Election coverage is certainly one of the most demanding of productions in today`s broadcasting environment. Intensive information is updated by the second and has to be visualized in the clearest possible manner. The demand for exciting and innovative ways to deliver ‘up-to-the-second’ results grows continually, challenging the day-to-day operation of the broadcaster.
Even for the largest broadcasters, putting together an all-encompassing election solution is not obvious and requires months of preparations. It is not uncommon to find that broadcasters are putting together a task force made out of the different divisions in order to deal with the special characteristics of election coverage.
After pioneering this field over a decade ago, Orad realizes the challenges broadcasts are facing when producing an election event. Over the years Orad gained hands on know-how that was translated into a better solution for its growing number of customers.
All TV graphics and animations including pie charts, bars graphs and many more are created using Orad`s 3Designer authoring tool. This remarkably easy to operate software allows graphic designer to create templates of graphics and animations that are then automatically pumped with election data retrieved from the relevant database. 3Designer offers a ready-made tool kit for creating internal connections between different elements within the template. For example the height of a bar that represents a certain party can be linked with the voting percentage or with the color of the bar. In such a case its enough to set connection between the database to one of the objects to automatically influence all other elements. Furthermore, 3Designer features mathematical functions capabilities that allow easy calculation of % and other statistics, making the election data manipulation simple and efficient.
Often broadcasters wish to illustrate the election status either with maps describing the different voting region by region in the country, or by using a 3D model of the houses of parliament being filled in correlation with the voting count of each of the parties. Such objects are created in non real time modelling software such as 3D Studio Max and than can be imported into 3Designer along with their textures and animations. Then by simply pumping in the relevant election data, the different regions in the map are automatically coloured or the house of parliaments’ seats are dynamically allocated based on the incoming information.
Interfacing with election databases and then manipulating the data before sending it to air is another key foundation of any election coverage. As part of its solution Orad provides an open architecture API that allows interfacing with any type of database. The interface is done in a simple drag & drop operation and no programming skills are required for such a task.
On top of election TV graphics Orad offers two types of environments in which an election event can take place.
The transition to HD based broadcasting sets another challenge for broadcasters during elections. Orad`s HDVG rendering platform is geared to accommodate both HD and SD modes of operation with all HD formats supported. The HDVG is the backbone rendering platform for all of the Orad`s solutions, and is equipped with an unmatched number of video insertions, up to 8 video insertions in SD or up to 3 in HD mode are provided. Additionally the HDVG is equipped with 2 independent output channels, one can be set for program while the other as a preview, saving the need for an additional box just for preview. Reliability and redundancy are a must when an election event is considered. Dual power supply, running on Linux operating system and other unique features of the HDVG ensures smooth election coverage.
Over the years Orad gained an extensive know-how in producing election events, providing various types of services from hands-on management of the election event itself to graphics design and consultant services all based on customer needs. NDTV India, WDR Germany, Channel 10 Israel, Sky UK, TV 2 Portugal, TeleMadrid Spain, TVR Romania, MBC Korea are just few of the customers that took the advantage of Orad`s election coverage system.
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