City of Riverview Upgrades Meeting Coverage with Broadcast Pix

Chelmsford, Mass. – May 28, 2019 – Broadcast Pix™ today announced the city of Riverview, Mich., has upgraded its City Hall control room with a BPswitch™ MX integrated production switcher. The system is used to produce coverage of one school board and two city council meetings each month.

According to Kim Harper, IT manager for the city, the Broadcast Pix Commander™ touchscreen control platform was an important selling point for the new system. Commander’s streamlined user interface makes it easy to execute sophisticated productions, even for non-technical personnel. Its intuitive controls simplify switching, PTZ camera control, and the use of graphics, clips, and effects.

Lawrence Cross, cable producer, said four PTZOptics PTZ cameras follow the meeting activities, with three cameras covering the dais and one camera positioned to capture guest and visitor comments. The Riverview control room includes both a touchscreen and traditional control panel. Cross said the cameras can be positioned using a traditional control panel or with preset macros through the Commander interface that automatically focus on members of the council.

Riverview is Cross’ first job in professional video, and he said he was able to quickly learn the workflow for meeting coverage using BPswitch. “It works great,” he explained. “You can put a show together in 10 minutes. It’s really easy.”

A document camera, used in chambers to display supporting information during meetings, is also fed into the video switcher. Plus, meeting coverage includes limited graphics produced with BPswitch’s integrated NewBlueNTX multi-layer 3D motion graphics CG during productions. BPview™, the system’s customizable multi-view, populates two screens in the control room.

Meetings run live on local Comcast and WOW! cable channels, and are streamed live and available on-demand on the city's website. Meetings are shot in HD but downconverted to SD for cable distribution. Harper said the system was installed in January 2018 to replace an aging Ross production switcher. Sound Planning Communications in Redford Township, Mich., handled the sale and system integration.

About Broadcast Pix
With a tightly coupled switcher and 3D motion graphics CG, Broadcast Pix provides the most fully integrated live video production systems with patented control and automation technology. From compact units to large-scale, multi-system solutions, every Broadcast Pix features an extensive toolset that makes it easy to optimize and customize your workflows locally and over IP. Plus, its BPNet ecosystem provides secure cloud services and asset management. Founded in 2002, Broadcast Pix has customers in more than 100 countries and is the leader in fully integrated production switchers for government, broadcast, streaming, live event, and visual radio applications. Learn more at www.broadcastpix.com.

Broadcast Pix, Broadcast Pix Commander, BPswitch, and BPview are trademarks of Broadcast Pix, Inc. Patented. Switchers are made in USA.

Mark J. Pescatore
Content Director, SCN

Mark J. Pescatore, Ph.D., is the content director of Systems Contractor News. He has been writing about Pro AV industry for more than 20 years. Previously, he spent more than eight years as the editor of Government Video magazine. During his career, he's produced and hosted two podcasts focused on the professional video marketplace, taught more than a dozen college communication courses, co-authored the book Working with HDV, and co-edited two editions of The Guide to Digital Television