MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron today unveiled PRIME 5.4, the latest release of its unified platform for graphics, playout and live production.

“Broadcasters need tools that fit naturally across editorial, production, and engineering workflows,” Chris Amodei, platform product manager for PRIME at Chyron, said. “PRIME 5.4 gives teams more choice in how they prepare, test and deliver content, while making everyday operation simpler and more dependable.”

The new release brings PRIME into more newsroom workflows, expands deployment choices and adds practical enhancements for design, playout and system validation, Chyron said.

PRIME 5.4 offers support for simple PRIME scenes in Axis News, new SDI hardware options, audio clip playout, more precise color-channel control and a watermarked online edition for preproduction testing.

The latest release brings the PRIME template experience to more newsroom users by extending the templates into AXIS News. Doing so enables broadcasters to move guided graphics workflows further upstream into editorial production. Newsroom teams now have a more direct connection to PRIME-driven graphics creation, Chyron said, making it easier to prepare content within the systems they already use every day.

The expansion throughout newsrooms also creates a more consistent graphics workflow across teams. It helps users work within guided templates, reducing reliance on older processes while protecting brand consistency and the approved on-air look.

The release also simplifies audio playout and adds a range of usability enhancements. These updates are designed to reduce friction in routine tasks while helping teams work more smoothly and confidently in fast-moving production environments.

PRIME 5.4 makes audio easier to prepare and operate by automatically creating PRIME audio clip files when WAV files are imported, Chyron said. Operators can then drag and drop audio directly onto Playout output channels and control files using a workflow similar to video, giving production teams a faster, more consistent way to manage audio during live operations.

PRIME 5.4 also supports HSL and RGBA Color Channel Property Bindings, enabling designers to read and write individual color channel values directly in Logic, Conditions and the Expressions/Bindings panel. The new support makes it easier to drive precise color changes at runtime without replacing an entire color value, giving designers more granular control and enabling more flexible, efficient template and scene behavior, Chyron said.

To help users prepare new deployments more effectively, PRIME now supports production validation before go-live through the PRIME Online Watermarked Edition. This fully functional edition provides maximum I/O capabilities in a production-like environment intended for testing and validation.

More information is available on the Chyron website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has released Chyron Weather 2.4 with an enhanced DataFlow module, offering a managed framework of modern open-source tools designed for future-proof workflows, third-party Climate Data Operators (CDO) integration and expanded Time Referencing capabilities to increase data flexibility and smarter weather data validation to ensure accuracy and reliability.

"This release was fully designed based on customer insights. We listened carefully to their needs, analyzed their workflow, and, as a result, developed exciting new functionalities to elevate their weather storytelling," said Michael Harter, product manager of Chyron Weather. "We are deeply grateful for the close relationship we have with our clients, since their valuable feedback contributes to our development plans and helps make our weather solution more flexible."

Weather 2.4 supports future-proof workflows via a managed framework of modern open-source tools integrated into DataFlow, helping teams to stay aligned with current and future industry standards. The release includes integration with Climate Data Operators (CDO). This allows users to process complex climate and meteorological data, such as GRIB and NetCDF files, directly from the same Weather platform.

Since CDO versions are packaged and managed by Chyron, teams can reduce setup time and avoid manual installation. Another improvement is extended time referencing capabilities, which provide more flexible file and folder pattern configuration to facilitate data ingestion from providers with inconsistent or non-standard naming conventions. Chyron Weather can identify available data, extract the relevant date and time information, and map it automatically to the standard weather timeline.

Future updates will add support for ImageMagick and FFmpeg for image and video conversion. The managed framework helps ensure users work with the same versions and settings, especially valuable in hub-and-spoke workflows.

Smarter weather data validation is now available via the new File Integrity Validator feature. Automated checking and gating nodes continuously monitor incoming data, trigger alerts and route files to quarantine if they don't meet quality standards (based on user-defined thresholds). This helps ensure data-driven graphics are based on accurate inputs, delivering air-ready weather visuals.

More information is available on the company’s website.

DETROIT—CBS Detroit has announced that it will debut an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) technology-driven studio, on Monday, April 20, during the 5:00 PM newscast, with AR/VR-enhanced weather forecasting.

The CBS O&O is billing the launch as a first for the region. It is part of a larger rollout of AR/VR technologies at the station group, with Detroit becoming the 11th CBS station to launch the studios.

The AR/VR experience will premiere during the weather segment, led by chief meteorologist Ahmad Bajjey, providing viewers with a more dynamic and visual way to understand forecasts and weather conditions.

“Having seen firsthand how AR/VR strengthens local journalism, it’s especially meaningful to bring this technology to Detroit,” said Jennifer A. Lyons, regional president and general manager of CBS Detroit and CBS Chicago. “It powerfully enhances storytelling – making complex information clearer, more engaging and more immersive – while allowing us to elevate how we explain, visualize and connect with the communities we serve.”

As part of a broader commitment by CBS Television Stations to invest in local journalism, CBS Detroit joins a growing group of CBS owned stations nationwide to launch AR/VR technology, which was developed in-house by the stations.

“This is a big moment for Motown,” said Kennan Oliphant, station manager and vice president of news at CBS Detroit. “Detroit has always been a place of innovation and creativity, and this investment aligns with that legacy. Being the only station in the market using AR/VR technology allows us to push forward with journalism that is modern, thoughtful and focused on the community we serve.”

As the technology continues to roll out, CBS Detroit plans to expand AR/VR use into additional newscasts, including morning programming and into immersive storytelling areas such as sports and other news coverage later this summer.

LONDON—Vizrt will showcase its newly launched AI Keyer, which expands the possibilities and accessibility of virtual and extended reality (XR) scenarios, during the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Vizrt AI Keyer enables background switching and augmented reality (AR) graphics insertion in every space, whether indoors or outdoors. The secure, proprietary solution is trained extensively on real-world footage across environments and lighting conditions to recognize human shapes as foregrounds and to separate backgrounds seamlessly so talent can move around while being locked into the virtual scene.

“Creating XR environments typically demands large infrastructure investments and requires specialized skills for daily operations. The Vizrt AI Keyer removes all these constraints so high-quality virtual scenes and AR graphics become a reality for live productions of every size,” said Edouard Griveaud, Senior Product Manager at Vizrt.

The Vizrt AI Keyer brings AR into any environment, whether it’s inserting remote speakers into a global town hall environment, switching the visual location of a presenter in a news segment or creating a completely virtual ad wall behind a player in a post-match interview.

Without needing green screens, complex lighting setups and time-consuming chromakeying, production teams can find new ways of engaging audiences and maximizing sponsorship value from anywhere.

“AI is transforming the world, and the creative industries are no exception. At Vizrt, we have been on this journey for years, embedding intelligence into our solutions, empowering storytellers, and delivering real, measurable impact for our customers,” said Rohit Nagarajan, CEO of Vizrt. “That is not a vision for tomorrow. That is happening today. The Vizrt AI Keyer is the latest proof point of our relentless commitment to innovation. Putting breakthrough technology in the hands of every creative, at every level, everywhere in the world.”

See Vizrt at 2026 NAB Show booth N2161.

More information is available on the company’s website.

The intersection of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan has seen its share of memorable events over the years at the New York Stock Exchange.

Whether it was the first time more than 1 million shares were traded in a single day 131 years ago, the Great Crash of 1929, the installation of the bronze Charging Bull sculpture two blocks south of the exchange in 1989, or simply the trading floor where traders and market makers each weekday transact, the exchange occupies a special place in the psyche of the nation.

Less public but equally noteworthy to NYSE insiders is the exchange’s recent completion of three new video production control rooms to support financial journalists and news organizations reporting on the exchange as well as to meet its own video requirements, ranging from coverage of opening and closing bell ceremonies, corporate announcements and interviews with business leaders to producing its own one-hour “NYSE Live” show streamed weekdays from the exchange via its website, the NYSE app and other streaming platforms.

Ian Wolff, director of Broadcast & AV Operations at the exchange, long dreamed of expanding the NYSE’s video production technology. So, when the exchange approved a major upgrade in 2023, Wolff was more than ready.

“It was time to do a full infrastructure upgrade,” said Wolff. “There were times we were doing three events at once in a control room designed to do one event. I wanted three control rooms that had the same exact gear and management said, ‘OK, go for it.’”

“We replaced every piece of equipment that dealt with the New York Stock Exchange control room. We went from pretty much one and a half control rooms to three control rooms.”

Before the project began, the NYSE production team was using the Ross Video XPression broadcast graphics solution and saw it could more fully leverage the system if it moved away from its existing production switcher to the Ross Video Carbonite.

“We realized that once the XPression and the Carbonite got together with RossTalk, it was a lot easier for the two of them to communicate to each other,” explained Wolff. “If we wanted to have a whoosh or something from the XPression, we could trigger it on the Ross Carbonite with ease.”

When management authorized Wolff to upgrade its video infrastructure and production control rooms, that level of seamless integration made it easy for Wolff to select Ross Video, he said.

CTI, a Ross Video Diamond systems integrator, assisted Wolff and the NYSE with the design of the rooms as well as installation and integration of the production control room technology. “CTI made me feel like I was part of the team and always treated me with respect,” said Wolff.

A large part of creating that rapport was CTI’s willingness to sit with Wolff and the production team, observe what they used to do, how they did it and ultimately bring in the new technology that met today’s production requirements, he said.

The centerpiece of each new control room is a Ross Video TouchDrive control panel controlling its own Ross Video Carbonite switcher. The main control room uses a Ross Carbonite Ultra 60 3 ME advanced production switcher, while the other two control rooms are each outfitted with their own Carbonite Ultra 24 3 ME switchers. The installation also relies upon a variety of Ross Video openGear modular cards to support various signal processing tasks, as well as Ross Video Tally Control.

The NYSE also deployed Ross Video XPression with support for real-time data to power broadcast graphics generation in each control room. Having the ability to import real-time data into XPression is critical to much of what the NYSE produces as the constantly changing stream of price ticker data drives the on-screen presentation of ticker crawls that many viewers tune in to see.

Production Workflow

Production control room workflows at the NYSE are essentially identical to those that drive most TV newscasts and other live shows. Typically, about 10 production personnel are required in the control room. From directors and floor producers to camera operators and teleprompter, also included are playback and show producer.

The NYSE house production format is 1080p 60. However, Wolff’s production team hands off 1080i HD to journalists, broadcasters and outside production houses that frequently rely upon the exchange for video. The exchange uses Ross Video openGear processing modules to convert from the house production format to 1080i.

In October 2025, the NYSE began using the last of its three new production control rooms to come online. Having three rooms available has proven to be a blessing due to the increasing volume of live production done daily at the exchange. Rather than having to double or triple up simultaneous productions in a single control room, NYSE is well-equipped to handle multiple live productions at the same time.

For the foreseeable future, the NYSE production control room buildout will continue to support a mix of HD-SDI 1080p baseband signals as well as a limited number of NDI IP video sources. While 4K isn’t on the table at the moment, Wolff and CTI worked together when designing the control rooms to be prepared for 4K/UHD. “We’re ready for 4K if somebody says the world is going 12G and everybody needs it,” said Wolff.

“I think we’ve futureproofed this house as much as we can. If management says, “We want you to start going 4K, we have the gear and the capability to do it.”

Looking back on the project, Wolff expressed a great deal of satisfaction with and an appreciation for the willingness of both Ross Video and CTI to address any issue that came up during the buildout.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of different manufacturers, and I’m not saying they don’t have good support, but Ross is at the top right now—just from what they gave us anytime we needed help. Even after the buildout, when we have questions for them, they are very responsive. They treat us like family,” said Wolff.

LISBON, Portugal—wTVision, a global provider of real-time broadcast graphics and media workflow solutions, will unveil the R³ Engine running natively on macOS at the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22 in Las Vegas.

With this release, wTVision introduces the first real-time on-air graphics rendering engine running natively on macOS, extending high-performance real-time graphics into Mac-based production environments. The milestone marks a significant step in the evolution of broadcast graphics workflows, the company said.

Developed as a native macOS implementation leveraging Apple Metal, the R³ Engine macOS edition is designed to operate alongside Macnica’s MEP100 SmartNIC 2110 I/O, enabling SMPTE ST 2110 connectivity within software-driven environments. Together, these technologies form a flexible Mac-based ecosystem supporting distributed live production architectures built on standard compute platforms.

“Our goal is to modernize the broadcast graphics stack,” said Flávio Maurício, CTO at wTVision. “By developing a Metal-based engine running natively on macOS, we deliver predictable real-time performance and low-latency rendering, deeply integrated with the Apple ecosystem. This milestone brings broadcast graphics closer to the environment preferred by creative teams, while supporting the evolving demands of IP-based and distributed media workflows.”

By combining Apple’s graphics framework, broadcast-grade media I/O, and R³ Engine running natively on macOS, wTVision brings the Apple ecosystem into the center of modern live production.The joint showcase between wTVision and Macnica highlights how integrated hardware and software ecosystems can enable new performance benchmarks for real-time media production with Apple products.

“The future of live production is being built on open standards and software-defined infrastructure,” said Sebastien Dignard, CEO of Macnica Americas and EMEA. “By combining Metal-accelerated graphics on macOS, the wTVision real-time R³ Engine, and Macnica’s MEP100 SmartNIC for deterministic IP media transport, we are enabling a new class of scalable, high-performance production workflows aligned with how modern content teams operate.”

The R³ Engine enables end-to-end graphics workflows across news, sports, entertainment, and corporate media production. From lower thirds and full-screen graphics to virtual sets, augmented reality, LED wall productions, and data-driven sports graphics, the platform enables real-time visual storytelling across diverse broadcast environments.

At the show, wTVision will demonstrate a complete graphics production workflow running on macOS within a live IP media environment. The showcase demonstrates how software-defined production tools, accelerated media I/O, and modern compute platforms can be combined to deliver scalable and reliable broadcast-grade performance graphics.

wTVision will be in Booth N1223 in the North Hall of the LVCC.

OTTAWA—Ross Video and HighField AI have announced a partnership that they say will streamline graphics creation for news and sports production teams by offering "intelligent graphics creation" in the Ross Video production ecosystem.

“Broadcasters don’t need AI that forces them to rebuild their operation,” said Tehseen Akhtar, Senior Director of Product Management at Ross Video. “They need intelligent tools that support the workflows they already rely on.”

The integration between Ross and HighField AI solutions enables broadcasters to move from story context to on-air graphics faster, while maintaining brand consistency and the workflows operators already rely on.

The two companies say that this will help broadcasters who are under increasing pressure to produce more content across more platforms, often with smaller teams. By introducing AI-assisted graphics generation inside existing workflows, Ross Video and HighField AI aim to reduce manual production steps while keeping operators firmly in control.

More specifically, HighField AI analyzes story context within Ross Inception, identifies the appropriate Ross XPression graphics templates, and assists in generating production-ready graphics by assembling relevant content, including text, quotes, visuals, and data, while applying editorial and branding rules. Content assets can be retrieved through Ross Streamline, with graphics rendered and deployed through XPression.

For news and sports production teams, the workflow accelerates the creation of graphics such as lower-thirds, matchup screens, player profiles, and full-frame visuals, helping production teams deliver more compelling storytelling at the speed of live production.

“HighField AI turns story context into production-ready graphics in seconds,” said Ofir Benovici, CEO and co-founder of HighField AI. “With Ross, we’re introducing a conversational workflow for live production, making graphics creation as simple as asking for what you need. A producer can request a matchup graphic or player comparison, and the system builds it instantly using the broadcaster’s own templates and assets. With HighField AI, production teams can create graphics faster, maintain consistency, and keep full brand control, without changing how they work.”

The initial integration focuses on Ross XPression, Inception, and Streamline, with Ross Video. In the future, HighField AI is planning to expand AI-assisted workflows across additional Ross production tools.

Ross Video and HighField AI will demonstrate the integration at 2026 NAB Show between April 18 and 22.

Visit Ross Video at Booth #N2005 or learn more at https://www.rossvideo.com/go/events/nab-2026/.

When Imagine Communications announced last fall that it was acquiring Pixel Power from Rohde & Schwarz, the company said its main goal was to “broaden Imagine’s live production ecosystem and playout offerings via integration of Pixel Power’s software-defined, deploy-anywhere platforms.” This week, Imagine President Steve Reynolds updated TV Tech on how the integration is progressing.

Of particular importance to Imagine is Pixel’s playout and multiviewer solutions, two parts of the production workflow chain Reynolds thinks are key to expanding the company’s presence in these markets.

“Imagine has been in the playout business pretty much since the playout and automation business started all the way back to when we were Harris, and it's always been a really important segment for us,” he said. “We like to be in those mission-critical operational systems, the things that our customers depend on day in and day out in order to run their business.

“Those are the kind of products that Imagine has really focused on as we made the transition from a hardware centric company—which is what Harris really was—towards the software centric company that we are today,” Reynolds added.

The Power of a Combined Solution
The acquisition of Pixel Power, Reynolds says, will not only help strengthen its current playout solutions portfolio—which include ADC, Versio and in more recent years, the Aviator orchestration platform—but also expand its geographic footprint, Reynolds said.

“Pixel Power—which is a company that we have competed with for years—has built a really great solution for the European public broadcaster space, where they had a lot of success,” Reynolds said. “With customers like TV2 in Norway, SVT in Sweden, the work that they've done with the German public broadcasters, the work that they've done with TV5MONDE in France, they had a really great customer base around those public broadcasters.”

The two main products Pixel had built its success on in this market, according to Reynolds, were the company’s Gallium automated multiplatform content management solution and StreamMaster platform for realtime graphics and control. Combining automation plus a media server “really formed a nice bundle for anybody that's in that kind of public broadcast space,” Reynolds said.

“Pixel had done a good job of winning market share with those [national broadcast] customers, so the reason we wanted to acquire Gallium and StreamMaster was really aimed at that market segment,” he added. “We saw the success that they had in that segment, and as we continue to move forward with investments in Gallium and StreamMaster, it's going to be focused, at least initially, in Europe, to continue to build on that customer base.”

Reynolds said the combination of the two created a powerful and sophisticated graphics solution for Pixel Power, which was beating Imagine when it came to bidding for business with European broadcasters.

“Imagine was bidding on a lot of those same projects, and Pixel Power was winning,” Reynolds said, “And one of the things that we consistently heard is that the graphics package that is in StreamMaster is a top-tier integrated graphics package that a lot of those national broadcasters were leveraging because it had the capabilities that they needed not only to be able to do the 2D graphics—which Imagine already had—but they had some more advanced capabilities to be able to handle some 3D and to be able to handle a lot of the kind of the more advanced and more sophisticated on-air look that that those broadcasters were looking for.

“They had a sophisticated graphics package that was integrated into a playout system that met all of the criteria—it supports all the formats, it supports all of the different resolutions, it supports all the ingest workloads that those guys need,” he added. “So it had it checked all the boxes on kind of the basic set of competitive features. But it also added in that higher power graphics.”

Scaling Up
The second product Imagine was keenly interested in was multiviewers, specifically Pixel’s Prismon platform, which is designed to scale up to support hundreds of channels. This large-scale type of monitoring platform was high on Imagine’s shopping list, according to Reynolds.

"Imagine has always been in the multiviewer business, but we had a different focus—we were more on the production multiviewer side of things,” Reynolds said. “[Imagine’s] SNP was intended to be a production multiviewer, very low latency, very high quality, but not large scale.”

Integrating Prismon into Imagine’s multiviewer product line gives Imagine the ability to build facility-scale, multiviewers, especially in production facilities, turnaround facilities including satellite and cable operators, or in large scale, playout operations where there's dozens or even hundreds of channels being played out of the same facility, Reynolds said.

“So we now have multiviewer offerings for large scale and for smaller scale, low latency, and that would be in OB vans, production galleries, or control rooms at a sporting venue, where the number of feeds that you're dealing with is 10, 20 or maybe 30.”

Reynolds said Prismon helps Imagine respond to more market demands for integrated solutions. “What we realized was we really need to have a product in our portfolio that lets us create that fully bundled solution, because increasingly, that's what the market wants to buy,” he said. “It's the same thing as with the playout solution, right? The market wants an integrated solution, they don't want to have to build, or have to be their own systems integrator. They want to buy something that is integrated. And so Prismon filled that gap for us.”

The timescales for building new media production facilities has been declining for years, according to Reynolds, another reason for increased interest in integrated solutions.

“The idea of having these multi-year facility builds… that's in the past,” Reynolds said. “And in many cases now, we're looking at time frames that are measured in months between the time somebody acquires rights and they want to be on air. And that's what's really driving the demand for these fully integrated solutions. Customers want to know that it's already been tested, it's already been integrated, and you can deploy it quickly, easily and within a set of budget constraints to get on air.”

The acquisition of Pixel Power was completed at the end of 2025 and Reynolds said not a lot will change in terms of what existing customers should expect, including keeping the product names.

“That's why we bought them, we like the products, we like the differentiation of those products, they fit well within our portfolio, and they give us something new to offer to the customers that want to buy that kind of solution,” Reynolds said.

NAB Show Plans
Imagine’s booth (N1328 in the North Hall of the LVCC) at the NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, will reflect this expanded market focus, according to Reynolds. Among the highlights will be the company’s cloud-based XVR playout engine, which was introduced at the 2025 IBC Show.

Gallium StreamMaster will be demonstrated running on COTS and its expanded multiviewer portfolio will be highlighted, including advanced automation features such as intelligent monitoring, automated audio/video issue detection, and “penalty boxing,” which elevates problem signals for immediate operator attention.

"The other thing you're going to see is this kind of fully integrated solution of gateways—the ability to use the SNP as the gateway between the SDI and IP world, and to do format conversion with JPEG access and things like that, directly into ingest,” Reynolds said. “And we'll be using the new XVR engine, which is the Linux-based ingest engine with multiple playout systems. So you'll see StreamMaster, XVR, and Nexio all sitting side by side in a kind of a multiserver environment.”

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Sports has selected SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology) to provide results and timing interfaces, data integration tools, and broadcast graphics support for its production of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Feb. 6-22.

For the games, NBC Sports will utilize SMT to deliver real-time results and timing interfaces, scoring and graphics elements, and comprehensive production data support for its production of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

SMT will provide TVI (broadcast television interface) support services for figure skating and alpine skiing, speed skating, short track, bobsled, luge, skeleton, snowboard, and freestyle skiing (produced from Stamford). SMT will also supply its SportsCG timing and scoring system and CIS (Commentator Information Screen) for figure skating coverage.

Additional SMT services include data feed support for Peacock digital coverage and a media asset management tool that integrates with NBC Sports’ production environment. SMT will also deploy heart-rate monitor kits, for select family members, to illustrate the adrenaline spikes experienced as families watch their loved ones compete. These services will help NBC Sports route the excitement in Italy back to viewers watching coverage of the Games in the United States.

“Each Olympic Games expands the data landscape for storytelling. SMT’s flexibility with new technologies and diverse data sources enables us to integrate results and context for live and postproduction,” said Dan Robertson, vice president, Olympics Information Technology, NBC Sports. “That agility elevates NBC Sports’ data presentation—delivering richer graphics, smarter insights, and dynamic storytelling across linear and digital platforms.”

SMT has worked with NBC Sports since 2000, assisting production efforts at previous Olympics and other major international sports events across Europe and Asia.

“SMT is proud to bring our proven expertise, rigorous preparation, and trusted results technology to NBC Sports’ coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, continuing a legacy of support that began in Sydney in 2000,” said Gerard J. Hall, founder and CEO, SMT.

Click here for more on NBCUniversal’s Milan Cortina 2026 programming.

TV Tech’s overall coverage of NBC Sports' overall tech plans for the 2026 Winter Games can be found here, here and here.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has released Virtual Placement 8.0, with new SMPTE 2110 IP connectivity and NBA-focused line tracking, the company said.

“We are meeting the industry where it is going with IP-based workflows and richer storytelling tools,” Andreas Olsson, product manager of Virtual Placement at Chyron, said. “Adding SMPTE 2110 IP support and elevating basketball coverage with enhanced tracking allows broadcasters to engage audiences with more accurate, high-impact visuals.”

The latest version’s 2110 support aligns Virtual Placement with the industry trend towards uncompressed and future-proofs the product, the company said.

Virtual Placement 8.0 brings court-accurate tracking to basketball, keeping virtual graphics visually locked to the floor and aligned with the action, which enables stable, hardware-free on-couert tracking and unlocks advanced graphics and analysis within live NBA broadcasts, Chyron said.

Virtual Placement continues to deliver virtual advertising, dynamic sports analysis tools, and PRIME-powered broadcast graphics from a single platform, the company said.

More information is available on Chyron’s website.

LONDON—As Europe’s largest media company, Sky Group delivers premium content at a scale few media companies can match. Operating across multiple markets has meant managing a patchwork of siloed systems, inconsistent tooling, different operational practices and varied compliance requirements, preventing us from fully leveraging economies of scale.

Our challenge required not only a technically innovative approach to future-proof Sky’s content supply chain, but also a long-term strategic solution that would unify operations across the Group.

In short, we needed a radical shift onto a single platform.

One Group, One Platform
To address this, we built Media­Mesh, a unified cloud platform that centralizes QC, enrichment, conversion, and distribution at scale. The MediaMesh architecture—an API-driven, modular framework—brings together a curated ecosystem of in-house built microservices and products from leading industry partners, each selected for their ability to solve specific pain points.

For this project, we partnered with several companies, including SDVI, whose Rally platform provided the base layer that integrates with new and legacy tooling to retrieve metadata and media from dispersed systems and storage, in order to orchestrate content through the group’s platform.

Telestream’s Qualify serves as the automated quality control (QC) function at ingest, validating assets against Sky’s technical standards before proceeding further. Through close collaboration with operations, years of QC data were audited to optimize a system that flags issues early and reduces false positives compared to legacy tools, significantly minimizing manual review effort and downstream issues.

AWS ran AI to identify on-screen subtitles and spoken language to automatically identify localization requirements to fast-track downstream dubbing and subtitling efforts. This language detection has also allowed Sky Italia viewers to filter content by precise audio language, unlocking new levels of discoverability and personalization.

Codemill’s Accurate.Video platform not only plays back content, but provides a collection of audio controls, the ability to enable/disable subs and dubs for review and can present different time-based markers along a timeline (e.g., segmentation points, QC errors, sections needing localization).

We also deployed TMT Insights’ Polaris, which provides operations with a single platform identity, abstracting them from the multiple backend services, to streamline their operational practices. The Polaris UI provides visibility into metadata, end-to-end monitoring, workflow anomalies, prioritizes task management for steps requiring human intervention, communication threading and launching specialized functions such as editing tasks, various exports and ad hoc workflows. These functions help operations meet critical SLAs with confidence, reduce touchpoints, and speed up time to air.

Whether it’s ingesting content from over 300 content partners, enriching it with metadata and access services, or distributing it to platforms like Sky Glass and NOW, MediaMesh ensures every step is automated, observable, and streamlined. And the elastic scalability allocates sufficient system resources to meet the changing business demands.

To deliver a platform as ambitious as MediaMesh, we had to rethink not just our technology stack, but our internal capabilities. This meant evolving from a traditional broadcast engineering mindset to a software-first organization. TV engineers retrained as software engineers, embracing cloud-native development and modern DevOps practices. This transformation has not only accelerated delivery but fostered a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Business Benefits
By centralizing workflows, we can develop and deploy features once, rather than duplicating effort across multiple systems, delivering consistent benefits across the entire group. This streamlines internal investment and speeds up our time-to-market when delivering new features. Today, MediaMesh processes more than 2.7 million assets annually, equating to more than 10 million minutes of content, and manages around $2 billion worth of media across our ecosystem.

As we continue to evolve MediaMesh, we’re exploring new ways to enrich content, streamline compliance, and personalize viewer experiences across markets. The platform’s modular design ensures we can adapt quickly, whether it’s integrating new services, responding to regulatory changes or supporting future product launches. MediaMesh has laid the foundation for a more agile, scalable and collaborative future at Sky, and we’re excited to build on this momentum to shape next-generation content processing.

More information is available at www.telestream.net.

WASHINGTON—When I started Broadcast Management Group, our goal was simple: to make high-end broadcast production accessible anywhere, without compromise. Over the past few years, that vision has evolved into something much bigger: a fully connected, cloud-enabled production ecosystem that supports everything from major network shows to global corporate communications. At the heart of it all is Grass Valley’s AMPP ecosystem, which powers every aspect of our operation.

Our new network operations center, aka the “BMG Cloud Control Center” in Washington, D.C., represents a complete rethinking of how we deliver media services. It’s not just a facility; it’s our private cloud, where all of our production, playout and media asset management (MAM) systems live. Grass Valley’s AMPP and Framelight X are at the core of that infrastructure, providing the flexibility, scalability and reliability that today’s broadcast clients demand.

Unified Operations
Inside the NOC, our Grass Valley K-Frame switchers anchor the control rooms, and every one of our mobile trucks uses Grass Valley LDX cameras for live capture. We’ve also built a centralized video shading room powered by GV Creative Grading, which means our engineers in D.C. can shade cameras anywhere in the country. It’s an incredibly powerful way to unify our operations and deliver consistent quality across every production.

When people talk about cloud production, they often think of lightweight tools or “good enough” solutions. That’s not what we do; we’re handling Tier 1, broadcast-level productions that demand reliability, redundancy and performance. AMPP gives us that—a virtualized platform that combines the horsepower of traditional infrastructure with the agility of the cloud. It’s the operational heartbeat of our entire company.

We run two main business lines: live production and managed broadcast services. On the live side, we package major news, sports and entertainment events for networks nationwide. On the managed services side, we design, build and operate facilities for clients—everything from control rooms and studios to podcast and streaming setups. What ties all of it together is our AMPP-powered private cloud. Whether a client wants a fully local setup, hybrid workflow or completely remote operation, we can spin it up instantly through AMPP.

A great example of this in action is our work with UBS Financial. They were consolidating offices in New York and wanted a new studio and control room, but without the overhead of maintaining all their own backend infrastructure. We rebuilt their systems from the ground up and connected everything directly into our NOC. Their editing workstations, playout channels, and storage all reside in D.C., powered by Grass Valley AMPP and Framelight X. Their editors log in remotely and can cut files in real time, even while shows are on air and more video is being recorded.

That’s a massive leap from where they were, relying on portable drives to store nearly 30 terabytes of content a year. Now, every asset is searchable, secure and immediately accessible, not just in New York but potentially across UBS’s global offices. That’s what the future of live production looks like: Instantaneous, global and flexible.

The Future of Live
We’re applying the same model for VPM, a PBS affiliate in Virginia, by building an entire broadcast facility, all Grass Valley cameras and AMPP Asset management.

Grass Valley has been an exceptional partner in this journey. Their technology gives us the backbone to support enterprise-grade operations while scaling effortlessly for creative demands. Together, we’re proving that cloud production doesn’t mean compromise, it means opportunity. With AMPP and Framelight X, we can deliver broadcast-quality production from anywhere, for anyone, at any scale. And that’s exactly where the future is headed.

More information is available at www.grassvalley.com.

ORLANDO, Fla.—I started my first TV job in 1985 in the Orlando market at WESH-TV, loading 2-inch carts into an ACR25 for commercial playout and news playback on ¾-inch tape. At the same time, Florical Systems released its first product, TimeShifter. Since then, I moved on to Betacart, live shot acquisition and master control while Florical stepped up the technology with ShowTimer and AirBoss.

Forty years later, we’re both still here—my employer, Hearst Television, which acquired WESH in 1998, operates 35 stations nationwide. Every day, we manage the flow of syndicated shows, network feeds, commercials and promos that need to reach the air without fail.

My current role is to make sure that content is prepared, validated and delivered to our stations in a way that is both reliable and efficient. Ingest and media asset management sit at the center of this process, and over the past two years, we’ve transformed how we handle them with Florical.

The Deployment
We began rolling out Florical’s ingest and asset management module in 2024 with the goal of creating a stronger foundation for how content enters our ecosystem—whether that content is coming in from distributors, agencies or internal production teams. By putting ingest and asset management in place first, we were able to establish group-wide consistency in how files are received, cataloged and validated.

Earlier this year, we completed the next phase of that transition, moving our stations onto Florical’s AirBoss automation for playout. Having the ingest and asset-management tools already in place made that transition much smoother, because the content feeding automation was already standardized and predictable.

Stephanie Sobiech, our content coordinator, is on the front line every day, handling program and promo distribution and working directly with incoming feeds from Pathfire, PitchBlue, Extreme Reach, OTSM and our networks. With Florical, she no longer has to manually track whether a file is complete or in the right format; the system validates incoming content automatically and flags any problems before they reach the air chain. That has freed her to focus on higher-level coordination instead of chasing technical errors.

Commercials and syndicated programming represent another critical part of our workflow, and Florical has helped us bring real efficiency to that process. At Hearst, we operate on a “touch-once, distribute-to-many” model.

A single program or commercial may need to be delivered to 25 stations, and Florical’s workflows allow us to handle that with economies of scale. The content is ingested and validated once, then mapped and distributed to all the stations that need it. Our dedicated commercial preparation and approval team depends on these workflows every day to ensure spots and shows are delivered consistently group-wide. Instead of repeating the same steps, they can focus on confirming the content is correct and ready, knowing the distribution piece is handled efficiently.

The benefits extend to housekeeping, as well. Because the system manages distribution centrally, we can avoid duplication and unnecessary storage at the station level. At the same time, archived content remains accessible through AWS, so if a station needs to pull material back, it can be retrieved quickly without adding complexity to the local workflow.

Error Reduction
Since completing the rollout, the biggest change I’ve seen is consistency across the group. Whether it’s Stephanie managing syndicated feeds, the commercial team approving spots or operators checking final playlists, everyone is working under the same ingest and distribution standards. We’ve reduced manual errors, shortened turnaround times and freed people to spend more energy on coordination and quality control rather than on chasing missing files.

Looking forward, the metadata foundation we’ve built with Florical puts us in a strong position for the next phase of automation. AI-assisted workflows that can reconcile traffic logs, detect anomalies, and even self-correct ingest issues will depend on having robust and consistent metadata. For us, that future starts with the reliability we’ve already gained from
Florical’s ingest and asset-management tools.

More information is available at www.florical.com.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore.—In 2007, I began filming Mark Warmer restoring an Mopar Muscle Car and the “Graveyard Carz” series began. Shortly thereafter, Warmer and I co-founded production company The Division, focusing on reality television, and today “Graveyard Carz,” a reality show chronicling the restoration of Mopar Muscle Cars that are often deemed beyond repair, is the longest-running series on MotorTrend’s linear network.

Over the years we’ve learned a lot, particularly when it comes to streamlining workflows and increasing efficiency. We’re a small crew, handling virtually everything in-house: shooting, editing, mixing, color correction, producing, mastering, delivering and social media. (I even do voiceover for the show.)

Better Collaboration
Previously, our post workflow was hampered by the fact that any last-minute edits involved changing multiple projects and tracking multiple changes across multiple versions. In moving to DaVinci Resolve Studio, I was most excited by team collaboration via Blackmagic Cloud. My hope was that I could color-correct while my fellow executive producer, Jeffrey Osborns, could mix—in a proper DAW [digital audio workstation], like DaVinci Resolve’s Fairlight. Even more, I hoped that our talented editor and animator Nick DeAngelo would be able to add b-roll—all simultaneously. We still have some details to iron out, but overall, I’m very pleased with the improvements to our workflow.

While the move to DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud was an essential step forward, I thought why not streamline further by bringing editing into production (vs. just post) for larger, multicam shoots with an ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO switcher?

I knew the ATEM ISO model shined when used with DaVinci Resolve for postproduction, so why not direct and capture episodic shoots in a live production style, with pre-edited segments enhancing efficiency, while maintaining the flexibility to further edit in post?

For these shoots, we record onto the local hard drive, saving the .DRP file (i.e., a DaVinci Resolve Project file) along with it. This enables us to switch cameras and direct the shoot in a “live” style while maintaining the flexibility to edit afterwards. The ability to edit with proxies and then switch to Blackmagic RAW at the push of a button for final grading is unique. This can be a fast and appealing workflow if you don’t mind working with multiple cameras in the sync bin.

Pre-Editing Segments
Now, we can pre-edit larger segments while making sure we have coverage of the action. We use headsets to communicate during the shoot, with the ATEM operator informing the crew which camera is being used or how to adjust a shot. While this live directing approach is something we’ve done without a switcher, it’s a terrible waste of resources when it’s so easy to have someone simply push buttons and edit the segment live. It gives the editor a huge leg up when they have a large segment.

Additionally, it’s much more pleasant for a producer to watch something that appears to be edited. It’s also possible to mix cameras in this workflow, and even to process the resulting .DRP in such a way as to produce a classic multicam clip, if that workflow is more appealing.

As an independent production company, we have leveraged social media for promotion from the very beginning—so using the ATEM for multicam live streams is also exceptionally valuable to us. We’ve used it to live stream on social media platforms, and I am confident we will continue to do so.

For more information, contact Blackmagic Design at
408-954-0500 or visit www.blackmagicdesign.com.

LOS ANGELES—I’m the super­vising editor for NBC’s “The Voice,” which is produced by MGM Television and recorded on the Universal Studios lot. I was the first editor hired on the show 15 years ago, and I’ve been on every episode since—that’s 700 episodes and nearly 1,100 hours of broadcast programming over the last 15 years.

We use Avid as our editing solution. The major advantage of using Avid is we start and finish everything in Avid. From offline to final online to color, everything is done inside of that.

Right now, we have about 35 editors, including about eight to 10 assistant editors. I think another dozen producers and story producers are also all accessing the media, all able to see everything, and they’re all remote. And I don’t mean we have some in Burbank and some in L.A. We have people in North Carolina; we have people in Virginia. We’ve had people in Maine and Japan; we’ve had people all over the world working on our show.

A Unified Solution
Having one, unified program that handles all of that has been absolutely beneficial and the cornerstone of our being on the air. I don’t think there’s any other production that hits the Avid hardware and software nearly as hard as we do.

I’m on Media Composer with the Symphony option and so are two of my online editors. The reason for that is we start and finish everything on “The Voice” inside of Avid, including color, final online and output of the master.

We use a lot of image stabilization. Those save our show because it’s a huge concert, and those cameras jiggle, and there’s nothing worse than seeing your artist or your coach jiggling around. I’d say easily between 600 to 900 stabilizations will be done in a two-hour episode.

We also use the “Animatte” effect in Media Composer for multiple reasons. We don’t like to break the fourth wall by showing camera people running through the audience, so we use that to duplicate audience members to hide cameras. We want viewers to be engaged in the performance, and if you see some guy running across the stage with a camera, that kind of pulls you out of it. Avid gives us the proper tools to maintain our illusion, to maintain the moment, without having to go to an external program.

Creating a Uniform Feel
Every episode of “The Voice” is a challenge because of the nature of the show. In an average two-hour episode, we introduce 13 to 15 new “characters,” if you will. Each story needs to have a life of its own, but we have to have some type of uniform feel to the show so when you turn it on, you recognize “The Voice” for what it is.

Our editors are constantly striving to give enough individuality to each of the story pods to showcase each artist individually, as well as maintain a high level of editorial status and make sure that editors are also as creative as possible, but without going completely astray.

We know our audience has faith in what we do and what we say about our show is real. When the first note comes out of an artist on stage—with the coaches’ backs to them in their chairs—that is the first time coaches hear them or see them when they turn. The audience sees our artists in their stories beforehand, but the coaches don’t get any of that information. It is legitimate; that’s the first note that the coaches ever hear. ●

More information is available at www.avid.com.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding branding automation and refining telestration tools to enable maximum efficiency in fast-paced sports production.

The latest features fuel the company’s evolution of PAINT to become a unified solution for illustrated replay, tactical breakdowns and live broadcast graphics, it said.

“With PAINT 10.2, we’re building for the future of broadcast—one where flexible IP-based workflows and smarter automation are the standard, all in an out-of-the-box, single-system solution with no third-party hardware required,” said Andreas Olsson, product manager for PAINT at Chyron. “Whether in a truck or a control room, operators now have sharper tools, more robust calibration workflows and ease of use out of the box, and fluid brand integration.”

New ST 2110 support enables ingest and output of uncompressed video over IP. This capability future-proofs PAINT and integrates the solution into modern broadcast infrastructures. Supporting both SDI and ST 2110 environments, PAINT gives broadcasters the flexibility needed to operate across traditional and next-generation workflows, the company said.

PAINT 10.2 introduces sweep calibration support for NBA basketball, making it faster and easier to align the court for telestration with a simple, guided motion. This addition streamlines setup for hardwood environments.

Complementing sweep calibration is a new “Add New” calibration button, which prevents accidental overwrites by letting operators start fresh without losing previous setups. For American football, enhanced line tracking now includes hashmark recognition. For NCAA and NFL fields, this new hashmark recognition keeps graphics anchored during fast camera moves or changing light conditions and eliminates the need for per-clip calibration. Together, these enhancements improve usability, stability and operator confidence—ensuring precise, broadcast-ready graphics even under the pressure of live production, Chyron said.

Building on this operator-friendly focus, telestration in PAINT is more polished and brand-ready. Operators can assign individual shadow effects to each tool, allowing cleaner, more deliberate visuals across different elements.

Cursors can be customized with team logos or sponsor branding, providing instant, on-brand graphics with every annotation. With the introduction of the “shine” graphics package, PAINT adds another pre-built style, joining simple, glass, and neon, to deliver a sleek, professional look without the need for extensive design work, it said.

Operators now have access to a home/away selector that automates logo, color and styling assignments, making it easy to set up and quickly switch between home and away branding. Combined with VaultSync, this ensures graphics are accurate, consistent and instantly updated based on the context of the match, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has unveiled a major update for its Toolbox intuitive software application that enables producers to leverage PC and web content quickly as SDI or NDI sources in live production environments.

The Toolbox 4 update modernizes the application’s architecture to meet the needs of live broadcaster IT ecosystems with Windows 11 OS support and the latest Chyron 1RU chassis hardware and an expanded Grabber content capture function, support for full HD 1080p output via SDI or NDI and user interface improvements, Chyron said.

Toolbox provides everything producers need to repurpose content quickly from their local laptop or PC for delivery to video switchers, all-in-one production systems or routers. With Toolbox’s Grabber module, users can generate real-time capture of a region-of-interest and quickly take the content to air, it said.

Another tool for generating content, the VLC Video Player module, converts the desktop into an on-demand video clip server, with codec-agnostic playback of diverse clip media packages, it said.

Toolbox’s Return Signal module converts SDI or NDI inputs into webcam signals for online video calls with remote guests or onsite reporters. Producers can deliver a direct feed of a studio camera shot, anchor on the set or live program output to remote callers, the company said.

To address the IT needs of today’s broadcasters, Toolbox 4 supports Microsoft Windows 11 LTSC operating systems. It is now available as a turnkey solution built on the latest generation Chyron 1RU server,

Expanded Grabber capabilities include support for up to four unique captures, each of which is individually configurable with specific screen layouts, audio configurations, visual overlays and graphical backgrounds, it said.

The updated Toolbox user interface is sleek with a new dark look. It offers users the ability to undock the interface and freely position it on the desktop.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has announced a new edition of its AXIS Maps graphics creation module for live news storytelling.

The latest generation of AXIS Maps advances the map creation workflow of broadcasters with high-quality 3D map visuals, data visualization, intuitive illustration tools and a simplified interface, the company said.

Part of the AXIS ecosystem, AXIS Maps is a cloud-based, hosted platform that offers the full range of graphics order management and creation tools broadcasters need to fulfill visual requirements for fast-paced news environments from within a web browser interface, it said.

With AXIS, reporters, editors, news producers and others in the newsroom can quickly locate and create rich graphic scenes with images, maps and charts to bring stories and data to life, it said.

"This evolution of AXIS Maps is the result of a true partnership with our customers from all around the globe," said Peter Matis, product manager of AXIS. "Their feedback was the blueprint for everything we developed - 3D map visuals, new built-in data layers, interface enhancements, and so much more….”

The new AXIS Maps offers rich 3D maps that integrate true-to-life building and elevation model data. Broadcasters can immerse viewers with lifelike map scenes with dynamic keyframe animations.

AXIS Maps adds support for an array of new data layers, such as bridges, tunnels, parks and airports, as well as the ability to import custom data for specific analysis, providing more flexibility for broadcasters to tell data-driven stories. Additionally, AXIS Maps feature new graphics tools to highlight areas of interest, whether 3D polygons on map terrain, custom routes or border coloration at national, regional, district, city or local levels, it said.

For any user, regardless of skillset, AXIS Maps makes it easy to locate an area-of-interest, visualize the necessary data layers, add graphic elements and create scenes with fluid animations. At an organizational level, AXIS Maps provides tools to maintain show-looks and branding guidelines across productions with global design parameters, as well as tools to address audiences in multiple international markets with map localization tools to designate the language in which location names are displayed, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

LONDON—Vizrt has introduced Viz Arena 6, the newest version of its all-in-one live augmented reality (AR) graphics and virtual advertising sports solution. The new version includes AI-powered features that reduce calibration headaches and radically simplify keying and masking in ways that greatly speed up AR sports production, the company reported.

More specifically, the new AI-driven features make it easier for operators to integrate AR graphics into live broadcasts, lowering the barrier to entry for creating stunning AR sports graphics. With AI calibration, AR graphics and virtual ads stay perfectly locked to the field, no matter how the camera moves. It also gets graphics to air 10 times faster without losing any precision. The Sports Intelligent Keyer uses ambient learning to intelligently separate foreground from background, with minimal manual input required, the company said.

The system is designed to efficiently produce higher quality graphics in less time. It provides users with a a reliable system that eases time-consuming and complex tasks in ways that allow producers to expand quality productions without scaling costs or complexity, Vizrt said.

That has already drawn praise from some early users. “We were blown away by the AI calibration and AI keyer, they really transformed our fast-paced MotoGP workflow. We were supposed to be beta testing, but Viz Arena 6 was so stable and consistent, that we decided to take it straight to air,” says Sergi Sendra, senior director, media content, technical and production departments at Dorna Sports.

By lowering the barriers to AR graphics, the benefit is not just in creating and inserting striking data-driven visualization; it also helps the bottom line, Vizrt stressed.

With virtual ads, productions can easily add tailored, sponsor-specific advertising to any live sport event. This flexibility expands creative possibilities and helps deliver greater value for commercial partners, the company reported.

“With this release, we’re expanding on the real purpose of AI in production technology: making the process more effective and accessible. Want better creativity and efficiency? AI-powered calibration and keying speed up the process. In sports, the action never slows, and productions need technology that can keep up,” says Edouard Griveaud, Senior Product Manager, Sports and AI, at Vizrt.

More information on the product’s features and its ability to save time can be found at https://www.vizrt.com/products/viz-arena/.

Modern newsrooms are under pressure to deliver compelling content in an increasingly competitive media environment. Viewers expect more than just accurate reporting—they want visually engaging stories that keep them watching. Traditional, static graphics fall short of meeting these demands, leaving newsrooms struggling to capture attention, maintain retention, and stand out.

To overcome these challenges, Ross Video offers a comprehensive graphics suite tailored for modern newsrooms. Combining powerful tools like XPression, Voyager, and Datalinq, the suite empowers broadcasters to deliver captivating, data-driven visuals with unmatched efficiency.

Static graphics limit engagement

Newsrooms face several key challenges when it comes to engaging their audiences with graphics:

1. Lack of viewer engagement

Static, linear graphics are often clear but fail to excite or immerse viewers deeper into a storyline, leading to reduced attention spans and lower retention.

2. Limited workflow efficiency

Integrating advanced graphics such as virtual sets, touchscreens, and data-driven visuals can be cumbersome without the right tools and can slow down production teams during live broadcasts.

3. Adapting to diverse formats

Newsrooms need graphics that can seamlessly transition across platforms and formats, from traditional broadcast screens to AR and virtual environments, without creating technical bottlenecks.

Ross Video’s graphics suite

Ross Video’s graphics suite redefines what’s possible in newsroom visual storytelling. By combining cutting-edge technology with user-friendly workflows, the suite enables broadcasters to create captivating visuals without compromising efficiency.

Dynamic visual storytelling:

Tools like XPression and Voyager enable newsrooms to craft immersive visuals for LED displays, on-set monitors, touchscreens, and augmented reality or virtual sets. Imagine election night coverage where an anchor interacts with real-time vote tallies or weather forecasts enhanced by dynamic 3D animations. With XPression Tessera, broadcasters bring dynamic storytelling to life by scaling graphics seamlessly across multiple screens, from video walls to on-set monitors. Its streamlined workflow—from design to MOS-driven playout—enables teams to deliver visually impactful, story-centric content with unmatched efficiency.

Real-time data integration

Datalinq, Ross Video’s powerful and unified data integration tool, connects your newsroom to live data sources across the entire suite of Ross Graphics solutions, such as election results and financial updates. This ensures that graphics are always up-to-date, accurate, and delivered in real-time, critical for maintaining audience trust during fast-paced news cycles.

For example, broadcasters can display real-time vote counts across interactive maps during election night, ensuring viewers stay informed and engaged.

For weather data, Ross Video’s Raiden integration is a specialized solution designed to enhance broadcasts with visually rich and precise weather graphics. Raiden is accessible through a web-based UI that can be used anywhere and has full MOS integration for seamless newsroom workflows.

Keep Reading: Discover how Raiden has Transformed Weather Coverage Workflows with RÚV

Simplified workflows for complex graphics

Ross Video’s graphics suite is designed to simplify even the most complex production workflows, providing a unified platform to create, manage, and control all graphics systems seamlessly. With the single MOS plugin, broadcasters gain unparalleled efficiency by controlling virtual sets, video displays, linear graphics, maps, and weather graphics—all from one interface and gateway.

This level of integration is a game-changer, reducing complexity while enabling teams to deliver high-impact visuals with ease. Tools like XPression Maps/Maps Touch and XPression Touch Factory further enhance this capability, allowing on-air talent to interact directly with graphics and create a more engaging viewer experience—all without adding burdens to production teams.

Scalable and future-proof solutions

Ross Video’s suite is built to adapt to the changing needs of newsrooms. Whether you’re integrating virtual sets with Voyager or expanding your capabilities for new platforms, the graphics suite scales effortlessly, ensuring your newsroom remains competitive in a rapidly changing media landscape.

What sets Ross Video apart

1. Unified Data Connectivity: The Datalinq plugin connects all devices to deliver real-time, data-driven graphics seamlessly.
2. Advanced graphics capabilities: Ross Video provides the tools to create captivating visuals, from AR and virtual sets to dynamic video walls. Video walls are now essential for modern broadcasts, enabling impactful standups with engaging, branded content. By integrating video walls, AR, XR, and insert graphics into the same platform with MOS workflows, Ross Video ensures seamless branding and streamlined operation, simplifying production while maintaining visual consistency.
3. Streamlined workflows: The single MOS plugin ensures easy operation across the entire graphics suite, reducing complexity, training time and costs.
4. Innovative weather integration: Features like Raiden weather integration empower broadcasters to enhance their weather coverage with visually stunning, easily customizable, data-rich graphics. With the ability to create and deliver weather graphics from anywhere in the world and seamless MOS workflow integration, Raiden streamlines production while maintaining flexibility. This unique combination ensures broadcasters can easily deliver impactful, real-time weather updates, no matter where their weather teams are located.

Real-world success stories

Broadcasters worldwide trust Ross Video’s graphics suite to elevate their newsroom operations:

• Election night coverage: A leading broadcaster used XPression and Voyager to create real-time, interactive election maps that displayed live vote counts and historical comparisons, keeping viewers engaged throughout the night.

• Weather reporting: By integrating Raiden weather with XPression, broadcasters transformed their weather segments with dynamic, 3D visuals, showcasing storm trajectories and rainfall predictions in ways that captivated audiences.
• Captivating storytelling: Ross Video’s XPression Tessera powers video walls with dynamic, story-centric visuals for breaking news updates, live interviews, and interactive storytelling. Whether showcasing real-time market fluctuations or presenting a timeline of unfolding events, XPression Tessera simplifies operations while delivering a polished, professional look that captivates audiences.
• Public health and crisis reporting: For public health crises or large-scale emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross Video’s Datalinq plugin integrates live data feeds directly into graphics. From tracking infection rates to visualizing vaccine distribution, these tools provide audiences with accurate, real-time updates in a visually compelling format, fostering trust and understanding during critical moments.

Transform your newsroom graphics

Boost viewer engagement: Dynamic, interactive visuals capture attention and keep viewers watching longer, increasing audience retention and loyalty.

Streamline newsroom workflows: Simplified integration and operation free up production teams to focus on storytelling, not troubleshooting or specialized content creation.

Future-proof your broadcasts: Scalable solutions ensure that your newsroom can adapt to new technologies, formats, and audience expectations.

Next Steps: Elevate your newsroom today

Ross Video’s graphics suite offers the tools, integrations, and support you need to transform your newsroom’s visual storytelling. From live data integration to dynamic visual effects, our solutions ensure your broadcasts captivate and inform.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has officially released PAINT 10.1 and said the newest version offers enhanced visualization tools, advanced annotation capabilities, and expanded calibration support for both mainstream and emerging sports formats.

With sharper graphics and improved workflow efficiency, broadcasters and analysts can deliver clear, detailed telestration for a wide variety of events, from NCAA football and NFL matchups to growing formats like 3x3 basketball, the company reported.

“With PAINT 10.1, we’re enhancing workflow efficiency and precision across telestration—building on our existing sweep calibration support for soccer and now expanding it to NCAA football and NFL broadcasts,” Andreas Olsson, product manager for PAINT at Chyron, said. “Leveraging image recognition, analysts can now spend more time providing insightful analysis and engaging visuals. This release underscores our commitment to equipping broadcasters with innovative, easy-to-use tools for sports coverage, and we’re excited to bring sweep calibration to more sports in future updates.”

Chyron said improved annotation capabilities in this release include a text tool that provides transparent background support, allowing operators to easily add clear, readable player labels and tactical notes without blocking critical elements on the playing surface. The new linked matchup cursor simplifies the visualization of player matchups and strategic zones by clearly connecting opposing players.

To support fast, consistent branding, a logo selector allows users to quickly generate team-branded graphics by simply pointing to a local file. Aligned automatically with field calibration, these tools help analysts deliver sharp, team-branded telestration that enriches the storytelling experience, the company explained.

Analysts covering NCAA Football and NFL games will benefit significantly from enhancements to sweep calibration, which now automatically detects and aligns pitch geometry through an intuitive sweep motion, streamlining the preparation of telestration graphics, Chron said. For 3x3 basketball and other non-standard court formats, PAINT 10.1 supports manual calibration, offering accurate field alignment for unconventional environments.

For more information on PAINT 10.1 and Chyron’s full suite of sports broadcast solutions, visit Chyron.com.

Watching live sports on TV these days is a delicate balance for broadcasters—how much information is too much?

Sports fans in the 1970s didn’t have to deal with that dilemma, when graphics were so primitive that fans expected “just the facts, ma’am.” Oftentimes, viewers coming upon a baseball game mid-inning would have to wait for the announcer just to get the score.

NESN, the TV home of the Boston Red Sox, decided to have some fun with this scenario, broadcasting part of a game between the BoSox and the Cincinnati Reds this week in the same manner a fan would view it in the mid-’70s.

The occasion was to commemorate one of the most memorable World Series in baseball history (at least to Red Sox fans), when the BoSox lost to the 1975 champion Reds in seven games.

To honor the 50th anniversary, NESN broadcast the third and fourth innings of the July 2 game at Fenway Park using vintage-inspired graphics and scorebug, throwback outfits, immersive flashbacks and other nostalgic broadcast elements. Members of the 1975 BoSox, including Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans, joined the broadcast team of Dave O’Brien, Lou Merloni and Jahmai Webster to reflect on the series.

NESN had been planning the retrocast for months, according to Amy Johnson, coordinating producer for the Red Sox at NESN.

“The idea of doing like a flashback inning came about from one of our producers, who was also a big fan of that ’75 team,” she said. “And so I immediately started watching a lot of YouTube videos. When I mentioned it to our graphics operator and our A1, they were all super on board and excited about it.”

Johnson said the network had to balance the idea of reducing on-screen informational graphics while also giving Sox fans the live coverage they had come to expect.

“We narrowed it down to two innings, and then we had some conversations about how ‘1970s’ we could go while still serving the audience,” she said. “So that's how we ended up with kind of the retro-looking score bug.”

To recreate the lower-grade “look” of a 1975 broadcast, the network had to alter its usually pristine 4K HDR resolution. To do that, they turned to NESN Technical Director Michelle Schlickman.

“She essentially created one version with crushed blacks and pulled out some of the Chroma, and then she keyed that over the same source to create some modulation,” Johnson said. “She was really excited by the challenge and she definitely took it head on, and it came out great.”

The graphics department was fully on board with the concept from the beginning, according to Johnson.

“This was truly a labor of love for our graphics operator; the minute I told him the idea he was all over it,“ she said. ”And then our senior graphics producer, Patrick White, helped us find a font that we had in house that looked similar to what NBC used in 1975 and then Bridget Sheeran, our graphics producer for the Red Sox, was the one who executed, making sure that we had the individual batter fonts updated throughout the innings.”

Social media lit up during the broadcast and the response was almost unanimous: Fans young and old loved the look, with some wishing the move to less graphics (or even none) could be an option going forward. Johnson said that while there are no plans to offer such a graphics-less feed, she sees this desire eventually being fulfilled by technology.

“I do think all media consumption is continuing to evolve toward personalization and people being able to choose what is on their screen for a broadcast,” she said. “We don't have any plans to do anything like that, but you can kind of see that down the road.”

Johnson said the broadcast showed how live sports TV can take liberties with new looks and sound to bring new experiences to fans.

“My biggest takeaway is, how can we keep challenging people throughout a baseball season to do some different fun things and kind of push our broadcast to the next level?” she said. “You know, there’s a lot of baseball games and nights to have something like this that's a little bit different.”

That said, Johnson said any experimentation will never distract from NESN’s ultimate goal.

“Our No. 1 priority is always coverage of the game and quality of the game,” she said. “So I felt like we kind of got that happy medium in the look that we went with.”

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Digital broadcast titling and graphics systems provider Chyron has added David Silverstein as U.S. sales executive.

A multi-Emmy Award winning media professional, Silverstein most recently was national sales director for the Associated Press. His background includes work as a producer, executive producer and news director at several major-market television stations.

"I am excited about sharing Chyron innovations with the industry, and look forward to leveraging my hands-on industry experience to build relationships that are truly collaborative,” Silverstein said. “The Chyron news ecosystem, with CAMIO as its backbone, integrating everything from graphics to virtual sets, to video walls and even weather segments to the newsroom rundown, is very robust and efficient, and I am very familiar with it. The company’s strong partnerships with third-party vendors, resellers and clients is a great building block.”

Silverstein will focus on strengthening Chyron’s relationships with station groups, universities and others, the company said. His client roster will include legacy customers, new major broadcaster clients and emerging broadcasters, Chyron said,

"We are delighted to welcome David to our team," Chyron Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas Steve Papadakis said. "His background encompasses a lot of time in the newsroom and the control room. He knows the challenges. But he also has proven executive sales experience built on his ability to think strategically and help customers move forward. I am confident that he will be a benefit to Chyron, to his colleagues and to our customers."

MELVILLE, N.Y.—At the NAB Show, has announced the upcoming release of PAINT 10 and Virtual Placement (VP) 7.9, two major upgrades engineered to elevate sports broadcasting with smarter data integration, sharper telestration tools, and improved workflow efficiency.

The release is one of a number of upgrades and new products on display at the show, including PRIME VSAR 2.1, a major update to its Unreal-based virtual set and augmented reality engine that is designed to be deployed in fast-paced breaking news environments.

Chyron reported that PAINT 10 and Virtual Placement (VP) 7.9, which are scheduled to be available in May, introduce new levels of precision, automation, and visual storytelling—empowering sports analysts and producers to deliver more dynamic, engaging coverage than ever before.

PAINT 10 introduces major advancements in calibration, tracking, and graphic customization—making live telestration more intuitive and powerful. At the heart of this release is Chyron’s VAULT integration, bringing automation and intelligence to the forefront of live production. VAULT acts as a centralized branding hub, syncing essential team data—including logos and colors. Once a team is selected, PAINT instantly pulls the correct branding elements and applies them across telestration tools, adapting to home or away scenarios.

One notable enhancement is the AI-powered player tracking, which delivers unmatched stability and accuracy even during the most fast-paced, high-intensity plays. This advanced tracking ensures that analysts can follow player movements across changing camera angles, allowing for deeper, more insightful breakdowns.

Another notable upgrade is the new multi-camera sweep calibration feature, powered by enhanced AI pitch tracking. With the ability to auto-calibrate up to three live feeds simultaneously, operators benefit from faster clip creation with consistent pitch accuracy across all angles. Automating this process speeds up setup, minimizes errors, and ensures accurate, reliable analysis across all camera angles.

Chyron also noted that the expanded graphics suite in PAINT 10 delivers more ways to stylize analysis with new, customizable graphic themes. New styles include bold neon presets, sleek glass effects, and clean modern designs, allowing operators to quickly tailor graphics to match the branding of the game or network. The upgraded 3D spotlight tool offers multiple shape options like circles, squares, and cylinders. Analysts can adjust the size and intensity of each spotlight in real-time, making it easier to highlight players, movements, or key zones during gameplay.

“With PAINT 10, we set out to make the telestration process smarter and more efficient,” said Andreas Olsson, Product Manager for PAINT and Virtual Placement at Chyron. “From automated branding to AI-powered tracking, real-time editing, and the new multi-camera sweep calibration, this release gives operators more control, speed, and creative flexibility—so they can focus on delivering compelling, data-driven stories.”

Virtual Placement 7.9

Alongside PAINT 10, Chyron is also launching Virtual Placement 7.9, with updates that strengthen its virtual graphics capabilities across multiple sports. By embedding PRIME 5 directly into the VP platform, broadcasters gain full control over scene creation and customization without relying on external systems. PRIME’s powerful data connections allow users to drive real-time updates for elements like scores, logos, and standings, streamlining operations and reducing hardware and maintenance requirements.

VP 7.9 also delivers enhanced line tracking, offering greater accuracy and stability in American football broadcasts and introducing reliable court tracking for basketball. This expanded support ensures that virtual graphics remain anchored to the field or court, even during fast camera movements and changing lighting conditions.

To complete the upgrade, VP 7.9 features a refreshed user interface with updated load screens and icons that align visually with PAINT, providing a more unified user experience across Chyron’s suite of tools, the company reported.

“VP 7.9 delivers the speed, flexibility, and performance today’s broadcasters need,” said Andreas Olsson, Product Manager for Virtual Placement and PAINT. “With PRIME built in and tracking that works without instrumented cameras, it’s easy to set up and ready to go across multiple sports. We’re offering a premium, all-in-one solution built to simplify production, support multiple sports, and help broadcasters do more with less.”

For more information on PAINT 10, Virtual Placement 7.9, or Chyron’s full suite of sports broadcast

PRIME VSAR Update

During the show, Chyron is showcasing the latest 2.1 release of PRIME VSAR – an Unreal based virtual set and augmented reality engine that is tailored to empower producers to easily leverage exciting virtual elements in their everyday news productions. PRIME VSAR 2.1 offers compatibility with all the latest virtual production technologies – such as Unreal Engine 5.4, nDisplay, NDI streams, and IP-based camera tracking protocols. Additionally, PRIME VSAR delivers exciting new features for hybrid tracked / trackless productions, newsroom automation, and custom control interfaces, Chyron reported.

Alongside compatibility with Unreal Engine© 5.4, PRIME VSAR 2.1 provides integration with Unreal© nDisplay, a tool favored by producers for its ease of use in translating virtual content to ultra-large and non-standard resolution LED displays. By combining PRIME VSAR and nDisplay, producers can easily stitch together outputs from multiple PRIME VSAR engines to create a fluid composite render on an LED video wall. Additionally, PRIME VSAR’s internal Cesium camera tracking software generates a parallax effect on video wall outputs when tracking studio cameras.

“PRIME VSAR 2.1 gives broadcasters new ways to create captivating virtual content—whether it’s blending camera tracking, powering immersive LED video walls, or managing everything from the NRCS,” said Sebastian Berdichevsky, product manager at Chyron.

Visitors to Booth SL-1511 will also get an exclusive first look at PRIME VSAR 2.2, which adds Unreal Engine® 5.5 support and introduces a plugin deployment option—perfect for designers who want to use Chyron’s virtual toolset directly inside Unreal.

LOS ANGELES—Frequency has announced that it will be launching a fully integrated graphics platform as part of Frequency Studio at the 2025 NAB Show.

Graphics+ will be on display at the company’s suite at The Encore Hotel, during the show in Las Vegas between April 6 to 9. The solution lets customers create, schedule and deploy any type of graphic element, overlay or effect, in a fully automated self-serve way.

“At Frequency, we’re obsessed with providing our customers the tools and services that they need to be successful. Our commitment to innovation ensures our customers have the most powerful tools available. We’re looking forward to showing Graphics+ and other new products at NAB,” said Frequency CEO and founder Blair Harrison. “Graphics+ empowers our customers to maximize their creativity, while minimizing the operational effort.”

Harrison added, “Our new Graphics+ platform helps content owners retain viewers by powering stunning graphics that reduce viewer drop off. Graphics+ is a critical piece of our partner’s pathway to channel success.”

More specifically, the company reported that Graphics+ simplifies channel operations, and delivers the very best viewing experiences, driving increased retention and new monetization opportunities. Capabilities include automated credits squeeze, branded visuals, overlay graphics, real time tickers, everything needed to create stunning and engaging channel experiences for viewers.

Graphics+ also features a new level of flexibility, automation and real-time control, designed for efficient deployment at scale, supporting both creative and business objectives. Whether the goal is to drive audience retention, strengthen brand presence, or implement innovative monetization strategies, Graphics+ is the most efficient and complete solution available, the company said.

Key features include:

• Squeezeback Solutions - with automated credits squeeze, L-bars and split-screen layouts
• Interactive & Real-Time Dynamic Elements - including Picture-in-Picture (PiP) layouts, sponsored overlays, live polls, and social media integration
• Automation & Metadata-Driven Branding - to manage show titles, lower thirds, and other dynamic graphics.

Frequency Graphics+ will be demonstrated at Frequency’s NAB Show 2025 suite at The Encore Hotel, Las Vegas. To book a meeting, please email business@frequency.com or visit https://www.frequency.com/nab-2025.

It’s become a virtuous circle: Advances in graphics and editing technology lead to higher quality and better-looking content, especially on mobile devices. The audience becomes accustomed to these improvements, which drives the need for further advances in improved quality and content appearance.

Advanced graphics and editing are the unsung heroes of modern video production and the trends and technology that support these heroes will be on full display on the 2025 NAB Show floor in Las Vegas.

As consumers become accustomed to high-quality visual content across all their devices, broadcasters are feeling the pressure to meet these expectations with their own content to stay competitive, according to Sarah Jones, senior technical solutions specialist for Blackmagic Design, Americas.

“This demand means broadcasters are upgrading production equipment and investing in technologies capable of delivering higher resolutions and cinematic images,” Jones says. “While this could impact production budgets, today’s technologies are more accessible than ever before, packing professional features into affordable budgets, so we’re seeing a reduction in the barrier to entry when it comes to the use of cutting-edge technology.”

Standing Out
Uniqueness is also becoming more important in the video graphics and editing sector. With content providers serving out so many channels in an ever more-crowded video universe, being different and eye-catching is vital for building audiences.

As a result, “a significant trend we’re seeing at ENCO Systems is the need for both customizable channel branding and dynamic graphics insertion,” says Bill Bennett, media solutions and
accounts manager for the company.
“Broadcasters and streamers often have the same content feeding several different channels, each requiring its own branding, so they rely on our ClipFire video playout system to separately brand each signal.

“Furthermore, these same folks like to host cost-efficient automated channels with dynamic, compelling graphics which change with real-time data [think weather or sports], so we’ve been able to help them do that, too,” Bennett adds.

Of course, serving out all these extra channels costs money, which is a commodity that content providers cherish. That is why economy is a third trend influencing the graphics and editing sector, with vendors doing their best to devise solutions that deliver advances without emptying the bank.

“​​Whether an individual content creator or a large broadcaster, many are looking to achieve more with less,” Vizrt Chief Marketing Officer Chris Black tells TV Tech. “They’re looking for workflows and technology that can support them creating more content, faster, with multiple aspect ratios for dual outputs, leveraging their current investment without the need to add in new tech, or hire new people. Two big focuses we are seeing are the use of dual-aspect ratios for social media content alongside linear or multiregion
advertising to monetize content across various demographics.”

At the same time, production teams are seeking new ways to scale up their operations that are inherently flexible and efficient. “As a result, we are seeing the further democratization of media technology,” Black says. For instance, “cloud-native and web-based HTML5 graphics platforms with intuitive UI are offering existing graphics templates for individuals to use, increasing efficiency in time to air.”

What They’ll Be Showing
Blackmagic Design will have two booths in South Hall Lower, (SL216 and SL8016), and will showcase cameras, DaVinci Resolve postproduction software and hardware, its wide range of SMPTE-2110 IP video products, the ATEM family of live production switchers, streaming solutions, network storage and more, according to Jones.

“Pairing our URSA Cine Immersive and DaVinci Resolve provides an end-to-end workflow to support these evolving interactive needs, providing the means to capture and edit 8K, 3D video with a 180-degree field of view,” Jones says. “The Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is the world’s first commercial camera system designed to capture Apple Immersive Video, and DaVinci Resolve provides the ability to edit Apple Immersive Video for the first time.”

When it comes to automating time-intensive tasks, DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Neural Engine-backed AI tools can significantly speed up workflows. “This comes into play, for example, with our facial recognition technology, which can automatically detect, track and organize footage based on an individual’s face, eliminating the need to search and organize manually,” Jones says. “Similarly, smart reframe tools intelligently resize and reposition footage to fit various aspect ratios, facilitating content repurposing across platforms.

ENCO Systems will showcase its ClipFire flagship multichannel playout and ingest platform which can service a lot of needs (and channels) from a single box, according to Bennett.

“We’ll be showing where we think the future of broadcast graphics are headed, thanks to our Qimera Virtual Production produc,” Bennett says. “Built on the massively popular Unreal Engine, Qimera generates stunning truly three-dimensional graphics which humans can interact with and walk around in 3D space, complete with graphics (and backgrounds) that move as the humans do in-camera, making for some incredibly compelling video. We’ll also be showing the new MOS newsroom automation hooks we’ve built into Qimera recently, to automate the data that’s making those 3D dynamic graphics so compelling.”

Also in the West Hall, Vizrt will demonstrate Viz Connect Audio, “which offers unparalleled connectivity, visibility, and control of audio sources on an NDI network,” Black says. “We are particularly excited about Viz Connect Audio, and how it seamlessly integrates with our flagship TriCaster, the TriCaster Vizion.”

This year’s show will be the first time that the multi-award-winning TriCaster Vizion will be demoed at NAB Show, offering the latest in IP connectivity, configurable SDI I/O, powerful switching, audio mixing and state-of-the-art graphics. “Show attendees can also expect to see advancements in Viz Engine’s seamless integration with Unreal Engine,” Black says. “Building on benchmarks for ease of use and performance, Vizrt will demonstrate—via Viz Arc—enhanced control of the latest versions of Viz Engine 5 and Unreal Engine 5.”

Vizrt also plans to display its latest advances in immersive graphics, cloud, automation, and AI. “We aren’t just showing technology,” Black concludes. “We are showing real-world solutions that solve everyday production challenges across three experience areas and several solution pods.”

MIAMI—Singular.live and Akta are collaborating to bring broadcast-quality graphics to Akta's FLEX channel playout in the cloud.

FLEX channels are live linear TV channels scheduled entirely in the cloud, offering seamless distribution as both Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels and traditional broadcast channels.

First, FLEX channels are scheduled with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cloud where the AI generates dynamic metadata. Through Singular's graphics engine, high-quality data-driven graphics are embedded in real time into the scheduled channels, Akta said.

The very same channel can be distributed not only digitally as a FAST channel but also as a traditional broadcast channel. This new process saves 80% of the cost compared to a traditional on-prem broadcast workflow, it said.

Singular.live offers the ability to produce graphics for any live workflow in the cloud for both traditional linear broadcast and digital productions.

"Akta's largest customers are deploying next-generation workflows that require adaptive and data-driven interactive overlays," said Alper Turgut, CEO of Akta. "This partnership delivers on that requirement."

Akta's turnkey AI-powered video SaaS platform streamlines media workflows from ingest to playback and monetization. Akta is tuned for scale and has delivered some of the largest live sports events in history, the company said.

Akta integrated Singular's dynamic graphics into its FLEX channel offerings. Singular's dynamic graphics become instantly available for live linear or FAST channels on any screen. This collaboration brings Akta and Singular's combined capabilities to a global roster of sports and entertainment clients, it said.

"Akta and Singular enable customers to originate premium video channels or live linear events, with stunning, crisp graphics from Singular with ultra-low latency. We are very excited about this collaboration because it provides two best of breed solutions that work well together," said Singular.live CEO Steven Heimbold.

More information is available on the Akta website.

An ambitious effort to develop and deploy AR/VR technologies at CBS’ owned stations will be taking center stage on Nov. 5 in five markets, when CBS Stations will debut what the division is calling “unprecedented augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) presidential election coverage” on Nov. 5 from CBS’s New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Bay Area and Colorado studios.

As previously reported by TV Tech, the technologies were first developed by tech teams at the CBS Bay Area stations and then deployed to four other markets as part of an effort to reinvent local newscasts and provide viewers with a more immersive experience.

The AR/VR election coverage will be led by Jessica Moore and Dick Brennan in New York; Ukee Washington, Natasha Brown, and Don Bell in Philadelphia from the virtual steps of the United States Capitol building; Chris Tye in Chicago, Juliette Goodrich, Sara Donchey, Ryan Yamamoto, and Devin Fehely. in the Bay Area, Michael Spencer and Karen Leigh, in Colorado.

On Election Night, the stations said that viewers will be able to watch results across a national and local VR map that will be driven by CBS anchors in their respective markets. More specifically here are the plans for the five markets where the technology has been deployed:

• CBS New York, the only Station in the tri-state region with AR/VR technology, will bring the biggest races in the area to life in its virtual reality studio on Election Night beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET., with a two-hour America Decides special at 9:00 p.m. ET that will stream exclusively on CBS News New York when the polls closes. They will broadcast LIVE the most significant local and national races, showing the local races that control the balance of power, including who will determine power in the House and a critical New Jersey seat. Viewers will have an immersive experience locally and be transported to battleground states using an interactive multidimensional map, breaking down the results and the race to the White House. Viewers can watch the AR/VR studio results on WCBS and the CBS News New York streaming channel.
• CBS Chicago, the only Station with an AR/VR studio in the region, will cover the LIVE national races, presidential race, and the local balance of power elections, bringing viewers up-to-the-minute interactive results beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT From the first Chicago school board elections to the state attorney’s race, with analysis from former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CBS News Chicago Election Team. Viewers can watch the AR/VR studio results on WBBM-TV and the CBS News Chicago streaming channel. Streaming coverage begins at 7 p.m. on CBS News Chicago.
• CBS Philadelphia, the only Station in Pennsylvania with AR/VR technology, will provide viewers with an immersive election night experience out of its studio, with LIVE virtual segments in every Election Day show from 9:00 a.m. ET through the Nov. 6th 9:00 a.m. ET show. Viewers will experience immersive battleground election results in a visually stunning, informative space with an interactive floor map that will bring each battleground state front and center as a multidimensional storytelling tool: breaking down the vote county by county in critical Philadelphia voting areas. Another key immersive experience is that Philadelphians will be transported to the White House front lawn with up-to-the-minute precision – so close viewers will see the grass blowing in the wind. Viewers can also stream election results on CBS News Philadelphia, which will stream results exclusively the moment polls close on Election Night. Viewers can watch the AR/VR studio results on KYW-TV and the CBS News Philadelphia streaming channel.
• CBS Bay Area is the innovation studio that developed the proprietary AR/VR codes for CBS Stations. The Station will have LIVE team coverage of all the biggest local races and national election coverage from 3:00 p.m. PT to midnight. The Station will collaborate with CBS Los Angeles and CBS Sacramento to extend LIVE statewide election coverage. In addition, the team will broadcast complete wall-to-wall coverage of local election results on KPIX+ channel 44 cable 12 and CBS News Bay Area streaming channel from 5:00 p.m. until midnight.
• CBS Colorado, the only Station with an AR/VR studio in the region, will use VR technology to report election results on the most important issues facing Colorado voters. Viewers will experience live results with animated graphics to illustrate county-by-county and district-by-district data, helping the viewers better understand which candidates are leading and why. Viewers can watch the AR/VR studio results on KCNC-TV and the CBS News Colorado streaming channel.

Additionally, CBS Stations will cover the election live across its 14 owned markets, including key battleground states Michigan and Pennsylvania. Viewers can watch and stream all the election coverage LIVE here. For CBS News and Stations comprehensive “America Decides: Election ‘24” Team Coverage Across Broadcasts, Streaming and Digital” click here.

Visitors to the CBS News and Stations-owned KPIX-KPYX San Francisco will find a bustling local news operation producing 60 hours of local news each week that has recently abandoned a longtime centerpiece of traditional local news production—the TV news set.

Those sets disappeared in September, about a year after the stations deployed an innovative augmented reality/virtual reality platform for its news operations. The new AR/VR system had been so successful, first with weather and then all their coverage, that “One day, we asked ourselves why we needed hard sets?” CBS Bay Area President and General Manager Scott Warren recalled. “So, we just walked in and started busting them out. Now it is all AR/VR. We have no hard sets. There's no desk, there's no monitors. And every single show was like that.”

“I believe we are the first station to do that,” he added.

And, as this YouTube sizzle reel shows, the technology has been applied to a wide range of subjects, from immersing viewers in San Francisco's famous fog, to sports, politics, entertainment and election coverage.

The decision to go all in on AR/VR technologies was part of a wider effort by the station group to reinvent the way local news stories are presented and distributed to audiences that has led to the creation of a new hyperlocal news operation in Detroit, a Local News Innovation Lab in Texas, a dramatic expansion of the local news offered by CBS-owned stations and other initiatives.

“We all know we're in a challenging place right now in our industry,” explained Jennifer Mitchell, president of Stations and Digital for CBS News and Stations, who oversees 23 of 27 CBS-owned stations and the division’s local and national digital properties like CBS 24/7. “It‘s not just us, it's everybody. There's so much rapid change from an audience perspective. We have to change. The audience and the industry is changing.”

To encourage more innovation, the group also brought in new local leaders like CBS Bay Area president and GM Scott Warren.

“The San Francisco market is the perfect market to take risks, to experiment, to incubate big ideas and test and either fail or succeed and scale,” Mitchell said.

In San Francisco, much of the focus on finding new ways to operate has been driven by the need to improve storytelling and engage audiences.

“Everything starts with a really great story,” Warren said. “But how do you present those stories? And that's why we embraced AR and VR to enhance that storytelling, to provide context for that storytelling.”

Weather First
As they began developing the system in January 2023, CBS Stations executives felt that the logical first application for AR and VR should be weather, which was ripe for innovation. “We [broadcasters] have been looking at weather the same way for 50 years,” Warren said. “We have different people in front of the maps and the maps have gotten better, but we’ve been basically covering weather the same way for 50 years.

“Weather is that perfect opportunity to change the way we tell stories, because it is so immersive,” he continued. “You stand in it. You feel it. You can see it when you look up at the clouds, at mountain ranges. All of these impact the way weather affects each and every one of us. So we started thinking about how we could take weather and weather data and explain it in a whole new way.”

CBS stations are now taking real-time weather data from National Weather Service and other weather information suppliers and “translating that data, the ones and zeros, into weather graphics that our presenters can walk interact with and use to explain things in different ways,” Warren said.

This proved so successful the station then applied it to sports coverage, politics, elections and other topics.

“We quickly went to immersive newscasts as well,” he said. “So entire newscasts are now in AR and VR.”

In the development process of the system, the stations worked with Myreze, a branding and virtual production company. It also decided to adopt Zero Density’s virtual solution, rendering from the Unreal Engine and camera tracking from Stype.

Jeff Jeandheur, director of broadcast operations and engineering, and a team of tech and operations staff that included Eliot Curtis, director of technology innovation, and Chad Simpson, studio operations and integration manager, also played a central role.

This team melded and adapted the VR/AR technologies into a system that could be operated for hours each day on the relatively small budget of a local broadcast station.

“In the past, if you look at the NFL, or you look at Fox or places that have used this technology in the past, they've had to have giant teams and giant budgets come in to do this,” Warren said. “We have figured out, through the coding work and our staff and through our partners, a way to do this on the local level so that all of this data can come in in real time to change the look and feel in the story that's happening. For the first time, a local newsroom can use this technology without a huge team of people working on it.”

The Secret Sauce
The importance of in-house talent in the effort is a reminder of the deep reservoirs of talent and innovation that have been an important part of broadcasting. “Our partners have been great,” Warren said. “But the real secret sauce is what our internal staff has done, how they’ve taken all of the different partnerships and sewn them together with original coding and put it into a newscast that can be created in an automated control room.

“Jeff Jeandheur is kind of a mastermind at looking into the future and trying to figure out things,” Warren added. “And he has brought in a team of people that are all MacGyvers. They live and thrive on solving problems.”

That internal talent also played a key role in expanding deployments to other stations in the group.

“We were literally walking down a new path and there were fears this new technology wasn't going to be reliable and we won't be able to know how to use it,” Warren recalled. “But the more we worked with it, the easier it became, and the better we got at being able to turn things around quickly and teach others in-house how to use this. So once we got it down, which took us about a year, we got to the point where we can go into another station now, and in six to eight weeks have the entire thing built up and ready to go.”

These deployments also relied heavily on the internal talent at other CBS stations, where tech teams quickly embraced the idea and began to develop their own innovations, Mitchell said. “Their energy is infectious,” she said. “It energizes our other stations, our other operations. They are looking at what has been done in San Francisco. They want to bring it to their market.”

“All of those teams are taking the same sort of hungry and passionate approach to innovation,” Warren added. “They’re coming up with new things and new ways to do stuff and showing them to us. And that’s where this really scales. We’re all benefiting from each other.”

The system has been deployed at CBS-owned stations in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and, most recently, Denver, with plans to deploy it at more stations.

In June it also went live on streaming news service CBS News 24/7 Mitchell explains that it was first used in a two-hour whiparound show called “CBS 24/7” that features breaking news from all of the company’s national, local and international news outlets and operations.

“The flagship show for CBS News 24/7 of the same name is now 100% virtual,” Mitchell said. “When you look at that wall of monitors on that show, that is all in the green space.”

Such technologies will also take center stage during the upcoming Election Night coverage. “We have infused AR VR and the virtual studios and content into almost every aspect of our newscast where we can and in markets” where it has been deployed, Mitchell said. “So, of course, on election night, you will be seeing those capabilities on display. It will look and feel different than Presidential election years in the past.”

NEW YORK—Fox News Channel said it will debut new immersive graphics technology during its election night coverage next Tuesday (Nov. 5).

As part of Fox News’ renovation of its Studio M earlier this year, the network’s engineers worked to improve the viewer experience with several technology and design upgrades. Those included new augmented reality (AR) technology for anchor Bill Hemmer’s “Bill”-board showing election data, recently developed virtual set technology and new touchscreen applications for Fox News Voter Analysis.

The tools will enable Fox News reporting teams to provide the audience with the most updated polling information and voter analysis throughout its marathon coverage, Fox News reported.

Debuting on election night, the newly developed “Bill”-board technology was enhanced to include augmented reality attributes and 3D interaction allowing Hemmer to further drill into election data in real time.

With the new tools, Hemmer can interact and telestrate in 3D space, as the infrared sensors can track anchors and objects. The 3D space is also equipped with voice to text, where natural language will trigger augmented reality graphics. These new tools will be visible in population maps, outstanding vote maps and battleground state historical voting charts.

Fox News also said it has created several sophisticated multimedia presentation concepts to enhance the election-viewing experience, including a “Path to 270” map, showcasing the presidential nominees’ potential line to the critical electoral votes needed through dynamic 3D interaction. Using those tools, Fox News anchors can present various scenarios by moving virtual objects representing electoral college votes on the path to winning the presidency.

Additionally, the network developed a “Top 5 Closest Races” tool, which gives a snapshot of races that are too close to call. This provides real-time updates on the candidates’ standing and the impact on the electoral landscape, allowing the audience to visualize the intensity and uncertainty of the closest battles for the presidency, Fox News said.

In addition to the technological enhancements, Fox News also made several design improvements to Studio M, which has served as its election headquarters over the last two presidential cycles. On election night, co-anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and panelists will convene behind a bespoke “super desk,” designed for the anchors and their teams to use during special news coverage.

Studio M also now features a two-story-high accent feature wall and a 20-foot-long ultra-high-definition media wall for showcasing video and photo elements during the broadcast. Additionally, dimensional accent walls and extensive lighting placements were developed to create multiple presentation areas in the studio.

BERCHTESGADEN, Germany and MELVILLE, N.Y.—The International Luge Federation (FIL) has named Chyron as its official graphics provider for live broadcasts of its competitions beginning with the 2024-2025 pre-Olympics winter season.

“We are excited about this coming season as we will be racing across three continents, including Europe, North America and Asia, FIL Secretary General Dwight Bell said. “Importantly, athletes will start the qualification process for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina, Italy. Given that Chyron provides state-of-art, cutting-edge graphics, which aligns perfectly with our goal of providing our viewers with an elevated experience, it made sense to associate our brands together.”

Chyron TV graphics have played a part in FIL’s live production since the 2023-24 season. Working with Chyron, the federation revamped its graphics, including its base package, and introduced new, dynamic visuals to inform and entertain viewers. A team from Chyron was on site for every Eberspächer World Cup event and FIL Championship to enhance graphics quality, the company said.

“The FIL presented us with an exciting opportunity to overhaul their on-air look while improving their race-day workflow,” Chyron Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas Drew Hahn said. “We think that our professional services team along with the power and flexibility of Chyron PRIME were the keys to a successful first season of Luge coverage. We are excited for this continued partnership to help FIL push the envelope even more."

Chyron will continue its creative and technical service in 2024-25. Working with Chyron’s PRIME software, the FIL is adding new animations and custom graphics to convey even more fan-engaging information, the company said.

“We are incredibly excited to deepen our partnership with Chyron,” FIL President Einars Fogelis said. “Their long-standing expertise in TV graphics and live production has already proven invaluable, and we look forward to seeing the innovative ways they will enhance our broadcasts in the upcoming season.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

TOKYO and BASINGSTOKE, U.K.—Sony has acquired KinaTrax, a provider of markerless motion-capture technology for sports that collects in-game biomechanical performance data on athletes.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

KinaTrax camera systems are currently deployed in more 75 stadiums and labs across Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and NCAA member organizations, with expansion into other sports leagues.

The deal gives Sony’s sports-data business a presence in player performance metrics. KinaTrax will provide biomechanical and analytical expertise, as well as its markerless motion capture technology, to Sony’s sports-data offering.

Sony’s sports business, made up of Hawk-Eye, Beyond Sports and Pulselive, delivers officiating, broadcast and digital solutions around sports data technologies. The acquisition of KinaTrax bolsters Sony’s capability to offer sports data, such as analysis and biomechanics for coaching, scouting and athletes’ performance, the company said.

“By welcoming KinaTrax into the family, we are excited to further expand our offering, under our mission of unlocking the power and emotion of sport through data,” Rufus Hack, CEO of Hawk-Eye, Pulselive and Beyond Sports, said. “We are incredibly privileged to partner with an overwhelming majority of the top global sports leagues, and this acquisition allows us to broaden our proposition through new biomechanical insights in the critical and growing field of player performance.”

KinaTrax President Steven Cadavid said: "We’re excited to become part of Sony and its sports businesses, and to bring our know-how to complement the powerful tech Hawk-Eye, Pulselive and Beyond Sports have developed and are delivering today. The future of sports is in deeper data tracking and the creation of smarter insights through innovative technology.

“With Sony, by enhancing KinaTrax’s expertise in capturing and delivering biomechanical performance data, we aim to contribute to provide sports leagues, teams and players with the best insights to improve performance and pursue success,” he added.

AMSTERDAM—Chyron at IBC 2024 has unveiled PRIME 5.0, the latest version of its all-encompassing graphics platform that leverages a high-performance gRPC Playout API for graphic playout control and monitoring enables secure two-way communication between PRIME and user’s in-house control applications.

PRIME 5 also delivers innovative new design, playout and rendering features as well as an enhanced PRIME production engine that offers superior performance for demanding productions, the company said.

With the implementation of PRIME’s gRPC (an open-source Remote Procedure Call –RPC—framework) Playout API, Chyron is addressing traditional control and monitoring limitations within graphics playout workflows. PRIME users can rely on the same API calls they’re familiar with when working with Chyron’s Intelligent Interface protocol for control of scenes and on-air playout, while leveraging new capability to receive real-time status and updates from PRIME on channel activity, scene updates and control operations, the company said.

"As our team worked with leading broadcasters who've adopted PRIME as their graphics platform of choice, we've seen a great desire from customers to take their custom-developed, in-house production control workflows to the next level. The PRIME gRPC Playout API addresses this need with a new dimension of real-time status updates and monitoring." said Chris Amodei, product manager of PRIME. 

"This specific implementation for PRIME Playout operations is only the first step. The advanced two-way communication capability of the gRPC API is opening up a whole new world of seamless, unified control operations across the Chyron portfolio.”

Chyron has performed an extensive optimization at both a hardware and software level on the underlying PRIME Engine to deliver greater speed and performance during live productions. New PRIME hardware provides more powerful CPU and GPU resources, front-accessible drive bays enhancing usability and maintenance and support for Windows 11 operating systems. The latest PRIME systems are engineered to harness the full potential of Windows 11 LTSC, offering a streamlined operating system with minimal upgrades required, the company said.

The company also has enhanced PRIME’s software architecture to maximize performance. Improvements include:

• 4K ProRes media playout support
• The ability to finetune preview and program pre-load frames and CPUs for clip playout
• Expanded HDR LUT support for matching graphics and camera visuals with the same color look up table 
• The ability to dedicate more processing power to on-air program performance
• More LUT options, including Range and Interpolation.

Chyron also has updated the PRIME Designer application to deliver a fluid graphic design experience for demanding production environments. Besides a new Dark Theme that provides greater contrast and easier visibility in lower-light environments, a new Designer Tabs function enables designers to seamlessly maneuver between any scene, control panel, transition, or application logic project in the PRIME Designer interface, it said.

PRIME 5 also includes a new JavaScript Batch Render tool, which enables PRIME to efficiently handle large-volume rendering needs for data-driven graphics – without the need for an external render engine, it said.

See Chyron at IBC Stand 7.B49.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has beefed up its team in EMEA and APAC with the addition of three new positions intended to enhance its growth and better serve customers in the regions.

“EMEA and APAC are an important part of our overall growth strategy. Chyron’s product line has never been more robust than it is today, so it is an ideal time for expansion,” said Alain Polgar, Chyron senior vice president of sales, EMEA and APAC. 

John Foo has joined the company as a technical sales manager. He will work from Singapore and focus on developing business in APAC—with an emphasis on Southeast Asia. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Foo joins the company with expertise in market assessment, sales funnel development and analysis, technology partnerships, growth strategies and channel partner relationship management, Chyron said.

The company also has appointed Wanlop Wattanadussadee as a technical account manager. Based in Thailand, he comes to Chyron with a range of sales and relationship management skills and a strong knowledge of broadcast technology and workflows. Wattanadussadee earned a Bachelor of Science in information technology and multimedia from King Mongkut’s University of Technology in North Bangkok.

Ahmad Nanaa, based in Kuwait, is Chyron’s new business development manager, Middle East. Nanaa has a wide network of industry connections and proven expertise in project management and technology. He holds an electrical, electronics and communications engineering degree from the Arab University College of Technology. 

“Customer-centricity is an important core value here at Chyron, and these are regions where relationships are deeply valued. Adding these key new hires to our team gives us the talent that we need right now to build important customer relationships in EMEA and APAC, and to ensure that those customers succeed,” said Polgar.

More information is available on the company’s website.

BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has launched Viz Trio Go, an out-of-the-box 3D graphics creation and control tool that combines compact hardware with the Viz Trio graphics control application and Viz Engine, the company’s graphics platform that enables complete graphics production via NDI workflows.

The company designed Viz Trio Go with smaller production hubs in mind. The offering gives local and regional TV stations and OB van operators access to a high-quality graphics solution at an affordable price, it said.

“Historically, smaller or more regional broadcasters operate with limited budgets and limited resources,” said Ionut Pogacean, senior product manager at Vizrt. “Often one staff member wears many hats.”

“We realize the challenges these stations are facing, including that to remain competitive in today’s current landscape, they must deliver content that is visually engaging, similar to the bigger broadcasters.”

The new offering enables any size broadcaster to create high-quality visuals easily regardless of budget and technical expertise. Viz Trio Go is a plug-and-play solution that accelerates time to air and seamlessly integrates with existing workflows, thereby reducing the need for extensive training or additional personnel, Vizrt said.

The solution comes with free customizable graphics packages modeled on the graphics of top sports and news broadcasters. Templates are easy to modify using the Viz Artist 3D motion graphics design tool, it said.

For news users, Viz Trio Go comes with a free, unique course created by Viz University that’s accessible the minute the machine is turned on. The course covers Viz Trio software, Viz Engine and Viz Artist, it said.

The company also announced Viz Trio Go will be offered at a significant discount with the purchase of TriCaster or Viz 3Play. NVG1 customers can trade in their units for Viz Trio Go and receive a 50% discount until the end of the year, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt and Ithaca College are working together to elevate the skills of the next generation of artists and provide a pipeline of new talent to transition into the media technology industry. 

The university has added various Vizrt solutions to underpin its virtual production curriculum and address the media tech sector’s demand for highly skilled professionals.

“The media tech skills shortage is a challenge for customers. And we are dedicated to taking action to support and inspire the next generation of content creators, our partnership with Ithaca College does just that,” said Griet Johannsen, Vizrt’s global center of excellence lead, training and certification. “By empowering new talent with the necessary skills and hands-on experience, we promote the training of urgently needed new talent for our industry.”  

Ithaca College sought a new graphics system that would best serve both student and industry needs. Already familiar with TriCaster for live production and seeing that TriCaster was now part of Vizrt, director of technical operations Nigel Martin decided that adding Vizrt graphics and tools into the curriculum was the natural choice, the company said. 

“Many of the students that leave Ithaca College go to work for major sports broadcasters, and in speaking with them about their needs, we found a lot of them use Vizrt,” said Martin. “So, we got in touch about options, and worked closely with Vizrt’s Customer Success department. Not only did we bring in innovative technology, but we got students access to work directly with Viz University – with up to 600 students per year leaving as certified operators.” 

Ithaca College brought in the Viz Engine 5 graphics platform and rendering engine, the Viz Trio graphics control application and the Viz Artist graphics design tool to serve as the foundation of its graphics solution. For its virtual production courses, TriCaster’s vision mixing was added.  

Ithaca College is the first university in the world to incorporate Viz University into its teaching program and deliver dedicated classes that focus on Vizrt’s live production products and tools, alongside offering training courses and certification via Viz University, the company said.

Students are already using the technology to produce 25 shows per week for ICTV, the university’s student-run campus news station.  

More information about Viz University is available on the company’s website. 

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron will feature news graphics at the 2024 NAB Show, April 13-17, in Las Vegas.

In addition to showcasing the Chyron PRIME platform for live production and the CAMIO MOS-driven newsroom graphics integration system, the company will highlight complete Chyron news graphics workflows, whether on-prem, hybrid or cloud-enabled, incorporating PRIME and CAMIO, as well as AXIS, Chyron Weather, PRIME Video Walls and VSAR (virtual sets), it said.

"Both PRIME and CAMIO have undergone rapid development in the past few years, and we look forward to demonstrating the power of these solutions at the NAB Show," said Carol Bettencourt, vice president of marketing at Chyron. 

Chyron's PRIME platform allows users to create and animate CG graphics, video walls, touchscreen graphics and branding elements from a single system. Key updates in PRIME 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9 releases over the past year will be evident in Chyron's demo of the upcoming release of PRIME 4.10 at the 2024 NAB Show, the company said.

For PRIME, Chyron will showcase a playout workflow that further simplifies operation while enabling greater control over the types of data displayed in live-to-air graphics. Dynamic data functionality allows playout operators to control the display of real-time data in a graphic and to specify the data source and control actions that the data will trigger. The platform now allows designers to configure PRIME control panels to expose specific parameters, it said.

Similar control is extended to journalists in the newsroom using the CAMIO LUCI interface to fulfill graphics templates. If the designer builds access into the control panels, the journalist fulfilling graphics templates within their newsroom system client interface can use dynamic data controls to select the data source that will populate the graphic that goes to air as well as adding text or images or selecting other parameters to control the appearance or behavior of the graphics, it said.

CAMIO also allows users to drive virtual sets, video walls and weather from the news rundown along with CG graphics. Driving all this visual storytelling via the newsroom computer systems (NRCS) rundown delivers a highly efficient overall workflow. Notably, the most recent CAMIO release is qualified for use with the latest versions of all major NRCS, it said.

Show attendees will also get a preview of PRIME 5.0, the graphics platform's next major release. Running in beta, the preview will give potential users the opportunity to evaluate ongoing development and provide feedback based on their requirements, the company said. 

While PRIME has long offered Adobe Photoshop and After Effects imports that can be edited within PRIME, PRIME 5.0 will allow designers even greater ease of import and more editing control within PRIME. Because PRIME 5.0 also will support a ProRes output, without the need for conversion, designers can both save time and eliminate the expense of storing multiple versions in multiple formats, it said.

See Chyron at NAB Show booth SL2238.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has introduced Prime 4.9, the newest release of the company’s powerful live production engine. 

Designed to drive the world’s most demanding data-driven sports and news production workflows, the new Chyron Prime 4.9 version includes a wide array of updates, both large and small, that significantly enhance the operator experience and improve operator efficiency in designing and playing out complex graphics that pull information from real-time data sources.

Along with control panel and focus improvements, the platform also offers even more extensive data integration and management capabilities, faster and more convenient workflows for creating and modifying large tables, and a series of features that combine to streamline and accelerate workflows built on SMT real-time sports data.

"Version 4.9 is a great representation of the two-pronged approach the Prime development team is following to deliver new innovations and address feedback from close conversations with customers," said Nikole McStanley, product portfolio director of prime at Chyron. "Our new features — such as the Duplicate Effect and expansion of the Table Resource to integrate with the full range of industry-preferred data sources — provide uniquely efficient tools for tackling time-consuming, complex graphics. Meanwhile, the fine-tune adjustments we've made to the design and playout interfaces yield major time-savings and quality-of-life improvements for day-to-day users."

Several enhancements are designed to simplify complex data-driven graphics, the company said. 

With Prime 4.9, the table resource can integrate with the full range of industry-standard data sources — such as text files, standard Excel files, web-based JSON data, online databases, and much more — enabling designers to leverage and customize their preferred data all within the Prime application.

Another significant feature addition is Prime 4.9's new Duplicate Effect, which eliminates the process of arduous cell-by-cell data-binding when building table graphics with multiple rows and columns linked to data. This new feature recognizes links between a graphic element and an entry in a data set, allowing designers to duplicate that graphic element multiple times with links to the subsequent data values in your connected source. The Duplicate Effect is a huge time-saver for designers who need to create leaderboards and other data-driven list graphics.

The enhancements also improve the design and playout experience. Working closely with customers to identify quality-of-life improvements that will have the most significant time-saving impact for day-to-day users, the Prime team has made numerous improvements to the design and play-out interfaces in Version 4.9, the company reported. 

For designers, new adaptability features enable zoom-in on keyframes, easily organized keyframe control actions, and rapid renaming of objects throughout the scene tree — making it far easier to manage scenes with multiple, precisely timed animations. Additionally, new frame quality settings for Prime’s preview channels enable designers working with media-heavy graphics or demanding 4K monitor wall environments to prioritize system performance on the primary program output.

Meanwhile, Prime playout operators will find that new control panel keyboard improvements enable efficient control of multiple graphic channels without having to use a mouse. To further accelerate operations during fast-paced productions, Prime can import/export play out configuration settings to quickly shift to a new show.

Beyond the Prime user experience, Version 4.9 also brings new opportunities to streamline production workflows. A new GPI IN functionality enables third-party control of Prime playout from third-party devices — such as a video switcher — via a general-purpose interface. Meanwhile, hardware bypass workflows no longer require external hardware, with support for direct bypass through supported Matrox I/O cards with Prime. Finally, a major improvement for top-tier broadcasters leveraging real-time SMT data. Prime 4.9 delivers new features to provide reliable, direct connections to SMT data applications, ensure accurate collection, and filter out unwanted values from integration with graphics.

Chyron Prime 4.9 is available now. Further information about Chyron and the company’s solutions is available on the Chyron website: chyron.com. 

MELVILLE, N.Y.—NBC Sports has successfully launched a new, state-of-the-art graphics system for NBC Sports at its Stamford, Connecticut headquarters using Chyron's PRIME Platform. 

The upgrade was specially tailored to the high demands of top-tier live sports broadcasts, the companies said. 

Prior to the launch, NBC Sports, like many sports broadcasters, had been using Chyron's legacy graphics offering, Lyric, known for its rapid recall and playout capabilities. 

"With a switch to PRIME, we were able to refine and modernize our workflow without compromising the design, playback speed, and functionality that our designers and operators were accustomed to with Lyric," states David Melfi, director of graphics integration, NBC Sports and Olympics. "As NBC Sports began outlining key requirements with the Chyron product team, the collaboration led to much more robust feature sets. Working to understand the requirements from every angle, the Chyron product team rose to the challenge and also brought new ideas to the table."

NBC Sports’ key requirements for a new graphics system included operator access focused solely on playout with limited design-editing capabilities, speed and efficiency for preparation and playout, and new possibilities for stunning graphics to support storytelling, the companies said. 

NBC Sports also wanted to keep the entire workflow of NBC Sports graphics playout operators within the graphics playout interface, with no access to the PRIME designer interface, thus protecting brand integrity and simplifying operator training. This mean that playout operators had to have access to certain design features, such as font size, object positioning, displaying specific columns or rows, and the management of data display, all within the playout interface.

These requirements were addressed primarily with Custom Control Panels, customizable by graphics design managers who can choose which objects in a scene may be modified and which parameters, such as size or position, of those objects may be altered, Chyron said. 

Controls for these specific modifications appear in the playout interface. With PRIME's new Native Java Script feature, the possibilities for easy customization of what may be altered and how are almost endless. Operators can even specify whether data-display fields accept external data via automation, auto-populate via query to data sources, or are to be populated manually, the companies explained. 

As with most live sports production, the speed of playout operation was another key requirement, the companies said. 

NBC Sports wanted to keep all of the tried-and-true keyboard shortcuts that their operators had become accustomed to with Chyron Lyric. Many of these were already available in PRIME, with the rest added for this implementation along with new keyboard functionalities. 

As part of the upgrade, NBC Sports also wanted to explore other potential new efficiencies.

One such new efficiency is the Message Range feature. Rather than having to render multiple iterations of a single template, each populated, for example, with the name, jersey number, headshot, and stats of a different player, the new Message Range feature allows the operator to use a single template with placeholders for each field that must be populated. When the graphic is recalled, the operator needs only to type a single datum, for example, jersey number, for all of the fields to correctly populate from a data table. This new, more elegant process is faster, conserves more system resources, and allows for dynamic data population, such as if stats change during the broadcast, Chyron said. 

"This was an example of 'problem solutioning,' really illustrating the collaborative work between NBC and Chyron," said Nikole McStanley, Chyron product portfolio director. 

David Mayer, Chyron PRIME solution architect, added that "It was a lightbulb moment when we first showed this feature, to see that even existing efficiencies could be made vastly better."

Another feature developed specifically for NBC Sports is Multiple Message Folder Support, especially useful for events that involve multiple sports. Graphics decision-makers can implement scalable design and logic once for easy expansion to many different sports with the addition of sport-specific assets.

As part of the upgrade, NBC Sports also wanted the graphics to be distinctive so they could offer sports fans a unique and visually exciting experience. 

"Sports requires a unique level of visual excitement, not necessarily better or worse than news graphics, just different and perhaps more challenging," explained Tripp Dixon, NBC Sports vice president and creative director. 

To achieve those goals, the Chyron team delivered some additional high-powered creative tools, Chyron reported.  

To create unique visual excitement as graphics play on or off, PRIME now can couple the use of clips as masks with the auto-follow feature, along with native logic-building capabilities, enabling NBC Sports to create some unique transition animations for their graphics. 

Another well-received feature, Warp Clips, allows the import of .png sequences from a third-party application, such as After Effects or Cinema 4D, that may then be applied as an effect to a PRIME scene. NBC Sports has utilized this feature in Chyron Lyric in the past to create Emmy award-winning animated graphics effects, and its creative team is already working on new uses for this feature, now available in Chyron PRIME.

"Now that we really see what our team can do with Chyron PRIME, we are looking forward to using this graphics system for the biggest events in sports in 2024 and beyond," explained Dixon at NBC Sports. "The partnership with the Chyron team in developing a solution that meets our needs and exceeds our expectations has resulted in a product that is now integral to achieving the look and workflow that we want."

BERGEN, Norway—Television broadcasters looking to attract more 18- to 25-year-olds to news better sharpen their social media skills and enhance graphics use, according to a newly released e-Book from Vizrt.

The e-Book, “Future Newsrooms: Creating Engaging News Content for Gen Z,” draws on the work of journalism.com.uk, research from Statista focused on the U.S. and original research of 4,000 people in six age groups, including 18 to 24 years old, which corresponds closely to the Gen Z age group, commissioned by Vizrt.

“Our research highlights the importance of real-time data and on-screen graphics in retaining Gen Z and futureproofing newsroom content creation,” said Ulrich Voigt, global head of product management at Vizrt.

“Content creators, traditional broadcasters and newer online news outfits, must adapt to meet the evolving needs of news consumers as each generation becomes more digitally advanced. Immersive storytelling with AR and XR can quickly and easily break down barriers to news accessibility and drive audience engagement,” he said.

Most members of Gen Z turn first to social media for news content. Sixty percent go to Instagram and 38% each go to TikTok and Facebook to stay abreast of news, the research showed. 

Respondents cited three main reasons for the shift in news consumption habits, including the intensity of news cycles, the volume of negative stories and the shift to social-first news brands, the research revealed.

The original research also underscored how important on-screen graphics are Gen Z. It found 31% pay attention to content with on-screen graphics, compared to 14% of the other age groups. More than half (51%) rely on graphics to: understand complex stories, compared to 42% of the other age groups; read data clearly, 48% Gen Z vs. 46%; and receive more information not otherwise shown on screen, 54% vs. 50%.

One big step broadcasters might wish to take is reorienting their presentation from horizontal to vertical to reach Gen Z watching news on their phones. A total of 56% of Gen Z said they found it challenging to watch content with a horizontal orientation that’s not been adapted for vertical viewing, it found.

A lack of on-screen graphics for content consumed on the go was another issue Gen Z respondents cited.

Vizrt has made the e-Book available online. Registration is required.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—HBCU Go, a leading media provider of sports and content from the nation’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), has acquired an end-to-end first-and-10 graphics solution and illustrated replay and sports analysis production tool from Chyron’s Hego division, the company said today.

Used for production of NCAA Division I and Division II HBCU football games, the technology has put HBCU GO on par with major network broadcasts, the company said. 

HBCU Go deployed Chyron’s Virtual 1st system and an on-site operator for the 2022-23 football season and added the company’s PAINT telestration tool for the 2023-24 season, it said. 

"The technology delivered by Chyron, with Hego services, allows for unparalleled in-game analysis and player storytelling, contributing to the consistently high production values evident in our live football coverage and confirming HBCU Go's commitment to showcasing the rich history, diversity, perspectives and cultural experiences at HBCUs," said HBCU Go founder Curtis Symonds. "With the Virtual 1st system, every play looks fantastic, and with Chyron's PAINT telestration tool, we unleash the full potential of our knowledgeable commentary team. It's a powerful combination that brings added depth and dimension to every game-day production."

The Virtual 1st system seamlessly delivered the dynamic on-field graphics, including virtual lines of scrimmage, first-down markers and sponsored advertisements, that sports fans expect from top college football broadcasts. Based on advanced real-time image-processing algorithms, the Virtual 1st optical tracking system enables fast calibration and setup, giving HBCU Go the means to incorporate these visual elements in any live broadcast, the company said.

For the 2023-24 season, commentators have had PAINT's toolset of replay creation tools and 3D telestration effects at their fingertips. The network will feature 22 engagements, including two championship bowl games, between teams representing NCAA Division I and Division II college sports programs within the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), it said.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

PORTLAND, Ore.—In a first for NBA broadcasts, the Portland Trail Blazers have been working with disguise to broadcast augmented reality (AR) graphics created by tracking a handheld camera during a basketball game. 

The first use of AR graphics from a handheld camera by an NBA team provides viewers with a more in-depth view of the action with live in-game stats, the companies said. 

“The NBA has provided live game data for a long time, however, we are breaking new ground by taking that data and using it to create an AR experience,” says Trail Blazers graphics producer, John McConnell. “Doing this wasn’t easy. Basketball games are fast-paced, with lots of handheld camera use, and live handheld tracking has never been done before in our sport. We knew we needed a partner to help. disguise has proven to be an industry leader in broadcasting technology and AR, and their team’s incredible passion for basketball made them a perfect fit to make our broadcast graphics next-gen.”

To create the AR graphics, disguise and the Portland Trail Blazers — who are one of only five teams in the league that produce all their live broadcasts in-house — spent six weeks working in close collaboration. 

Together with StYpe, the first step was to install tracking hardware into the Moda Center basketball arena, which used the RedSpy tracking system with an infrared camera pointing to markers on the arena’s ceiling. Next, a disguise px+ media server was installed to enable the Trail Blazers to render real-time Unreal Engine AR graphics with live data feed integration. 

All graphics were controlled through disguise Gateway, which was integrated with Viz Trio, as well as disguise’s Porta solution for native Unreal Engine control. The Creative Services team at disguise provided data visualization and concept development, as well as Unreal Engine graphics implementation and data integration services.

As a result of the work, Trail Blazers fans can see on-air graphics elements that look like they’re in the arena itself, right next to the players. From the pregame show to the fourth quarter, these graphics show live player and game information in a more dynamic, easy-to-read way than lower-thirds graphics alone. There’s even an AR line graph that shows the ups and downs of the team’s shooting percentage throughout the game. Each new field goal attempt can be added to the chart, allowing it to be constantly updated during the game, the companies said. 

For the Trail Blazers broadcast team, this is just the beginning of a more modern analytics approach that will give fans unparalleled access to their favorite club. This will let fans replicate the energy and intensity of being in the stands — without leaving their home, the Blazers said. 

“Since we are the first team in the NBA to use AR handheld graphics, we see this opening up many possibilities for the future,” says McConnell. “For instance, we could add more cameras into the AR world and integrate player tracking into our graphics, which the NBA now provides via Hawk-Eye. That will open the floodgates for more AR elements to work their way into NBA broadcasts. In the future, the NBA might even borrow some popular concepts from NBA2K and the video game world, where stats and info are overlaid on the court for things like player fatigue and other relevant stats.” 

WALTHAM, Mass.—Singular.live, a graphics platform that enables users to integrate live, customizable graphic overlays into their content, has integrated its capabilities with Zixi. 

“We are thrilled to have integrated Zixi to deliver broadcast quality graphic overlays with ultra-low latency," said Mike Ward, head of marketing at Singular. “With no downloads or dedicated graphics hardware required, our joint customers have the flexibility to scale with minimal cost.”

The web-based Singular.live platform eliminates the need for downloads, specialized hardware or intricate coding. Singular.live offers a versatile, comprehensive suite that caters to all essential requirements, encompassing the creative authoring environment through Composer, user-friendly control interfaces with Studio and uno as well as well-documented APIs and SDKs for developers to leverage, Zixi said.

With a flexible Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing model and a cloud-native technology stack, Singular.live is constructed on top-notch cloud services, which ensures scalability and reliability. The platform’s features offer an array of possibilities, enabling businesses to enhance engagement and explore monetization avenues, particularly through the implementation of localization and interactivity, it said.

Some use cases include right owners looking to deliver content at scale through alternative additional feeds, localization and personalization. The platform also provides a disaster recovery solution with minimal infrastructure requirements, enabling a cost-effective and low footprint alternative to traditional solutions, it said.

With support for remote productions, it allows operators to work from any located, enabling those involved with digital-only productions to bring graphics to their work—a circumstance that makes using traditional galleries and resources cost prohibitive, it said.

A notable integration within the Singular ecosystem is its collaboration with Zixi, which empowers customers to incorporate Singular.live’s graphic overlays into their video content during the transportation and transcoding phase through the Zixi infrastructure, the company said.

Neither delays nor additional hardware investment are necessary. Zixi’s Live Transcoding platform offers a wide range of control and management options, including Web Interface, REST API or via the ZEN Master orchestration, management and monitoring control plane, it said.

ZEN Master makes it easy to manage inputs and outputs for hundreds of live video streams at scale, and with just a few clicks and automatic configuration details for network resources and distribution targets, users can create new live channels and spin up required streams on the fly, it said.

Zixi’s Live Transcoding and Video processing in IP ensures live events, such as sports broadcasts, news coverage and live entertainment, are delivered smoothly, securely and with minimal delay, it said.

More information is available on the Zixi and Singular.live websites.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has introduced the new Chyron Weather 2.0 platform, which the company said leverages more than 20 years of industry expertise and innovations derived from acquisitions to simplify data-driven weather visualization from end to end. 

Chyron Weather is designed to provide visually rich map-based graphics, custom forecast elements, dynamic global analysis, and realistic 3D panoramas, with exceptionally intuitive graphic design and live presentation. In addition, the platform offers new features including an elegant dark-look UI, CAMIO newsroom integration, secure data retrieval, and support for the latest Windows versions, the company said. 

"Chyron Weather 2.0 provides a complete, easy-to-use toolset to tell the weather story. Specialized tools support every aspect of setting up data flows and connectivity, graphic design, on-air presentation, real-time playout, and render management," said Michael Harter, weather product manager at Chyron. "Smart custom-created elements enable the user to focus on the weather program with maximum flexibility and efficiency while still covering the basics. Fully data-driven high-end weather graphics ensure that the latest forecast can get to air in an instant. With intuitive interfaces even new users can start building engaging weather presentations in no time."

The data-provider-agnostic platform, Chyron Weather 2.0 facilitates the creation of rich weather visualizations from any unique stack of public meteorological data sources or private weather data providers and utilizes powerful visual scripting tools to shape them as needed to suit specific presentation requirements. 

Accessible design tools make it easy to customize the look of weather visualizations or create dynamic custom forecast graphics/charts based on select data. With a central hub for managing real-time playout and rapid rendering across multiple servers, Chyron Weather intelligently delivers content across on-air, web, and social media channels through simple automated workflows, Chyron reported. 

Chyron Weather's Presenter interface is also embracing the Chyron dark look and user experience, thus bringing more cohesiveness and alignment with the Chyron portfolio. The straightforward building-block interface gives users simple, recognizable tools for preparing and presenting live to air. After dragging and dropping various scene types into the playlist interface, users can assemble a show and use a timeline-based editor to apply keyframe custom animations and forecast effects over weather graphics with precision. Finally, users can take the show live on-air with predictable trigger control or automated playout timing, the company said. 

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron will highlight recent innovation for news, sports and cloud production at NAB Show New York, Oct. 24-26, at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

The company will feature advances in data visualization, new AI-enabled task automatization and live production workflows leveraging the cloud.

"Through ongoing product and feature development, we're working to deliver functionality that supports users today and facilitates their shift toward ever more efficient, flexible and scalable operations going forward," said Mathieu Yerle, senior vice president of strategy. "One example, and an exciting element of the Chyron booth at NAB Show New York, is the holistic CAMIO workflow, which delivers on the promise of total newsroom-to-air efficiency by driving not only CG graphics but also video walls, virtual sets, augmented reality graphics, weather segments and more in a streamlined and harmonious workflow."

Chyron also will highlight live production workflows for sports based on its cloud-native, all-in-one production Chyron LIVE.

Highlights will include:

• The latest version of CAMIO, the company's MOS-driven graphics asset management platform, which now integrates with Seven Mountains DiNA, a fully cloud-based NRCS with an on-premises gateway. CAMIO is NRCS-agnostic, integrating with all major NRCS including Avid iNews, AP ENPS, Dalet Galaxy, Octopus Newsroom, and others.
• The robust new data-management capabilities within the recently released PRIME 4.8 accelerate graphics design, data integration and playout for sports production workflows. It also will feature new features within PAINT to enhance illustrated replay and add depth to live commentary.
• Chyron LIVE cloud-native live production application with new security features in LIVE 1.5, including protocol encryption and data backup. Other new features elevate Chyron LIVE's handling of clips, intuitive audio commentary through the LIVE UI, and a more scalable and responsive user experience.

See Chyron at NAB Show New York booth 443.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELLVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron will focus on its sports solutions, including those within its PRIME software platform that supports CG graphics, video walls, touchscreens, venue control, clips, branding and software-based switching as well as its LIVE cloud-native live video production platform during IBC 2023, Sept. 15-18, at RAI Amsterdam.

"Chyron is highly customer-centric, and development is driven by some of the most demanding sports broadcasts on the planet," said Carol Bettencourt, vice president of marketing at Chyron. "By simplifying essential tasks and streamlining critical workflows, we're giving operators more flexibility and freedom in crafting stories and experiences that resonate with fans. We look forward to showcasing these innovations at IBC 2023."

Chyron will feature PRIME 4.7, a powerful data table resource that makes it easier for sports networks and leagues to leverage large data sets to tell a story. It reduces the time needed to create league tables, team rosters or dynamic player highlight templates.

New additions to its control panel creation toolbox enable users to make simplified playout interfaces. New appearance and layout properties provide simple formatting of button size, position and visuals, while a new base scene control resource enhances a designer's experience for customizing control when working with parent scene graphics. New shortcut keys for common sports operations, such as transferring or clearing all graphics from program to preview, add further efficiency to playout, the company said.

Development around data continues in the PRIME 4.8 release. With providers such as Genius Sports and Sportradar adopting JSON as the data format for their data-connection APIs, JavaScript is becoming the scripting language of choice to parse, evaluate and access data in live graphics, it said.

With its new JavaScript Effect & Resource tool, PRIME 4.8 gives users an intuitive interface with which to import and edit scripts entirely within the platform and apply them as parameters at the object, scene, project and application level. The version also offers a variety of new settings for scripting sandboxing security, it said.

PRIME's new auto-follow features help designers create complex graphics that adapt to varying stats. A new virtual group effect binds separate scene object positions together for a one-time design of table graphics with changing rows and columns.

Other enhancements include a date/time count-up mode and tools for determining the overlap of layer masks across back-to-back scenes. For automated productions driven by external updates or by Chyron's Intelligent Interface (II) protocol, new message ranges in PRIME save hours of time by eliminating the need to design hundreds of graphics variations, it said.

For playout operators, the Replaceable Panel provides rapid edit access to text, images, and style values and control over external updates and data-bindings. There is also support for multiple graphic subfolders, it said.

Chyron LIVE 1.5 will make its debut at IBC 2023, featuring additional user control over the cloud environment and new sports-specific features. These new capabilities build on LIVE 1.4, which introduced an AI-based instant replay tool that enhances the ability of production crews to create replay clips from live feeds. When the algorithm watches camera inputs and recognizes an interesting play, the platform generates a replay clip around that point of interest. Users can manually adjust the start point of the AI-generated clip, it said.

See Chyron at IBC 2023 Stand 7.A45.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has launched V1.4 of the Chyron LIVE cloud-native live production platform with a number of new updates that include a new AI-based instant replay tool.

The AI replay tool is designed to empower production crews — especially those in single-operator scenarios — by automatically detecting and clipping major plays so they can be quickly and easily inserted into the live program. While currently available only for soccer, this tool will provide a technological foundation for various sports in future LIVE releases, Chyron said. 

"Using the award-winning Chyron LIVE platform is like having a production assistant built into the system," said Kristy Weir, product manager at Chyron. "By de-skilling what it takes to get broadcast-grade, pro-level production value, LIVE fits into our company's grand plan of making all sports production tasks very simple, approachable, and accessible. The new AI-based instant replay tool — in addition to other upgrades such as automatic replay transitions, telestration improvements, and the ability to illustrate plays for deep sports analysis — ultimately changes the way users can capture and analyze game moments, enhancing any crew's ability to provide engaging and insightful sports coverage."

Chyron LIVE is an end-to-end production platform that provides operators with an all-in-one, browser-based interface for live video and audio mixing, graphic overlays, 3D telestration analysis, and more, the company explained. 

Using the platform, operators can cut/mix live sources, adjust audio levels across all feeds, play out PRIME-quality graphic packages, create unlimited multimedia playlists, and produce live replays with telestration, the company said. 

Version 1.4's AI-based instant replay tool enhances production crews' ability to create replay clips from live feeds. When the algorithm watches the camera inputs and recognizes an interesting play, such as a player taking a shot on net or a goal being scored, a small brain icon will light up in the bottom-left corner of the interface. When the operator clicks the icon, the platform generates a replay clip around that point of interest. For greater control and flexibility, users can manually adjust the start point of the AI-generated clip. This tool is especially useful for productions with a single operator or few staff, who can effortlessly generate broadcast-grade replays while handling their other tasks, Chyron reported. 

In addition to the instant replay tool, Chyron LIVE 1.4 also features an automatic replay transition effect and improvements to video telestration. 

The automatic replay transition effect triggers several actions that are commonly involved in a replay: queue up a transition wipe, play the graphic, start the clip, and animate the clip off with another transition, saving the operator the time of executing each action individually and bringing enterprise switcher efficiency to Chyron LIVE. Version 1.4 also makes the management of telestration effects much more intuitive, allowing operators to adjust the pathing keyframes and effect duration, and to delete specific effects from a saved clip without needing to start over.

Following Chyron LIVE's previous 1.3 debut at the 2023 NAB Show, the new Matchpad module enabled users to seamlessly manage dynamic motion graphics for live soccer production via a visually intuitive control panel. 

With Matchpad, users can easily highlight important game elements — goals, yellow / red flags, lineups, substitutions, and more — as well as bring in sponsor graphics during key game moments. These graphic design elements are populated automatically from a simple configuration spreadsheet in which users can fill out team and player information and branding elements prior to the game. In Chyron LIVE 1.4, users have more time control tools in Matchpad with the ability to edit the game clock and add stoppage time to the clock at the end of each half, as well as a new list of hotkeys for rapid keyboard control over this essential tool.

More information on Chyron LIVE is available on the Chyron website.

BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has announced that it worked with the European League of Football (ELF) to help the league quickly migrate operations to an end-to-end cloud production system in only three weeks. 

Representing 17 teams across nine countries – with more joining each season – the ELF viewership is on track to reach more than half a billion households worldwide through the official ELF Game Pass and popular European TV networks.

To continue this growth, the ELF and their production agency, novel.media, were looking to improve viewer experiences with new features, advanced graphics, and increased video quality. Additionally, they wanted to increase value for sponsors with improved advertising options, while reducing production costs and carbon footprint. Moving their live productions to the cloud would make all this possible, the league said. 

To achieve those goals, the ELF and novel.media turned to Vizrt and AWS to support them in their transition to cloud-based production, the companies said.  

Vizrt and AWS proposed an end-to-end cloud setup powered by the Vizrt Live Production Solution and selected 3rd party tools and all connected by NDI.

Selecting cloud-based solutions meant that the ELF and novel.media operators would have access to high-end live production tools usually out of reach of niche sports broadcasters. Exciting image-based augmented reality graphics and virtual advertising would be powered by Viz Arena, with software-based video/audio switching made possible with Viz Vectar Plus. Graphics are rendered in real-time using Viz Engine, and 3Play by Viz Now ensures no moment is missed with unmatched replay and slow-motion, the companies said. 

Essential to achieving the tight deadline, Viz Now saved weeks of deployment and setup time by automating the deployments into AWS and provides a simple portal to spin up and delete the live production environments as needed.

Due to Vizrt’s interoperability, it was also possible to integrate additional third-party tools into Viz Now’s automated deployment workflows, including Comprimato Live Transcoder for encoding NDI to SRT for playout, and Tractus Multiviewer for NDI for viewing up to 16 NDI sources at once, Vizrt explained. 

On the ground, two LiveU LU800 field units convert a total of 8 SDI signals to SRT in 1080p and transmit them over 5G to AWS, where they’re decoded to NDI by virtualized LiveU LU4000 units.

With up to four games being produced concurrently, novel.media operators work in four new control rooms on-site at novel.media premises and access and manage up to six of these cloud live production environments at the click of a button through Viz Now.

The companies explained that Viz Arena was key to achieving the goal of improving the viewer experience and increasing sponsor value and visibility. Controlled by OnAir Graphics operators, Viz Arena uses data generated during the game to add augmented reality (AR) graphics to the main cameras, captivating fans with informative and exciting visuals and the virtual 1st and 10th lines and displaying virtual “cam carpet” ads.

To increase content relevancy for fans, the solution was designed to support multiple signal outputs from Viz Vectar Plus. Depending on the match being played, a graphics-only signal is sent to local broadcasters who insert their own presenters and L-frames, and another signal broadcasts through the ELF OTT channel and uses Spalk Virtual Commentary Studio for commentary in up to seven languages. A standard world feed with graphics, presenters, ambient sound, and multilingual commentary is published to ran.de, while an equivalent signal featuring ELF, Czech, or Polish presenters and virtual sponsor advertising goes out through the ELF Platform and a Czech or Polish broadcaster, depending which team is playing, Vizrt said. 

“What the European League of Football has achieved in just three weeks with AWS and Vizrt is incredible, and a testament to the power of the cloud,” said Marc Aldrich, general manager, global media & entertainment at AWS. “The fan experience is central to any sports production, and by moving its production pipeline into the cloud, the European League of Football will be able to create more memorable match broadcasts that let fans dive deeper into the game. We can’t wait to see how this architecture continues to evolve as well as what it enables.”

Speaking of the ELF’s decision to produce the entire season in the cloud, Zeljko Karajica, CEO of European League of Football also stressed that the deployment is “helping us reduce our carbon footprint, as we can significantly pare back the volume of travel and outside broadcast (OB) truck equipment that productions of this caliber typically require. This means that directors, graphics designers, operators, sound engineers, and other technicians no longer need to travel to the game venue. With this, we estimate that we can achieve a reduction of over 300 tons of CO2 emissions this season. We are delighted to be pioneers in Europe by implementing this innovative production technology.”

For more information about Vizrt’s live production tools, visit: www.vizrt.com/products/live-production. An on demand demo of its “end-to-end cloud live productions” is available here. 

To see the games and technology in action, visit the ELF’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanLeagueofFootball. 

BERGEN, Norway—While watching sports on TV is still the preference among 76% of people overall, a majority of Gen Z viewers prefer to watch sports on their mobile phones while on the go, according to the findings of new research commissioned by Vizrt.

A total of 67% of Gen Z viewers –those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s—picked mobile phones as their No. 1 preference for watching sports on the go, compared to 54% of Millennials and 23% of Gen X viewers, the research found.

The love affair with mobile phone viewing isn’t restricted to Gen Z viewers, however. Regardless of demographic, 30% of respondents said they watch sports on their mobile phones, the research found.

Digital channels are popular as well. Nearly 60% of all respondents reported watching digital channels to catch up on sports. Among Gen Z viewers, 74% said they turn to social media to get current on sports. 

The poll asked thousands of content consumers and sports fans in the U.K. and the United States about their viewing preferences.

It found that viewing full games is becoming rarer. Younger viewers prefer highlights and catch-up options to remain current. Among Gen Z respondents, only 58% watch sports live from beginning to end. Further, while many respondents said they prefer watching sports live, they also acknowledged they are watching fewer full matches and games, the research found.

“The results of our Viewer Engagement Survey emphasize the importance of adapting content for the younger generation's viewing habits. Millennials and Gen Z desire shorter, engaging content that they can consume on the go. They expect augmented reality (AR) graphics, real-time data, and exciting analysis to enhance their immersion in the game, and any broadcaster not considering these elements within their content is already falling behind,” said Andy O’Neil, head of sports for EMEA and APAC at Vizrt.  

Immersive visuals may prove to be key to engaging viewers and encouraging them to watch longer. Nearly 79% of sports fans said they were more interested in sports content, and therefore more likely to watch, if graphics and virtual elements, such as augmented reality graphics, virtual studios, data analysis and replay, are used. For example, using virtual sets in sports commentary enhances the viewing experience for 65% of Millennials, the research found.

Overall, 57% of viewers said they were more likely to watch longer if virtual elements were used. Among Gen Z respondents, that total swelled to 63%. 

Nearly 29% said they were more likely to watch a particular broadcaster’s future coverage if graphics and virtual elements are added to its productions, it found.

“The data that came back on the importance of an immersive experience using additional graphics for audiences was astonishing,” said O’Neil. “It’s clear advanced visuals and graphics are vital for capturing the attention of younger viewers and enhancing their engagement. As a trusted partner and provider, we are here to help ensure we support anyone looking to maximize their viewer engagement and make the most of their sports productions.”   

More information is available on the company’s website.

BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has integrated its product suite more tightly with Adobe Premiere Pro to make searching for assists faster and to simplify the production process, the company said today.

While Vizrt integrates with Adobe across multiple workflows in Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop, one particularly strong integration with Premiere Pro is enhanced capabilities with Viz One, Vizrt’s media asset management (MAM) solution, it said.

This integration allows Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) made in Viz One to be dragged and dropped into Premiere Pro via Vizrt’s Adobe Assistant panel to create a new sequence. Similarly, the company’s browser-based Viz Story can import its timelines into Premiere Pro, including video and graphics when craft editing is needed, it said.

Vizrt has also accelerated asset searches in Viz One from Adobe Premiere Pro, making them up to three-times faster. Greater detail is also provided to users when they work from the Assistant panel. Users can identify and work with both archive content and incoming media shortly after the Viz One import begins, it said.

Recent updates to Viz One Studio also bring new editing capabilities to the web browser. They replace the need to use Viz One’s legacy PreCut and EasyCut applications, helping streamline users’ editing experience and improving the workflow between Viz One, Viz Story and Premiere Pro, it said.

“The added functionality of the Viz One integration into Adobe Premiere Pro enhances the user experience, supports faster workflows and enhances performance. Editors and creators—whether in news, sports or other productions positions—will find it easier to edit, design and collaborate across teams,” said James Scott, engineering and platform manager at Vizrt Group, MAM Business Unit.

“For example, a journalist could rough cut in Viz One Studio, create an edit decision list [and] then share that with an editor who can drag and drop straight into their timeline,” he said.

Users also can leverage Vizrt and Adobe across the production process, facilitating easier workflows for designers, journalists and editors. Designers using Vizrt’s Viz Artist real-time 3D design application have greater flexibility as a result of its integration with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, it said.

Viz Artist includes a multi-layer composition import tool for working with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects compositions. Control text and control image plug-ins also are automatically assigned, providing a faster transition from Adobe After Effects composition to a template ready for on-air use in Viz Artist, the company said.

Vizrt’s Meta-Graphics workflow enables graphics and video to be edited continually using the Viz Pilot Edge HTML-based template editor up until the moment when the content goes on-air. This unique, non-burned-in graphics workflow integrates with Adobe Premiere Pro, allowing a journalist to define the graphics needed for a story in the newsroom system and stay updated as the news changes, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.