEM IMPROVES STUDIO, REMOTE PRODUCTIONS FOR KWHD AND KWH

Whether it’s a shoot on location or in the studio, a small truck serves as the control room for LeSEA Productions Denver, a production facility that provides video services for KWHD in Denver and KWHS in Colorado Springs. The compact control room is built around a Broadcast Pix™ Slate™ 1000 integrated production system. 

LeSEA Productions Denver produces several programs including Heavenly Sent, which profiles gospel music artists. The program is broadcast internationally on The Word Network, which is available to 60 million homes in the United States and more than 200 countries. Last month, the production team brought its production truck to Olathe, Colo., to provide video support for the large video screens on site during the NightVision Music Festival. And in early August, the truck provided video support for one of the region’s largest LED screens at HeavenFest in North Denver. 

Blaine Howerton, production manager, LeSEA Productions Denver, did extensive research before choosing the Broadcast Pix Slate 1000. “I wanted something that would get us a great switcher infrastructure right away,” he said, “but give us the ability to use new cameras in the future.” When budgets will allow, Howerton would like to upgrade the facility to a tapeless, file-based HD workflow. For now, however, programs are recorded on Beta SP using Sony BVP-550 cameras. 

LeSEA Productions Denver used to be limited to three cameras for a shoot. A fourth camera could be added for special events, but it was a tedious procedure requiring an external frame synchronizer. With the Slate 1000, the facility can support up to eight live sources without external frame sync, which Howerton said provides the versatility they need for festivals and other live event coverage. 

One of six production facilities owned by LeSEA Broadcastinga multi-media network founded and based in South Bend, Ind., LeSEA Productions Denver produces several weekly shows for KWHD and KWHS, as well as projects for other clients. While they are Christian-owned properties, the independent, commercial stations primarily produce non-religious local programming. “We’re all about creating shows that are good for the community,” Howerton said. 

For example, Keeping it Real: Walking the Halls of Colorado High Schools is a positive newsmagazine show profiling local teens who are making a difference. Get the Dirt! offers gardening tips for the Rocky Mountain region of the country. And Colorado Sports Trivia with Irv Brown is a studio-based show featuring a local radio talk show host. 

The Slate 1000 is not only used for switching; Howerton said the built-in Inscriber CG, clip and still stores, and multi-viewer were major selling points. The system was purchased from 5280 Digital, based in Centennial, Colo. Since its installation in 2008, the Broadcast Pix system has also helped reduce operating costs. With all its functionality, the Slate 1000 has allowed Howerton to utilize his personnel more efficiently, which has made productions more affordable for clients.

Small Shows Find New Support in Dotcom Mobile Truck

By Carolyn Braff  (courtesy of Sportsvideo.org)

CP Communications and Total RF had been putting together flight packs for Fox’s World Series and college BCS coverage, and after conversations with the network, rather than continue with the flight packs, CP Communications and Total RF proposed a different way to go: the Dotcom Mobile Unit HD 1, a 27-foot international cab-over tractor with a 16-foot B-unit trailer, rolled out after only three months of construction.

At the heart of the truck is a Broadcast Pix Slate 5032 HD switcher, which can take HD, SDI, and analog inputs.

“Basically, it will do all the conversion for you,” Heitmann explains. “It has two outputs, so it will give you an HD/SDI output and an analog output simultaneously. It will also store 60 hours of clip stores, so you can record right from the switcher or dump your Deko into our switcher and play it back from there. You don’t have to put a Deko into an EVS for headshots anymore.” 
Click here for entire story

Hewlett-Packard Builds Flypack with Broadcast Pix Slate 1000HDLive Integrated Production System for Sundance Film Festival
 

The Slate 1000HD was sold by reseller and integrator Snader and Associates to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for use at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The Slate 1000HD was used to produce interviews and commentary in 1080i for broadcast on television and the Internet, as well as local uses at the festival.

Assisted by Snader and Associates and Broadcast Pix, HP built a flight pack around the Slate 1000HD switcher, which served as the heart of the HP Broadcast Studio in Park City, UT. In their role as sponsor of Sundance, HP offered free access to broadcast equipment so that independent filmmakers could perform interviews and create promotional material. The studio was built in California, de-constructed and shipped to Park City, and re-built for use in the Kimball Arts Center, known as the Sundance House during the ten-day festival.

The Broadcast Pix Slate 1000HD was used for live coverage to Los Angeles CW-affiliate KTLA for its morning show and for a national feed to Canada.

The purchase continues a long-standing relationship between HP and Broadcast Pix. David Massey, HP Chief Engineer and Technical Consultant, explained that his team at HP was pleased to be working with such a reliable and user-friendly switcher. “Our familiarity with the Broadcast Pix system was a real bonus for us. But that doesn’t take away from the ease of use that Slate switchers bring to the table. They’re extremely user-friendly switchers.”

The new Slate HD switchers provide the easiest and most cost-effective way to create compelling live HD video. Their file-based architecture streamlines live production workflow by completely integrating their included switcher, CG, clip stores, still stores and monitoring, and seamlessly networking them with content from edit bays.

Further demonstrating the ease of integration offered by Broadcast Pix switchers, all was up and running on schedule at Sundance in a short amount of time. “We had a total of eight weeks to get the system up and running from the day we surveyed the location,” explained Massey. “That’s not a great deal of time to prepare for such a high-profile event. Broadcast Pix and Snader were extremely accommodating and helpful throughout that whole service and integration process.

Reaction from the filmmakers was unanimously positive. “Once people got over the shock of having a broadcast-quality studio available to them for free, reaction was immediately very enthusiastic,” added Massey. “The Sundance Film Festival caters to independent filmmakers, and many we spoke to were thrilled to be able to avoid spending money on production crews and equipment and still be able to promote their films.”

The coordinated effort of Broadcast Pix’s Slate 1000HD and HP to bring the HP Broadcast Studio at Sundance was much praised by filmmakers who took advantage of it. Many cited the financial savings of avoiding travel with their own production crew. Others remarked that the ability to produce the interview with such a sophisticated configuration meant reduced editing and post production time.

 Since the film festival, HP has used its Slate 1000HD switcher to produce an end-to-end broadcast at the company’s Retiree Event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, held on March 3rd. During the event, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard addressed former employees asking them questions about their years of employment with HP. In-room projection at the event was done in HD, as was the uplink and downlink to HP’s Cupertino headquarters. The Slate 1000 HD switcher performed an HD to SD 16x9 conversion for the event’s webcast and recorded the proceedings in HD.

  Each of the three new Slate HD models (Slate 100, Slate 1000, and Slate 3000) include: a switcher with up to six keyers and DVEs, multi-view monitoring, a Harris® Inscriber® CG, and a clip store. The switchers’ hybrid I/O supports: 1080i, 720p, SD, DVI and VGA, plus analog output in composite, Y/C and component. It can add: HD and SD analog inputs and 1080p output. Both 16:9 and 4:3 content can be mixed while preserving the native aspect ratio of each element. Slate 1000 HD adds a professional switcher control panel.

 “Compelling live HD programming has never been more accessible. These switchers create stunning HD productions,” explained Ken Swanton, Broadcast Pix President. “For a fraction of the cost involved in outfitting and staffing an HD control room, Slate HD makes it all possible - without sacrificing quality or polish.”

Unlike conventional HD live control rooms in which many boxes are wired together and a team of operators is needed, the new Slate HD systems enable a single operator to create live HD television productions at a fraction of the cost. They streamline workflow by inputting and outputting all popular formats and aspect ratios, and adding files of graphics, animations and clips that are created within the switcher or imported. For example, QuickTime clips from edit bays can be sent over a gigabit network into the switcher’s up to one Terabyte of hard-drives, just minutes before air-time, and then self-cue when taken to air. For the ultimate “one-man band,” the system can control audio mixers, robotic cameras, and video servers. Slate switchers gracefully expand for team use when required.