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Village of Niles To Cover Council With Broadcast Pix
11/15/2012
BILLERICA, MASS. – The Village of
Niles, Ill., is preparing to broadcast
its first meeting with a system built around a Broadcast Pix Mica 2000 Video
Production Center.
The project had a number of challenges, including a limited budget and no
dedicated staff in place to operate the system. The final solution needed to be
powerful enough to create compelling coverage, yet simple enough to be operated
by one person with minimal training. Bill Shaw, MIS director for the Village of
Niles, population 30,000, and systems engineer, Steve Cusick, engineered and
installed the production system. In an effort to manage costs, every line
item—from cables to cameras—was sent out to bid to more than three dozen
vendors. In the end, 14 vendors provided various equipment for the project.
While Shaw admitted it was a “very complicated” process, it was also the only
way the Village could afford a system that would meet their objectives.
While the Village has been training on the system since late September, it will
be used to broadcast its first meeting in December. Meetings will be available
in HD for live streaming and video-on-demand on the village’s Web site, and
will be broadcast live and rebroadcast in SD on the village’s PEG cable
channel.
The large closet containing the audio rack for the Council Chambers in Village
Hall was converted to serve as the control room. The council chambers are
equipped with four Panasonic HD robotic cameras that are controlled through the
Mica; a projector in chambers is another source that can be accessed through
the switcher. Mica’s built-in Fluent-View provides customized multi-view
monitoring over two LCD touch-screens in the control room, while the integrated
Inscriber CG is used for titles and credits.
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