East Carolina’s Stadium Renovation Complete with Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 in Control Room

East Carolina University’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, N.C., was renovated in time for this year’s football season, adding approximately 7,000 seats, as well as a new 16:9 jumbo video screen and scoreboard that is displaying video produced through a new Broadcast Pix Slate 1000 video production system.

In the past, ECU Athletics would rent a production truck and hire local television station personnel to produce the stadium’s video presentation – an expensive approach, according to Mike Myles, producer/director, ECU Multimedia & Technology Services. Now, below the video scoreboard in the stadium, a control room has been built to provide a permanent production solution. In addition, five new Panasonic AG-HPX500 HD cameras with Fujinon lenses are positioned around the stadium to capture game action, crowd shots, halftime activities, and any presentations or ceremonies on the field during game breaks. The Broadcast Pix system was purchased from Technical Video Systems in Cary, N.C.

Myles, who serves as technical director for home football game coverage, uses a number of Fluent workflow tools during game coverage, including Fluent Clip Store, which is used to run commercials during the game, and Fluent Macros, which he used to create an animated ECU Pirates wipe. In addition, the built-in Fluent Multi-View reduced the number of monitors needed in the control room.

“I’ve been using a Slate 1000 for many years now in the medical campus studio — it is one of the best purchases we ever made,” says Myles. “I was concerned about being the TD and director on a five-camera show that had to look clean and slick, but it was easy to set up multiple effects in Fluent Macros and recall those saved effects. This will cut down on the number of effects I have to set up on the fly and make for a very clean show.”

Initially, ECU Athletics was attracted to the Slate 1000 because of its affordable price point and Myles’ familiarity with the system, recalled Greg Pierce, director of video services, ECU Athletics. With a couple of home games already complete – including last month’s home opener that actually served as the run-through for the new system – Pierce has been very pleased with the results. He said the system will be used to produce coverage of baseball and softball home games early next year, as well as soccer, volleyball, and basketball in the 2011-2012 season.

Myles adds that the Broadcast Pix system “makes it simpler and cleaner. I never have to wonder if it’s going to work.”