Fremont, CA - June 8, 2016 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Proton Global Media Group installed several Blackmagic Design products, including two Blackmagic Studio Camera 4Ks and five Micro Studio Camera 4Ks, to simulcast the radio program “Financial Issues with Dan Celia” to more than 600 stations across the country. The program is also seen daily on the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Television Network, reaching 45 million households, as well as on BizTV, reaching more than 50 million households in major markets, in addition to other independent radio and TV stations.
“Financial Issues with Dan Celia” is a nationally syndicated two hour live call-in Christian radio show based in Philadelphia. Each day, Celia takes calls and answers questions of listeners and viewers all over the country, discussing financial stewardship, investments, the economy and the markets from a biblical perspective. It features regular high profile guests, some of which include Steve Forbes, Ben Stein and T. Boone Pickens, along with several recent potential republican presidential candidates. Upon seeing the radio show’s success throughout the country, the show’s sponsors decided to launch a television simulcast. After testing a one camera setup and receiving excellent ratings, they decided to upgrade to a full fledged studio.
With a tight budget and only two full time staff members, including senior producer Kae Hester and host Dan Celia, the Financial Issues team turned to Florida-based systems integrator Proton Global Media Group to address the challenge. According to Ricky Perinchief, Vice President & General Manager at Proton Global, Kae wanted to implement as many cameras as they could to capture multiple angles. But without the ability to man every camera with its own camera operator, they also needed the new upgrades to be as automated as possible.
Ricky installed two Blackmagic Studio Camera 4Ks and five Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4Ks in the “Financial Issues” studio. The Studio Camera 4Ks are the main cameras on tripods, while the Micro Studio Camera 4Ks are positioned throughout the studio: one panning back and forth on an automated slider, one on a jib, one in a static spot above the desk to see the host’s computer screen, one getting a wide shot of the whole studio and the remaining camera shooting various side angles of the studio.
According to Ricky, “They really love the image quality and clarity in the cameras. They are impressed with the high quality 4K imagery and the fact that the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K and Micro Studio Camera 4K have the same sensor. That way they can combine the Studio Camera 4Ks, which provide more of the studio experience, with the Micro Studio Camera 4Ks for an even more affordable price and a matching look, and achieve a really impressive multi camera setup.”
Each camera feed goes into a Blackmagic Design ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K for live switching, and Kae uses ATEM’s software control panel to control the cameras remotely, which is crucial for the two man setup.
Ricky also installed an UltraStudio 4K for capture and playback, which controls the output from a Mac computer and allows them to do live graphical crawls, so they are able to include stock quotes and financial news headlines in the program in real time.Ricky also installed a Hyperdeck Studio Pro for recording and said the latest ATEM Switcher 6.8 Update from Blackmagic Design has been very useful, as Kae is now able record and play back on the HyperDeck through the ATEM. Also by using the HyperDeck for recording, Kae can post highlights from the show on YouTube after each show. The show is shot in 4K and downconverted via the ATEM to HD for broadcasting, but with a big online following and a full 4K workflow at their fingertips, they plan to start recording and posting 4K videos to YouTube very soon.
“It is great that Blackmagic Design made these products so affordable, especially as they are capable of 4K,” said Ricky. “For anyone just starting out in 4K, it can be intimidating. But knowing they could shoot and record in 4K and then downconvert and broadcast in HD gave Dan and Kae the comfortability that they aren’t going to have to just replace everything again in a couple of years. They love the ecosystem of having everything talk to each other and communicate, which makes for a very easy workflow.”
Press Photography
Product photos of Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K, Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K, ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K, UltraStudio 4K, HyperDeck Studio Pro and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.
