Customer:Channel 4 News

Industry:TV Broadcasting

Business opportunity:• Provision of video walls for new news studio

Solution:• Viz Engine software driving 3 x 2 video walls

of Barco cubes - OV-508 50” XGA DLP™ projection modules via AMD FirePro™ professional graphics

Business impact:• Reduced cost of acquisition and operation• Reduced complexity

Outstanding resultsWeston explains, “Around this time, Vizrt in Austria had been working with AMD to develop our graphics offer to work with the ATI FirePro™ V9800 professional graphics card and we thought this would be the way forward.” He continues, “We carried out some tests here in the UK with the card and our software: the results were outstanding.” The ATI FirePro V9800 is the most advanced professional graphics solution in the AMD range. With 4GB memory capacity, the ATI FirePro V9800 offers AMD Eyefinity technology support for up to six independent displays from a single graphics card.

From three boxes to oneWeston again, “There was no limitation we could see on the graphics card. Thanks to AMD Eyefinity, we needed just one card to drive all six displays in the video wall and so we could provide a more cost-effective solution than Channel 4 News asked for. Channel 4 News now has two video walls, each of which is driven by one of our systems running Viz Engine™.” He adds, “Previously, we would have needed one control box driving the video wall, two render engines and a control PC as well as something to sync it all. Instead of three boxes, we now only need one.”

Saving over £20,000Andrew Colgan, Technical Projects Manager, ITN points out, “Channel 4 News was keen to keep costs down and so went with our recommendation. The Vizrt solution takes out one whole tier so that the ATI FirePro V9800 is in effect the video wall. It was the only card on the market that allowed us to work this way. I estimate we’ve saved well over £20,000 because the V9800 has six outputs whereas with some other suppliers we would have needed more cards and more workstations and... significantly more money!”

A new brand for the newsChannel 4 News, the news division of public service broadcaster Channel 4, is noted for its extensive coverage of international news and excellent background reports on current affairs and has been regularly awarded by the Royal Television Society, BAFTA, Broadcast, Amnesty International and One World. In 2010, the channel embarked on a revamp of its whole image, including the fitting out of a new studio with high resolution video walls. Thanks to ITN, Vizrt and AMD, Channel 4 News has two new video walls that were delivered on time, working and at a significantly lower cost than the competition.

Vizrt In business for more than 15 years, Vizrt serves the digital media industry with content production tools from award-winning 3D graphics and maps through to integrated video workflow solutions and online publishing tools. The company has over 40 offices worldwide and almost 600 employees. From its Ealing, UK office, with 15 sales and technical staff the company serves its extensive customer base including such prestige customers as the BBC and Sky, as well as ITN and Channel 4 News.

Reducing cost through more effective solutions ITN, one of the world’s leading news and multimedia content companies, provides a complete range of technical services to Channel 4 News and as part of that was asked to supply, implement and support the new video walls. James Weston, Systems Specialist at Vizrt UK, takes up the story, “As a long term supplier to ITN already, we were asked by them to tender for the new video wall system. As technology gets cheaper and better, everyone, and that includes broadcasters, is looking to reduce costs through more effective solutions. Our challenge was to create a highly cost effective solution and at the same time maintain the high levels of quality and performance that ITN had come to expect from us.”

“I reckon we’ve saved well over £20,000 because the V9800 has six outputs whereas with some other suppliers we would have needed more cards and more workstations and...significantly more money!”Andrew Colgan, Technical Projects Manager, ITN

Channel 4 News saves over £20,000 on new video walls

And now...today’s top story

1AMD Eyefinity technology can support multiple displays using a single enabled AMD FirePro™ professional GPU; the number of supported displays varies by AMD FirePro product model. Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, or Linux® is required in order to support more than 2 displays. Depending on the product model, native DisplayPort™ connectors and/or certified DisplayPort™ active or passive adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your AMD FirePro product’s DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s) maybe required. See www.amd.com/firepro for details. SLS (“Single Large Surface”) functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays. The AIT FirePro™ V9800 offers 6 (six) mini-DisplayPort 1.1 compliant display device outputs.

Viz Content Pilot and Viz Engine are trademarks of Vizrt

© 2012 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD arrow logo, FirePro and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All other products names are for reference only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

AT I F I R E P R O ™ V 9 8 0 0 PROFESSIONAL GRAPHICS

For more information, visit www.amd.com/firepro

AMD FirePro™ Fast Facts• ATI FirePro V9800 4 GB• HP Z800 workstation driving a 3 x 2 video wall• 6 x Barco OV-508 50” XGA DLP™ projection

modules. • Total wall resolution of 3073 x 1536

Tight integrationColgan continues, “Cost was not the only criteria. Integration was important, too. The video walls are driven through a Viz Content PilotTM system, which means that in the gallery the vision mixer can control the video wall from keys on the desk. The lead director can get everything templated in iNews, our newsroom computer system, before the show allowing the vision mixer to drive the video wall from a dedicated playlist. That results in much slicker presentation. When the next story is coming up, the next wall can be previewed and animations can be inserted between stories on the wall, and live video can be injected.” Colgan adds, “This really tight integration means that there is no need for a convoluted system of driving the video wall and no need for a person just to drive the video wall. It’s just so much easier.”

Adding detail, Colgan says, “The solution comprises an ATI FirePro V9800 in a HP Z800 workstation driving a 3 x 2 video wall of Barco 50” cubes. Each V9800 output provides 1024 x 768 pixels which gives a total wall resolution of 3073 x 1536 - significantly better than HD. Viz Engine renders all the video and graphics that you see on the video wall, in real time - live video, live HD clips, animated 2D and 3D scenes, graphics and so on.”

An amazing businessSumming up, Vizrt’s Weston comments, “I don’t think we could have done this without the relationship we have with the FirePro guys. They already knew the Barco system and they picked up our system so quickly. We were in communications on a day to day basis and any questions that we had, they answered. It was then just a matter of piecing it all together. Effectively, it worked out of the box. It was as simple as that. The last time I spoke to the guys at ITN and Channel 4 News, the walls had been running on air for four months.” Weston concludes, “This was an exciting project to work on because it all happened so quickly. The guys at ITN don’t hang around and if they want something done, they want it done yesterday. The whole video wall project took just under two months from proof of concept to live operation. Trust me, that is amazing in the broadcast business.”