China Broadcasting
Broadcasters around the world are gearing up to make the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing the most watched to date. Global television viewing of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens broke all previous records. Viewership increased 49 percent when compared against the 2000 Games in Sydney. According to the Global Television Report from the International Olympic Committee, a total of 44 thousand hours of dedicated television coverage made the 28th Olympiad in Athens the most watched event during that two week period.
The Olympic Games in Beijing present a tremendous opportunity for broadcasters around the world as well. Television stations have already invested or are planning to invest a great deal making careful preparations to cover the games in China. They must push themselves to explore the latest in technology and create new ways to provide viewers with compelling pictures, crystal clear sound and bring the excitement of the Olympics onto millions of screens and into millions of homes. Broadcasters will look to industry leaders to guide them and provide solutions so that they can deliver branded programming and an unmistakably recognizable top-notch product. During the recent BIRTV convention, Vizrt demonstrated that the company can offer broadcasters its expertise and support as well as a range of high-quality graphics products.
Vizrt displayed its full array of graphics and media asset management solutions at BIRTV in August. Having introduced the concept of real-time graphics to the China market, Vizrt has been building a strong presence in the country. China Central Television (CCTV) began using an arrangement of Vizrt products (Viz|Trio CG, Viz|Artist animation, and Viz|Content Pilot content management software) to broadcast high-profile events such as a Chinese New Year celebration. Since then, local television stations have followed suit and are beginning to turn to Vizrt for end-to-end content creation and delivery.
The driving force behind Vizrt’s solutions is the quality of its real-time 3D render engine known as Viz|Engine. Just as the heart of an athlete can be considered an engine that fuels his ability to run farther, jump higher and outperform his competition, Vizrt’s powerful Viz|Engine is the heart that powers high-quality graphics and animations.
Vizrt’s powerful Viz|Engine renderer provides real-time, hardware-accelerated graphics on the client platform, enabling the customization, localization, and personalization of targeted advertising placements. It plays a vital role in allowing Vizrt’s compatible graphic products to assist broadcasters in creating a visual identity with their audience.
Among the new features demonstrated at BIRTV were plug-ins for Viz|Artist,, specifically “RTT Advanced Materials” This exclusive package of RTT shaders allows Vizrt users to visualize 3D objects and surfaces in cutting-edge photorealistic quality. With the new shaders, graphic artists now have a wide selection of new background materials, computer-generated objects, and animation to create photo-realistic graphics.
The plug-in package provides Vizrt users with an extensive selection of materials including carbon, lacquered wood, metal, glass, bump maps and many more effects. The RTT shaders react to light sources, basis textures, settings and materials specific to Viz|Artist 3.0, such as color, shininess and opacity. In addition, the user can draw on a wide selection of presets, such as ready-made wood alternatives.
To better manage the RTT Advanced Material shaders, there is a new object type in Viz|Artist that enables the user to store complex material consisting of the basic color settings, textures and shaders into the Viz|Artist database.
Additionally, the entire Vizrt product line is fully Viz|Artist 3.0 compliant. Viz|Artist is now supported from Viz|Trio CG, Viz|Content Pilot content management, Viz|Ticker, and Viz|NLE plug-ins. All products can utilize the enhanced feature set of Viz|Artist 3.0.
Also new to Viz|Artist 3.0, Visual Data Tools (VDT) plug-ins for Viz|Artist 3.0 can be used to display any type of statistic or financial data. VDT plug-ins enable the creation of charts and diagrams. It also includes plug-ins for modifying, importing, exporting and storing data from databases such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, etc.
Viz|Artist 3.0 now supports multi-touch devices, such as when multiple users simultaneously interact with graphics on a touch screen for sports results or stock prices, for example.
Another new plug-in called “Action Model,” created in collaboration between Vizrt and Media Seasons is designed to animate complex 3D models and characters, such as animated football players, horses in motion, etc.
Also demonstrated at BIRTV was Vizrt’s Viz|Video Hub, a robust and intuitive, plug-and-play media asset management solution. Based upon the proven and widely used technology of Ardendo’s Ardome media asset management software, Viz|Video Hub allows customers to easily access video clips, stills, graphics and audio clips from a standard PC.
Viz|Video Hub is an easy-to-use system. It is ideal for the demanding pace of a newsroom, live sports coverage such as the Olympic Games or the flexible workflow of a production company. It provides users with direct access to the most powerful search options, most recent material, best search options, and pre-editing functions – resulting in a significantly faster workflow
Viz|Video Hub will integrate with existing Vizrt software such as Viz|Content Pilot content management and Viz|Trio CG. This integration makes it possible to easily search for video clips from graphical templates just as users would search for images or data elements from a newsroom system or directly from Viz|Trio and Viz|Content Pilot. Sports highlights can be compiled quickly as well.
Viz|Video Hub scales to offer a media asset management solution to a large broadcast facility or smaller multi-media outfits. The need for an easily deployed and scaleable system factored into the product’s evolution. The intensive integration process is replaced by easy configuration screens, allowing customers to start using it right away.
Viz|Video Hub uses industry-standard metadata fields based upon the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). Fields for title and a brief synopsis of the clip stored are pre-defined. This makes retrieval is fast and easy. Users simply search through the with free text, Boolean commands and keywords. The back and forth between library archivists and production is eliminated because the user can access the system themselves, search for what they need, and get right back to work.
The base version of Viz|Video Hub comes bundled with two basic editing functions Ardendo PreCut and Ardendo EasyCut. Ardendo PreCut enables up to twenty users to simultaneously rough cut video and create new clips. The Ardendo EasyCut feature is a slightly more advanced timeline-based video editing tool. With either option, the newly created material can be browsed continuously and is available immediately.
The benefits of Viz|Video Hub reach a number of departments by streamlining the overall production workflow. Direct access to the most recent material saves time for news or sports journalists. Content can be added and updated automatically in real-time, eliminating the need to convert and re-save material. Control rooms also have instant access to ingested material, speeding their ability to bring the latest video to an on-going production at a moment’s notice. Since the system of ingesting, searching and editing runs on standard PC’s, administrators are free from installing specialized hardware and can expand it as needed.
With the 2008 Olympics less than one year away; the atmosphere is electrified with excitement and possibility. Throughout the BIRTV convention, major broadcasters expressed a great deal of interest in knowing about Vizrt’s complete line of graphics and Media Asset Management solutions. Vizrt has demonstrated its ability to offer the ultimate in quality and provide the highest level of support during this extremely busy time.
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