20th November 2006

Viz Graphics on Netball Viz Graphics on Netball Viz Graphics on Netball

In November 2006 Televideo purchased a Vizrt system, initially to be used on the company’s newest contract, The Netball Superleague series, and on all other major events thereafter. The Televideo graphics team were extremely excited about the new equipment, as the system completely revolutionises the way graphics are used on live Outside Broadcasts.

Vizrt is the world’s leading provider of High and Standard Definition real-time 2D and 3D broadcast graphics. The technology uses mainly 3D graphics, and works using three software components: design, management, and rendering. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are created for each show the Vizrt system is used on, and these GUIs are programmed to contain all the data that will be needed for that show.

Televideo’s Netball Superleague series uses a template provided by Sky Sports, to enable all Sky Sports programmes to share the same graphics format. Before the series, Televideo’s graphics team input data into the GUI - all the players in the NSL have their own ‘file’, including their positions, statistics and photographs. The VizrT is designed in such a way that once the data has been inputted, it is simply down to the touch of a button to animate highly advanced graphics on screen.

Helen Marjoram, the graphics operator working on the netball series said of the VizRT system: ‘’The number of different graphics you can use with this system is very impressive. It makes adding graphics to a fast show like netball so easy that we can put in as many statistics as we like, whenever we like.’’ Speed of use is definitely one of the main advantages to the Vizrt system, which will now be used on all Televideo outside broadcasts that demand the technology. Other broadcasters using the system include CNN, CBS, the BBC, Sky, and ITN, and now Televideo can also deliver the ultimate visual entertainment experience directly to the television audience.