Usually, the Television Services Department of the Village of Mount Prospect, IL, (MPTV) uses its Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 video production system to produce live coverage of village board meetings and other local programming. But in May, the system was used for a live “American Idol” finale viewing party on the Village Green outside the town hall, where an estimated 5000 people came to watch hometown hero Lee DeWyze win the competition.
The town rented a 9ft x 12ft Jumbotron display so the crowd could watch the live finale. For two hours prior to the broadcast, MPTV showcased footage from past show performances, as well as footage from DeWyze’s homecoming parade from earlier in the month, using the Slate’s Fluent Clip Store and a DVD player.
During the “American Idol” finale (broadcast live on Fox network stations), the MPTV team displayed the show feed on the large screen, mixed with live images from its two Sony DSR-400 ENG camcorders on location. When the broadcast went to commercial, the Broadcast Pix system’s Fluent Clips and Fluent Graphics displayed video PSAs about MPTV programming, as well as graphics promoting local sponsors and upcoming events.
A temporary control room was created on the main floor of the facility. The Slate 1000 was operated from a folding table. A small LCD screen running Fluent Multi-View served as the program, preview and source monitors.
The town was given an HD-SDI network feed from a satellite truck that was on location for the network. The Slate 1000 was able to convert the HD-SDI signal to composite, letterbox it for the 4:3 Jumbotron, and seamlessly combine different sources with different aspect ratios.
