Morris stations moving into the virtual future

Morris Multimedia, looking for a flexible and cost-effective way to keep its newscasts modern and attractive, has decided to transition all 14 of its stations across the South to virtual sets from Vizrt.

Contains an excerpt of the article originally published by TVNewsCheck.com.

WWAY Wilmington, N.C. (DMA 131), went live from its virtual set in April and is launching a 10 p.m. newscast on its recently added CW subchannel in January, which will have its own unique look. WXXV Gulfport, Miss. (DMA 160), and its MNT subchannel, went live last month, and Hinson hopes to have the rest wrapped up by the end of 2014...

More advanced virtual sets include camera tracking capabilities, like the one at Gray Television's KKTV Colorado Springs, Colo. (DMA 89), allowing a camera to pan and zoom, showing different perspectives of the virtual set, without worrying about the digital image breaking up. The station, which was featured on TVNewsCheck last week, is in the middle of a major rebuild that uses virtual sets and augmented reality graphics.

Citing costs, Morris stations opted against tracking capabilities. Instead, cameras will stay in one position and won't be able to zoom or pan. The Vizrt software does allow for a digital zoom effect, showing a wide shot of the virtual set before focusing on the talent at the anchor desk.

In Wilmington, the transition from WWAYs hard set to the virtual set was striking. The hard set consisted of an oval desk made of oak on red carpeting with two vertical monitors in each corner. The virtual set, accented with brushed metal on the edges of furniture and the floor, looks as if it is in a warehouse. In reality, the station uses only about 350 square feet of space.

It looks like something you'd see in New York or Los Angeles, says Andy Combs, GM of WWAY.

U.S. broadcasters have long complained that virtual sets do not look realistic, says David Jorba, SVP of Vizrt Americas, but such complaints are misplaced.

Based on the technology today, designers can accomplish that hyper-realistic look to the point where it's indistinguishable to the average viewer at home, he says. Europe has been doing this for a long time because they don't try to be realistic. They like the big white spaces and that more abstract look. U.S. TV stations want something that looks realistic.

Read the full article on TVNewsCheck.com.

LINK:	http://www.vizrt.com/news/newsgrid/39503/Morris_stations_moving_into_t...
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