
NAB 2022 Perspectives: Vizrt CTO Gerhard Lang on the Future of Adaptive Graphics and AI By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Friday, May 13, 2022 - 11:46 am
Print This Story
In the three years since the industry last came together at NAB Vizrt is one of the companies that underwent a major transformation. In April of 2019 the company acquired NewTek, but this year was the first year that the fruits of that deal were fully on display for the public. Most notably? An NDI pavilion at the Vizrt booth, a company whose stand historically has been less about hardware displays and more about software demos of next-generation graphics, asset management, sports analysis, and publishing tools.
Steve Wind-Mozley, Vizrt CMO, says NAB gave a customers a chance to see a whole new Vizrt in person.
It's a whole new Vizrt, says Steve Wind-Mozley, Vizrt, CMO at the NAB booth with featured NDI gear from 12 of the 48 exhibitors at the show that build NDI cameras, switchers, and other gear. In the period since we were last at NAB, we've had 40 major releases. And the team created three TV stations where we've put on hundreds of hours of content to reach more customers than we would traditionally. But now at the show we're able to have proper conversations.
An example of the continuing evolution of NDI (as well as cloud services at the show was that Grass Valley joined the NDI ecosystem and now has access to NDI's Advanced SDK which enhances the Grass Valley Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP) apps with bandwidth-efficient NDI|HX or NDI|HX3 as well as parallel access to a high number of video sources over remote networks and cloud connections. And Viz Trio, powered by Viz Engine, can now be added as a module in the Grass Valley AMPP system for cloud-based live production and playout.
Graphics are the most powerful tool a visual storyteller has access to, and engaging, realistic graphics add visual quality and explain complex concepts in seconds - adding immeasurable benefit to the audience and the customer. Now even more storytellers can access and use our innovative, creative graphics tools from within the AMPP system, states Gerhard Lang, CTO at Vizrt.
As for sports-related products, Lang says a key effort has been around AI and the launch of AI modules which bring greater efficiencies and speed to Vizrt systems.
One of the most prominent ones is the object tracker that we have used on NASCAR and other events, he explains. It offers AI-based object tracking with the control interface that allows the operator to easily pick out the object that he wants to mark and then have graphics on top of it with a pseudo-3D look because we're calculating the position on screen as well as calculating the size of the object. So, we can scale the graphics up and down to give it a 3D effect.
Gerhard Lang, Vizrt, CTO, says Viz Engine 5 will improve adaptive graphics functionality.
The AI module coupled with object tracking opens up another efficiency: making it easier to capture vertical video clips for highlights or even live streams that meet the needs of consumers who increasingly watch vertical video on phones and other devices.
It's a hybrid model that uses object tracker and eye tracking and a UHD feed to cut live vertical video with very good results, he adds.
Vertical video introduces another challenge for sports content creators and that is how to ensure graphics fit properly, are legible, and look great. Lang says that is why Vizrt Engine version 5.0 will be so important when it is released later this year.
One of the major topics in that release will be adaptive graphics, making it easier to create graphics once for multiple platforms he says. With adaptive graphics, everything stays within one scene and the operator can create different output formats on the fly with a flex-box approach as the artist can do fine adjustments of the automated recommendation that he gets from the system. So, you can make different flavors of the same graphics which you will need if you have vertical video.
Lang says adaptive graphics is not only a time and cost saver but also reduces the amount of errors and opens the door for more easily creating regionalized graphics that are delivered around the globe with different branding, colors, or font styles. Adaptive graphics can also mean different looks, e.g. morning/evening show and is the new way for concept variant solutions from us, which is also a huge cost saver.
If you QA a scene and see that it works and animates properly for all the formats at the same time you can immediately verify that your control application box with the scene and data arrives as it should.
North America Stories
26/03/2026
Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...
26/03/2026
SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...
26/03/2026
LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100).
The C-Ban...
26/03/2026
The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...
26/03/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...
26/03/2026
Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...
26/03/2026
FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...
26/03/2026
CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...
26/03/2026
Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...
26/03/2026
Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...
26/03/2026
DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...
26/03/2026
Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...
26/03/2026
Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...
26/03/2026
By Matt Klein
Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...
26/03/2026
Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
New graphical configuration tool and...
26/03/2026
Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...
26/03/2026
2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 25, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio used on 27 of this year's no...
26/03/2026
Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Sho...
26/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbrea...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
Have a Wish Worth Dying For? Netflix's First Korean YA Hor...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
The Truthers, Starring Jose Coronado and St phanie Magnin, Pre...
26/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
26/03/2026
That gaming backlog won't clear itself - GeForce NOW is here to help. Stream the latest titles straight from the cloud across a variety of devices.
This we...
25/03/2026
Live match directors Sarah Cheadle (Sky Sports), Rob Levi (TNT Sports), and Andrew Swift (BBC Sport) sit down with the Premier League's Rachel Nightingale t...
25/03/2026
The senior from Upstate New York is manning the mic while also interning for the athletic department's sports-information team
In the live-sports-video ind...
25/03/2026
Synamedia has announced ContentArmor Edge Watermarking, a server-side solution t...
25/03/2026
SES has announced meoSphere, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030. The first phase will pair SES-developed software-defin...
25/03/2026
TVU Networks is working with Reuters on a phased migration from satellite to a c...
25/03/2026
Nielsen has announced three senior appointments. Seth Ladetsky has been named Head of Global Sports. Trevor Fellows will lead Nielsen's advertiser and agenc...
25/03/2026
Anoki and Amagi have launched In-Scene Ads powered by Anoki ContextIQ across Amagi's portfolio of in-content ad formats for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (...
25/03/2026
Arkona Technologies will announce a series of enhancements to its BLADE//runner platform at NAB 2026 (Booth C.1808). The updates focus on usability and workflow...
25/03/2026
Daktronics has installed two tower displays and a video wall in the Lexus Club at Petco Park in San Diego ahead of the 2026 season.
Continuing to improve the ...
25/03/2026
MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is celebrating its 50th anniversary as NAB Show 2026 approaches. The company was founded in 1976 by Vincent Jachetta, an N...
25/03/2026
IPC, a provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 de...
25/03/2026
Live production categories were led by NBC, FOX, and ESPN's NFL coverage...
25/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Spectrum have announced a multiyear distribution agreemen...
25/03/2026
(L-R) Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher attend The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre ...
25/03/2026
L3Harris Technologies and RFTEQ Pty Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to ...
25/03/2026
L3Harris delivers combat-ready Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery system, which deploys and retrieves Iver4 900 autonomous underwater vehicles through submarine t...
25/03/2026
The company expands leadership team under Chief Revenue Officer Amilcar Perez
S...