BILLERICA, MASS. – The Village of Niles, Ill., is preparing to broadcast its first meeting with a system built around a Broadcast Pix Mica 2000 Video Production Center.
The project had a number of challenges, including a limited budget and no dedicated staff in place to operate the system. The final solution needed to be powerful enough to create compelling coverage, yet simple enough to be operated by one person with minimal training. Bill Shaw, MIS director for the Village of Niles, population 30,000, and systems engineer, Steve Cusick, engineered and installed the production system. In an effort to manage costs, every line item—from cables to cameras—was sent out to bid to more than three dozen vendors. In the end, 14 vendors provided various equipment for the project. While Shaw admitted it was a “very complicated” process, it was also the only way the Village could afford a system that would meet their objectives.
While the Village has been training on the system since late September, it will be used to broadcast its first meeting in December. Meetings will be available in HD for live streaming and video-on-demand on the village’s Web site, and will be broadcast live and rebroadcast in SD on the village’s PEG cable channel.
The large closet containing the audio rack for the Council Chambers in Village Hall was converted to serve as the control room. The council chambers are equipped with four Panasonic HD robotic cameras that are controlled through the Mica; a projector in chambers is another source that can be accessed through the switcher. Mica’s built-in Fluent-View provides customized multi-view monitoring over two LCD touch-screens in the control room, while the integrated Inscriber CG is used for titles and credits.
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