In Broadcast - May/June 2011 - 15

MAY/JUNE 2011 | WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

15
to incorporate an analogue prompt output on their products since we can provide it digitally. This is in marked contrast to other prompting firms which continue to rely on basic analogue video converters and third party graphics cards. Similarly when rivals opted to market their own newsroom automation systems, Autoscript chose to work with leading newsroom vendors like AP, Avid, Octopus and Dalet. Indeed so integral is our +WinPlus+ News prompting system that these partners can support Autoscript software and immediately deliver upgrades to the customer. We are the only prompting company to locate the servers of these companies in our facility so that they develop new code, we can test it and ensure that the newsroom is installed on-site fully compliant with core prompting tools. They consider us partners in development - no one else has that deep resource into newsroom evolution. If a customer has an issue in their studio we can replicate that and provide new builds to them because of the way our software is serviced. We don’t have multiple versions for multiple sites - we have one build. If a customer requests a certain unique feature we build it and make it available to the next customer or by an upgrade. Three years ago Autoscript led the sector in introducing LED backlights. This required considerable investment but we did so after taking stock of technology trends and customer need and what’s more we offered them at no premium cost to customers. The competition has now followed suit but they will always be playing catch-up. Wireless prompting, optical scroll controls with no potentiometer, a unique dual-colour tally system Autoscript has dedicated itself to creating the most advanced products in the field of prompting today.

manufacturers in facing the challenge of writing new drivers and software interfaces with each new iteration of Windows 95 or NT/XP/Vista. We quickly realised that getting broadcast quality video from a PC and distributing that signal around coax-cabled studios was a serious challenge, not least to genlock script to the video signal. Largely for this reason, but also to retain total control over our technology, Autoscript made a strategic decision to devise and manufacture our own video cards.

Countplus timecode & countdown generator

Record of innovation
That philosophy has stood us and our clients in good stead. We continue to develop all our hardware and software in house. We don’t rely on third party or consumer products.. Our clients need not worry if part of a product line goes obsolete, since with our own broadcast technicians and software developers we are in full control of the process. We are proud that all of our innovations are derived from intimate customer knowledge, and when customers give us a good idea we can react to it quicker than anyone else because we design, develop, build and support everything ourselves. Take for example the fact that every single screen mass-manufactured today is 16x9. That’s understandable since we live in a widescreen world. But 16x9 is no good for prompting when 4x3 is still the perfect screen size. We had to convince manufacturers of our need and our commitment to them over the next 3-4 years that we required 4x3 high resolution glass for our customers. We were fortunate to have the buying power to be able to negotiate with suppliers to continue those developments, unlike other companies which can only offer off-the-shelf screens, shoehorned into the product with no control over the supply chain. Today, signals distributed around a TV station are going digital, even if they are not already. We decided over three years ago to take the most expensive route and rework all our studio technology including all TFT on-camera units to be SD SDI compliant. Our video drivers are SD SDI compatible allowing broadcasters to digitally distribute signals around the studio’s matrix and output analogue where needed. That means leading studio camera manufacturers like Thomson and Sony no longer need

Customer feedback
We have a history of quality engineering and accumulated industry knowledge and it shows in every product we design. The products we offer are designed for purpose and not a re-hashed computer screen or television monitor. The sector needs constantly refreshing in response to clients demand and technological advance. Nothing can bear testimony to this better than CountPlus and CuePlus, two new prompting accessories that will make studio life easier for on-screen talent. CuePlus caters for those with colour vision impairments and provides both a selectable colour range and multiple colour states. The ability to select from a range of colours addresses the needs of talent with colour vision impairments such as colour blindness, which often makes it difficult to distinguish reds and greens. These features also provide a solution for studios where there is a need to display not only the ‘on-air’ and ‘offair’ state of any camera, but to also pre-tally the camera being cued next. It can be mounted on and powered directly from Autoscript’s LED line of prompters. CountPlus is a new timecode generator, timecode inserter and up/ down count generator designed for use in conjunction with ClockPlus timecode displays. The user can preset and store ten different combinations of start and stop times, addressing the requirement of many live studio presenters to have separate countdowns for programme sections. Both new products are in fact remarkably simple, thoughtful and elegant solutions and a direct result of customer feedback. Only by truly listening to customers is the prompting industry going to innovate and I believe we can hold our heads up and with some justification say that Autoscript is leading the industry in this.

XBOX USB Device Ultra

http://WWW.INBROADCAST.COM

In Broadcast - May/June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - May/June 2011