The basics are pretty well covered. I retired a few years ago after 40 years in the business. I was a TD and CG Op most of that time. I go way way way back to the Chiron II in the 70’s, to Chyron IV in the 80’s which was the gold standard of CG’s, all the way to the current Duet.
As a former Graphics op and now Programme Director I can confirm all this is correct! Excellent video. My only criticism is use of a Ross switcher - Grass Valley ‘til I die!
This is great! Nice Job. We have a new Ross switcher at our college and we're just using the Xpression software that came with it with a low end Dell Precision pushing to two frame buffers. After a year we are barely scratching the surface of it's capabilities.
It's great that Ross is still bundling the designer version of XPression with the Carbonite switchers. Really helps people get into it as an entry point!
One thing not mentioned is that the graphics look is prebuilt, often by a person/company that doesn’t work the show. When building the look, the builder decides if a spreadsheet has to be linked. A dummy spreadsheet is built then. For example the away team’s name is in cell A1, “Detroit”, A2 “Tigers”, home team name, B1, etc,etc. We use what is called a “title page”, it tells the viewers who is playing and where. If you look at the title page before sending the page to the frame buffers you will see almost a html type code that is telling the graphics machine to read certain spreadsheet cells where the code is. You have to “link” the spreadsheet location, Windows file path, so the CG’s software knows where to find the data. Someone has to sit and update/load that template spreadsheet otherwise this system doesn’t work. The good part of this type of system is that you can use a stats company to provide the data, you connect the CG to a remote server. This concept also works for stocks info, weather info or sports scores.
Something that vaguely resembles a traditional character generator at the bottom end of the pricing spectrum is the hot commodity right now, particularly with Black Magic's introduction of the 8 input ATEM Extreme models. And look though I might, I have not been able to find anything that reasonably fits into that hole. Cayman Graphics, at about 600 bucks, is the cheapest thing I've been able to find that looks remotely like a traditional CG, and I can't learn whether the company is still in business or not - they don't seem to be answering their mail. Or Twitter. Haven't tried calling them yet. :-) The optimal solution would be something - 2D though it might be - that could run on the new Raspberry Pi 400 with dual HDMI outputs, then only costs about 70 bucks. But for some reason, this seems to be a difficult marketspace to introspect. Do you have any pointers to stuff I'm missing?
@@BroadcastBuddyTV I have not been able to find that Caspar has anything available that even vaguely resembles a traditional interactive CG user front-end. Do you know of something that I missed? Additionally, it seems pretty firmly married to Adobe Flash, which is really most sincerely dead.
It takes a little finagling with HTML templates, but there is a way you can make dynamic text fields and animations. I don't recall the flash limitations (could have sworn it was HTML 5 based but I could be totally wrong with that!) I know there's a few tutorials on YT for getting it set up
@@BroadcastBuddyTV sure, but that was still a sidebar. You can't just sit down to it like a Chyron or a Cayman or Inscriber and start building pages in a job...?
Nah nothing like that. It doesn't have a design area. Everything would have to be made externally then brought in, then the text fields would have to be made to be dynamic via HTML. A little cumbersome, but once it's working, the operation of it is similar. Definitely not for e, but again a good solution for teaching and for free. It's also pretty popular in Europe :)
Wait I am kind of confused about the key... Most modern switchers have a good ability to do DSK. Are there currently times things are been fed in to the graphics unit to deal with it vs having the switcher do a basic alpha key to do a DSK? The first graphic units I owned functioned as DSK(eyers). I didn't think this was still a thing other than maybe a bug put VERY downstream. Can anyone give insight?
Interesting and informative! I'm working with a local company in Orange County California to build a graphics machine with a Decklink 8k pro SDI card. Do you have any CG machines? Where they prebuilt, or did you custom design them?
Hi! I have a custom PC that I've built with an AJA Corvid 88 IO card that has a license of Ross Video's XPression on it. But I've also built PCs for high schools that are just Blackmagic Decklink Studio cards, using their "live key" software. Some manufacturers require you to buy their CG software with their turnkey hardware solutions to ensure stability in the field. Others are more open to selling just the software and letting you take care of hardware side.
In my experience Graphic Operators usually have a Font Coordinator that tells them what to put out on air and when, while the Director is busy with everything else
![Audio Mixers [Understanding the Basics]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RGtAleLcma0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Audio Mixers [Understanding the Basics]](/img/tr.png)
![Camera Control Units [Understanding the Basics]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ACDmWBS2HV4/mqdefault.jpg)
Character generator sounds very old fashion. Classic! I love the paper cutting part. Very easy to understand for newbies.
The basics are pretty well covered. I retired a few years ago after 40 years in the business. I was a TD and CG Op most of that time. I go way way way back to the Chiron II in the 70’s, to Chyron IV in the 80’s which was the gold standard of CG’s, all the way to the current Duet.
As a former Graphics op and now Programme Director I can confirm all this is correct! Excellent video. My only criticism is use of a Ross switcher - Grass Valley ‘til I die!
OMG THE PAPER PART HELPED ME SO MUCH. Im learning from 0, Thank you.
This is great! Nice Job. We have a new Ross switcher at our college and we're just using the Xpression software that came with it with a low end Dell Precision pushing to two frame buffers. After a year we are barely scratching the surface of it's capabilities.
It's great that Ross is still bundling the designer version of XPression with the Carbonite switchers. Really helps people get into it as an entry point!
One such feature of some CG systems like Ross Video Xpression is integration with newsroom systems like ENPS via MOS protocol.
Very well done instructional video. Thank you!
You, my friend, are excellent! I learn a lot and easily on top of that
Great content!
I love your channel I'm learning so much. I starting a Livestream company and I'm learning from the big boys. Thank you!
Ay, thanks for making it
It'd be interesting to know how the CG talks to a spreadsheet.
One thing not mentioned is that the graphics look is prebuilt, often by a person/company that doesn’t work the show.
When building the look, the builder decides if a spreadsheet has to be linked. A dummy spreadsheet is built then. For example the away team’s name is in cell A1, “Detroit”, A2 “Tigers”, home team name, B1, etc,etc. We use what is called a “title page”, it tells the viewers who is playing and where. If you look at the title page before sending the page to the frame buffers you will see almost a html type code that is telling the graphics machine to read certain spreadsheet cells where the code is. You have to “link” the spreadsheet location, Windows file path, so the CG’s software knows where to find the data.
Someone has to sit and update/load that template spreadsheet otherwise this system doesn’t work. The good part of this type of system is that you can use a stats company to provide the data, you connect the CG to a remote server. This concept also works for stocks info, weather info or sports scores.
Love the Ross XPression! Nice vid.
Very nice as always!
please cover esports brodcasts also
Love your stuff!
Something that vaguely resembles a traditional character generator at the bottom end of the pricing spectrum is the hot commodity right now, particularly with Black Magic's introduction of the 8 input ATEM Extreme models.
And look though I might, I have not been able to find anything that reasonably fits into that hole. Cayman Graphics, at about 600 bucks, is the cheapest thing I've been able to find that looks remotely like a traditional CG, and I can't learn whether the company is still in business or not - they don't seem to be answering their mail. Or Twitter. Haven't tried calling them yet. :-)
The optimal solution would be something - 2D though it might be - that could run on the new Raspberry Pi 400 with dual HDMI outputs, then only costs about 70 bucks.
But for some reason, this seems to be a difficult marketspace to introspect. Do you have any pointers to stuff I'm missing?
Have you looked into Casper CG? I installed that in a high school. It's pretty good for a free software
@@BroadcastBuddyTV I have not been able to find that Caspar has anything available that even vaguely resembles a traditional interactive CG user front-end. Do you know of something that I missed?
Additionally, it seems pretty firmly married to Adobe Flash, which is really most sincerely dead.
It takes a little finagling with HTML templates, but there is a way you can make dynamic text fields and animations. I don't recall the flash limitations (could have sworn it was HTML 5 based but I could be totally wrong with that!) I know there's a few tutorials on YT for getting it set up
@@BroadcastBuddyTV sure, but that was still a sidebar. You can't just sit down to it like a Chyron or a Cayman or Inscriber and start building pages in a job...?
Nah nothing like that. It doesn't have a design area. Everything would have to be made externally then brought in, then the text fields would have to be made to be dynamic via HTML. A little cumbersome, but once it's working, the operation of it is similar. Definitely not for e, but again a good solution for teaching and for free. It's also pretty popular in Europe :)
Wait I am kind of confused about the key... Most modern switchers have a good ability to do DSK. Are there currently times things are been fed in to the graphics unit to deal with it vs having the switcher do a basic alpha key to do a DSK? The first graphic units I owned functioned as DSK(eyers). I didn't think this was still a thing other than maybe a bug put VERY downstream. Can anyone give insight?
Interesting and informative! I'm working with a local company in Orange County California to build a graphics machine with a Decklink 8k pro SDI card. Do you have any CG machines? Where they prebuilt, or did you custom design them?
Hi!
I have a custom PC that I've built with an AJA Corvid 88 IO card that has a license of Ross Video's XPression on it. But I've also built PCs for high schools that are just Blackmagic Decklink Studio cards, using their "live key" software.
Some manufacturers require you to buy their CG software with their turnkey hardware solutions to ensure stability in the field. Others are more open to selling just the software and letting you take care of hardware side.
I would love to see a custom 1U or 2U graphics machine build. From my research, the pre-built hardware that the graphics company sells are overpriced.
In my experience Graphic Operators usually have a Font Coordinator that tells them what to put out on air and when, while the Director is busy with everything else
Most of the Bally Sports shows don’t have a font coord. Talking NBA, NHL & MLB shows.
How many layers in CG.
Is the On-Air sign real? If so, where'd you get it?
Sure is! It was an Etsy find actually. MKNEON is the name of the artist who made it... Based out of Hong Kong.
You can do a video how titles is work in news broadcasting like “CNN”?