Passion, Planning, and Duct Tape December 1^st 2015 - 09:00 AM

Live TV field production of one-off sports events is an open invitation for surprises of all kinds. The show must go on and it’s the worst possible time for drama. It’s a good fit for passionate engineers who thrive on winning and enjoy alternating bursts of despair and adr…

What’s This Button Do? October 6^th 2015 - 10:00 AM

When computers began replicating and replacing expensive electro-mechanical broadcast TV production and playback systems, the gravy train ended for some and started for others. Affordable digital TV production gear has slashed the ante for producers and is making mountains of television content with high technical integrity available for everyone.

Field Report: Building a Converged Newsroom Environment July 8^th 2015 - 02:10 PM

Previously, Annenberg’s curriculum utilized closed-system software in separate news environments. The main goal of the Media Center was to get them all playing together in one sandbox. The solution proved to be a Primestream FORK production suite.

As Weather Gets More Extreme, Accurate Forecasting Gains Importance May 11^th 2015 - 08:06 AM

TV meteorologists are used to having the best weather data and technology to develop their forecasts. However, more accurate data is now available from Europe, but it isn’t free like U.S. data.

Blending real and virtual elements on set: part 3 February 20^th 2015 - 08:15 AM

Although augmented reality virtual studios have been around for decades, their use is only now coming of age. Previous barriers of price, design quality, graphics performance, and ease-of-use have disappeared, resulting in comparable costs for traditional studios with practical sets versus new studios with AR and VS. Discussing the topic…

Blending real and virtual elements on set: part 2 February 9^th 2015 - 09:00 PM

In the second part of our look at augmented or virtual reality elements in virtual sets we’ll start by explaining the difference between AR and VR. The terms augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), virtual studio and virtual set are all referring to different flavours of the same technology…

Blending real and virtual elements on set: part 1 January 29^th 2015 - 08:52 PM

Not so long ago Augmented Reality (AR) was considered a gimmick in studio presentation, but it is now becoming an integral part of many productions. AR elements are becoming part of the workflow, with integration to NRCS systems, triggered by the switcher or controlled by studio automation systems. Continuous improvements…

Virtual Sets Make Comeback at Cost-Cutting Television Broadcasters November 22^nd 2014 - 03:09 PM

Virtual set technology arrived ahead of its time. When the first systems for broadcasters came on the scene about 15 years ago, they got a very bad rap. So bad, the name was virtually erased from the broadcast vocabulary for over a decade.

Camera Matching in Multi-Codec and Multi-Gamut-Colour Space November 3^rd 2014 - 05:04 PM

I remember “painting” the cameras. Riding the CCU’s to make sure that the trees did not change from emerald green to grass green when the fader bar on the switcher was pulled. Colour grading in the post suite has made the crude tools we used to use outdated, but what …

Blurring the real and the virtual live October 27^th 2014 - 11:57 AM

The capture of depth information in scenes is an increasingly rich field of development but it has so far remained on the fringes of TV production because of the need to either use physical markers on objects or to render the output in post. Start-up company Zinemath aims to change…