WWAY station in a box

Case study
WWAY
station in a box
WWAY integrated news production
WWAY utilizes virtual set technology combined with a single-box control room solution to build a
cost-effective workflow for producing daily newscasts.
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WWAY integrated news production
Station in a box
Integrated news production and playout
Improved operations at reduced cost
File-based flexibility
Getting more for less
Case study video
System diagram
Viz Virtual Studio configuration
Static and virtual cameras
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WWAY integrated news production
In the spring of 2013, WWAY TV3 Chief Engineer Billy Stratton told management at parent company
Morris Network, Inc. (a division of Morris Multimedia, Inc.) that he wanted to build a new type of
newsroom production workflow that replaced an existing hard set and aging control room and
standalone cameras with a virtual set, robotic cameras and the ability to control the station’s entire
newscast with one person sitting at a computer keyboard, Needless to say, more than a few
eyebrows were raised.
Stratton wanted to eliminate the traditional production switcher. Studio cameras should be
manipulated with a joystick control panel and taken to air quickly, complete with virtual camera moves.
Traditional switcher capabilities—such as cut, dissolve, transition, interstitial, fade to black, fade up
from black—should be controlled via a software interface that also handled the virtual set templates,
on-air graphics and titles, and MOS newsroom integration as digital files stored on a server. This
became the basis of the solution provided by Vizrt.
As an early adopter of digital technology, WWAY-TV, the local ABC station in Wilmington, North
Carolina (and Morris’ flagship property), had been broadcasting in widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio)
high-definition (HD) since late 2009; but it was still using a 4:3 set left over from its analog days. So, it
was time for s studio makeover.
Station in a box
The system Stratton put in place at WWAY-TV, includes two 3D graphics rendering and video playout
platforms (Viz Engine), an easy to use GUI (Viz Trio) and highly flexible “trackless” virtual set software
(Viz Virtual Studio) all supplied and implemented by Vizrt. The Viz Trio software is used in tandem
with Viz Engine to playout all graphics and clips to air and as the automation dashboard.
“WWAY is using Viz Trio as their switcher and automation system combined,” said David Jorba,
Executive Vice President of Operations at Vizrt Americas. “We are providing stations with the option
to eliminate all of their legacy gear and replacing it with a new way of thinking about how news
production and broadcast is accomplished. In our model, it’s all done through a single interface,
instead of several different pieces of equipment saving a great deal of money and creating an
extremely easy workflow.”
Integrated news production and playout
Using Vizrt's Viz Pilot (used by non-technical reporters and producers to create graphics templates),
news editors set up their graphics within AP’s ENPS as well as preview how that graphic will look.
This saves significant time compared to the way WWAY-TV’s editors worked. Previously, they first
requested various graphics, then the production team would create them send them back for approval.
“This took way too much time and manpower,” Stratton said. “With the Viz Pilot, there still may need
to be a graphic produced from time to time, but once one is generated it goes into the database for all
to use again in the future.”
Video clips are acquired in a “basic, simple way.” As WWAY-TV’s reporters are basically one-manbands, they go out and shoot their own video for their story. They come back to the newsroom and
connect their camera to their desktop edit station. They edit their package(s) and render them out to
their desktop. Each desktop has a shortcut to the Viz Engine that plays out the video clips. They drag
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and drop their clips into that shortcut folder. The clips are then stored in the Vizrt system where the
MOS interface is looking for them, finds them, and then clears them for playback in the playlist.
WWAY has 16 edit stations in its newsroom plus two laptops that can be taken on the road for editing.
WWAY’s system has been running so successfully that a sister station, WXXV-TV, a Fox affiliate in
Gulfport, Mississippi, has also installed a similar system to streamline its news production processes.
And it’s improved the on-air look of both stations, which has attracted viewer attention and improved
ratings. Morris Network is now looking to replicate the model at some of its four other television
stations (it owns 11 network affiliates originating from six physical station locations) located
throughout the states of in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee.
The station, which now produces about 16 hours of news programming per week, is also adding a
new 30-minute newscast for the CW network from the same studio; but with a different virtual set look.
The news department at WWAY-TV is also planning to add new virtual looks for its popular sports and
local and national elections coverage.
Improved operations at reduced cost
However, the best part, according to Stratton, is that the system is infinitely flexible and the hardware
is configured in a 2RU box that costs a third of a traditional virtual set studio set up.
The new studio includes four fixed Panasonic pan/tilt/zoom cameras and a green-screen backdrop
upon which three basic “looks” are inserted into the main program output (for News, Sports and
Weather). The Vizrt technology also allows live video to be inserted into virtual monitors on set, which
WWAY-TV has done.
“The real advantage here is that we don’t have expensive hardware, yet we still have a great-looking
show on the air,” said Stratton. “If anything breaks, we go to the local electronics store and replace it.
We can also control the entire newscast from one operator station, reducing our need for more human
resources.”
“The solution had to be cost-effective first, and then be reliable,” he said. “We now have a system that
is easy to use and also totally flexible enough to allow us to present different looks for our shows in
ways we never could before with a hard set.”
File-based flexibility
The IT-centric nature of the Vizrt technology is such that new software modules—from incorporating
social media and live lower-third ticker modules to other types of data-driven applications—can be
added with time. This expandability future-proofs WWAY’s “Station in a Box” strategy and ensures a
relatively fast return on investment. It also allows for a lot of creative experimentation and the ability to
launch new programs quickly.
Yet, at the end of the day, it’s the viewers that have to approve of the new look; and Stratton said they
overwhelmingly do.
“Viewer reaction has been wonderful because our on-air image is so much cleaner, sharper and
brighter,” he said. “The difference from before we installed the Vizrt equipment is like night and day.
It’s really that much more improved and the versatility it provides has been a real advantage for us
over our competitors.”
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Convincing other engineers within the Morris Network family of stations that this new concept is
“broadcast ready” has been slow and steady. However, as Stratton points out, they are coming
around, as the benefits are obvious. WWAY used to have a graphics system that took up eight input
channels on their old production switcher. “With the Vizrt system, you don’t need any inputs for
graphics or video clips. And you can have router sources on a couple of your other inputs, so virtually
anything on your router can be put to air,” saving the station money in having to buy extra hardware it
does not need.
Getting more for less
“Local stations are looking for ways to improve their production capabilities on limited budgets,” Vizrt’s
David Jorba said. “That often means streamlining your operations with less people and physical
hardware. From the same Vizrt box you can do video playout, live video, and graphics. In the past you
needed a different box for everything. So, if you have one output for every source, it makes sense to
have one control interface for everything as well. That’s how we’re helping stations save money as
they upgrade their studios.”
“I think within ten years virtual sets will penetrate the news industry in a big way,” WWAY-TV’s
Stratton said. “News stations used to be afraid of virtual technology, but companies like Vizrt have
made it much simpler and easier to use, and it’s completely reliable. That’s what we need in the news
business.”
Case study video
https://vimeo.com/84593727
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System diagram
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Viz Virtual Studio configuration
The Morris stations have very few hard set elements, and much of their set is virtual, composited
within Viz Engine. This is different from most virtual set installations because there is no tracking data
coming from the cameras. Instead the cameras are placed in a single location and never moved. The
virtual cameras in the Viz Artist scene are placed to match.
The newsdesk is the only physical element of the virtual studio
Static and virtual cameras
Morris stations employ a number of static cameras. Even though these are used with the virtual set,
they do not deliver any tracking data to Vizrt. The output of each camera is brought into Viz Engine
and connected with a virtual camera through the virtual set scene.
The cameras cannot be allowed to be moved, panned, or adjusted in any way, otherwise the user will
have realign the virtual cameras to match the real cameras.
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Physical cameras are locked into position
Virtual cameras placed in the virtual set scene.
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Virtual set scene right with reporter set.
Virtual set scene left with weather set.
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