Skai, Athens launches news set with video wall backgrounds

Greek broadcaster Skai Channel has upgraded its Athens facility and added two large HD-capable Barco video wall displays as a background for its news presenters.

Using Geevs MR+ servers from Gee Broadcast Systems to provide HD playout for the video walls, the studios are fed with clips to provide the background.

Skai contacted Gee Broadcast in late September after hearing of a similar installation the company did for the BBC in London. Skai needed six HD channels playing out to the Barco screens in DVI format. Played-out clips had to be frame-accurately locked to provide the appearance of a single image, while under the control of a simple user interface.

Clips or stills for playout on the Geevs servers can either be imported via CD/DVD or Ethernet from the production team or captured directly as HD-SDI video. Skai uses two Matrox Axio HD editing systems to produce the graphics.

For more information, visit www.geebroadcast.co.uk .