Xavier University sports fans attending games at the school’s Cintas Center in Cincinnati are enjoying a newly renovated arena that includes a new LED video screen, which is controlled through a Broadcast Pix Slate 5000 integrated video production system. The 10,250-seat arena originally opened in 2000.
On game days, a crew of about 14 students and three professional staff members handles the entire production, from operating spotlights and LED elements to pulling cables. The video presentation is managed by a three-person crew, including a technical director and audio engineer in the control room and a floor manager on the sideline. The director uses the Slate to switch between three Hitachi triax cameras, two truck feeds, an Apple Final Cut Pro system for in-game highlights and two slow-motion feeds.
Sponsorship graphics are handled separately through an ANC VisionSOFT system, but the Slate’s built-in Fluent software workflow tools simplify in-game graphics and clip playback.
Before integrating Slate into its workflow, Cintas Center staff relied on DVDs and Final Cut Pro for media playback. Now, Fluent Clips and Fluent Graphics allows easy access to clips, player graphics and more.
Fluent’s multiviewer was also a big selling point for the school because the control room at Cintas Center has very limited space. The Slate’s built-in multiviewer replaced 17 monitors with one 46in LCD and two secondary 19in LCD monitors. The production team is also using Broadcast Pix Fluent macros to create broadcast-style replay wipes before and during games.
