Re: Live sports graphics package

Not sure what piece of equipment does BBC's graphics, but I can tell you from experience the major pieces of equipment that is used in the U.S. ('cause that's my buisness!)

The Chyron Duet and Avid Deko are two of the character generators that handle a lot of the sports graphics production here. It seems that Chyron has made more inroads (or Avid has faltered, depending on your perspective) in the last year or so. Both devices basically do the same thing - allow all types of graphics to be displayed and updated and edited quickly and in real time. Clips & audio can be part of the mix, and animation can be created in the box (not necessarily relying on After Effects for the animation, although AE will probably be used to create the elements. The strength of these 2 devices are flexibility and relative ease of use. Weaknesses include 3-D capabilities.

VizRT is used by CBS, ESPN and NFL Network for its graphics...it is not a character generator, per se, but functions as one in these networks scheme of things. You cannot easily change a template on the Viz (unless you are capable or authoring and scripting the scenes). It has a much, much higher learning curve than the Deko or Duet to program successully (although playing stuff back on the Viz is rather easy, since you can't do much with it, other than play it out, and play it off the screen). In other words, if it aint in the template, it aint. One of the strengths of the Viz box is its live 3-D rendering capabilities. One of its' weaknesses is flexibility.

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Broadcast Design and Animation
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