Orlando Magic's sports production team recently enhanced its traditional scoreboard functions at the team's home court, the TD Waterhouse Centre. The team wanted a solution for playing pre-programmed clips and capturing action shots for immediate playback. Beyond typical slow-motion playbacks, the production staff wanted to grab supporting graphics "on the fly" from a library and to generate added revenue via scoreboard commercials during game breaks.
Encore Broadcast Solutions helped the production team select a video server and controller: 360 Systems' ImageServer 2000, a multichannel video and graphics server capable of playing three simultaneous streams of animations, video and graphics with key; and the ActiV Cart Box controller from Hi Tech Systems, which mimics the operation of the familiar Betacart operator's control panel with access to hundreds of pre-recorded video clips. As a result, the Magic’s entire system was upgraded from a tape-based to a server-based system. With the tape-based programming library moved to the 360 ImageServer, the controller can randomly play commercials as needed, at a moment's notice, without demanding pre-game planning.
Replays on the scoreboard are now possible, but the Magic's production team eventually wants to personalize every replay — for instance, using a specific graphic showing a dunk shot by a given player that will precede replays involving that player. This capability requires a controller feature commonly called a "shot box." Hi-Tech's ActiV Cart Box has the capacity to recall hundreds of pre-planned server clips via interactive shot keys on its keyboard. The 360 Systems ImageServer also provides a built-in key/fill feature that lets operators key in additional moving graphics via a completely separate channel to overlay them onto another video clip — similar to the way a CG works.
The Magic production team plans to use the third channel of the server for play-out to monitors located throughout the stadium. Content will include event information, commercials and PSAs — all independent of the scoreboard support activity. The Hi Tech controller has the ability to control all three server channels simultaneously for mixed purposes.
For more information, visit www.360systems.com.
