KKTVs New Digs: Small In Size, Big In Tech

Gray Television's CBS affiliate KKTV is jam-packing a cozy new studio with the latest in broadcast news technology, including robotic cameras on tracks and a heavy dose of virtual reality.

Contains a portion of the article originally published by TVNewsCheck.com.

KKTV's studio also includes augmented reality graphics, a state-of-the-art power system and a new Gray-built system called GrayTooth that allows everyone from reporters to producers, to sales people and engineers to sit down at any workstation, swipe a key fob and pull up their customized desktop.

The focal point of the set - designed by Los Angeles-based Michael Wright of WrightSet - is a round anchor desk, eight feet in diameter, planted on a round platform. Encircling that platform are two sets of tracks that a Ross Furio robotic camera system will run on. The cameras are operated from a control room behind the set, which viewers at home will be able to see.

Photo Gallery: Check out more photos inside the new KKTV at Playout.

During a rehearsal last week, anchors Don Ward and Dianne Derby and reporter Alyssa Chin demonstrated the camera system's ability to smoothly pan horizontally while zooming in and out for segments that involve three people at the anchor desk.

No longer are you going to see a camera pointed directly at an anchor with a graphic above their shoulder, Matesi says. It's going to be fluid, conversational and completely flexible.

On the set KKTV uses today, Derby says only three shots are used for newscasts. With this, there are going to be so many more, she says. That variety is going to help improve the stories we're reporting.

Instead of over-the-shoulder graphics, the station plans to take a giant leap forward and implement augmented reality graphics by Vizrt that, from the viewer's perspective at home, will pop up in the middle of the anchor table.

Vizrt's solution is intelligent enough that when the camera pans or zooms, the graphic won't break up. Instead, it will show that graphic - be it a 3D bar graph of election results or a topography map of weather coming over Pike's Peak - from different perspectives.

Jim Ocon, Gray VP advanced technology, says his team will create a variety of graphics this month, some of which could include advertising opportunities for local businesses.

Opposite the anchor table is a large chroma key wall that will be used for virtual sets powered by the same Vizrt system. A demonstration of the technology showed talent standing on a virtual mountain and rain coming down in front of and behind that person. Vizrt's solution includes camera tracking capabilities, allowing the camera to pan and zoom without the virtual set breaking up.

The possibilities are endless on what kind of segments we can do from the virtual set, Ocon says.

Read the full article on TVNewsCheck.com.

LINK:	http://www.vizrt.com/news/newsgrid/39455/KKTVs_New_Digs_Small_In_Size_...
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