CalItalian2 163 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Every major station in Los Angeles interrupted their regular programming late this afternoon for hours to report on the large water main break on Sunset Blvd. in Westwood that was flooding many major facilities at UCLA. KNBC decided to use their "new cell phone technology" and paid the price. All that Colleen and Chuck could do was continually say this is new technology and apologize. Most of the time you couldn't hear the reporter or anyone being interviewed and the picture was so blurry, it was giving me a headache. It was like a small market operation testing out their equipment on air for the first time... Pathetic and inexcusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The fact of the matter is that bonded cellular technology should never be used in times of emergency. While this emergency isn't the same level as the Boston marathon bombings - the fact of the matter is when people crowd at a scene in this case a water main break the cellular capacity will decrease. But I find it odd that UCLA is maybe 15 miles from their Universal City studios that they couldn't send a proper live truck out there to cover the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Did they use a cellphone to capture video and trasmit live or where they hooked up to one of those "backpacks"? About 6 months ago, KNSD actually did a live shot with an iphone, it was so crappy that the anchor was forced to apologize and mention that the live report was being done via iphone. I can see why they would want to do this, but like rkolsen poitns out, during an emergency, it should not be used. Not to mention that they're on a college campus during a major event- did they not think that the students, staff, emergency crews and other media would be on their phones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Universal City is an IT/web guy's wonder place. Their news gathering operation looks more like they want to compete against the TMZ's of the world. (Yes I do know that the technology is used for broadcast for KNBC.) From the looks of their new studio, I wouldn't be surprised they are doing this. They knew what they were getting into when they were moving from a signature operation build for the telley, to a generic office building with generic no-name brand equipment, no name news room (never saw a 4 on that flickr page a while back) and no TV built looking news operation. The above comments + what I see = the duck test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Universal City is an IT/web guy's wonder place. Their news gathering operation looks more like they want to compete against the TMZ's of the world. (Yes I do know that the technology is used for broadcast for KNBC.) From the looks of their new studio, I wouldn't be surprised they are doing this. They knew what they were getting into when they were moving from a signature operation build for the telley, to a generic office building with generic no-name brand equipment, no name news room (never saw a 4 on that flickr page a while back) and no TV built looking news operation. The above comments + what I see = the duck test. I just can't :bang: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalItalian2 163 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Chuck was the one who was doing the most apologizing. The thing was, they didn't just use it once, they used it for most all of the on the ground live reporting on UCLA property for about 2 hours and it never really worked. Their helicopter shots, like everyone else, were great but you can't get into an underground garage with a helicopter. Going into the underground garage live and showing the water rising, as they tried to do, would have been great if it had worked. I was monitoring all L.A. tv station coverage and nobody was in the garage when they were but it didn't matter since it was unwatchable. No other tv station in L.A. appeared to try and use, thank goodness. Chuck did make mention of cellphone "conjestion" on air...and an iphone... He seemed the most frustrated by their coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProButtonPusher 230 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Bonded Cellular/TVU/LiveU links do suffer in high-congestion areas, but they are far-and-away the best way to get on the air quickly in a Breaking News situation. You can break-down your shot in a matter of seconds if you need to move, you can easily do walk-and-talks, and you aren't confined to the length of your truck's cable reel. The operator at the station/receive site should have kicked up the latency (delay), so the video would have more time to render. It would have caused a 4-5 second delay between the anchors/reporter, but if you don't have the anchor asking a specific question, the director or producer can cue the talent early to cut the awkward silence down to a minimum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Hey, they could've been KABC: [yt]6T_k1cVkOzc[/yt] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I just can't :bang: excuse me? Is there something wrong that you don't like about what I write? If you are so frustrated, then PM me than teasing to the whole group. Bonded Cellular/TVU/LiveU links do suffer in high-congestion areas, but they are far-and-away the best way to get on the air quickly in a Breaking News situation. You can break-down your shot in a matter of seconds if you need to move, you can easily do walk-and-talks, and you aren't confined to the length of your truck's cable reel. The operator at the station/receive site should have kicked up the latency (delay), so the video would have more time to render. It would have caused a 4-5 second delay between the anchors/reporter, but if you don't have the anchor asking a specific question, the director or producer can cue the talent early to cut the awkward silence down to a minimum. I'd rather ingest the shots to like a 2 minute delay then re-run it as a "b-roll" and say "new video to the Channel 4 Newsroom." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Universal City is an IT/web guy's wonder place. Their news gathering operation looks more like they want to compete against the TMZ's of the world. (Yes I do know that the technology is used for broadcast for KNBC.) From the looks of their new studio, I wouldn't be surprised they are doing this. They knew what they were getting into when they were moving from a signature operation build for the telley, to a generic office building with generic no-name brand equipment, no name news room (never saw a 4 on that flickr page a while back) and no TV built looking news operation. The above comments + what I see = the duck test. There could be a few reasons why there was no 4 in the no name newsroom, the first of a which was when those flickr photos were taken the building wasn't fully operational (half the desks didn't even have monitors on them) and they were in the process of doing rehearsals. A second reason could be that they moved into a brand new state of the art facility is that they do not want to tacky it up by plastering logos all around. But I think the real reason there was no 4 is because the newsroom is shared with the Telemundo affiliate they probably would rather use digital signage for their brand so a giant red T would not be seen on the flash cam when NBC is live and their won't be a giant peacock in the background when Telemundo is live. Second there is nothing wrong with that news set - they went to a very contemporary style. They bought a lot of name brand equipment such as Ross' Over Drive automation, their Cambot camera robotics (probably second best aside from Vinten Radamec), Chyron graphics(I'd go with VizRT), Calrec audio consoles, Sony cameras (if they wanted to go cheap this is where they'd cut money from by using a small box camera for $10,000 rather than a $100,000 Sony camera), Avid iNews, Grass Valley editing system and Grass Valley router at the heart of the system. To use a hotel analogy here - the brands mentioned may not be the Ritz Carlton of broadcast equipment but they didn't buy the Motel 6 equipment either - I'd say they went with the Marriott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 There could be a few reasons why there was no 4 in the no name newsroom, the first of a which was when those flickr photos were taken the building wasn't fully operational (half the desks didn't even have monitors on them) and they were in the process of doing rehearsals. A second reason could be that they moved into a brand new state of the art facility is that they do not want to tacky it up by plastering logos all around. But I think the real reason there was no 4 is because the newsroom is shared with the Telemundo affiliate they probably would rather use digital signage for their brand so a giant red T would not be seen on the flash cam when NBC is live and their won't be a giant peacock in the background when Telemundo is live. Second there is nothing wrong with that news set - they went to a very contemporary style. They bought a lot of name brand equipment such as Ross' Over Drive automation, their Cambot camera robotics (probably second best aside from Vinten Radamec), Chyron graphics(I'd go with VizRT), Calrec audio consoles, Sony cameras (if they wanted to go cheap this is where they'd cut money from by using a small box camera for $10,000 rather than a $100,000 Sony camera), Avid iNews, Grass Valley editing system and Grass Valley router at the heart of the system. To use a hotel analogy here - the brands mentioned may not be the Ritz Carlton of broadcast equipment but they didn't buy the Motel 6 equipment either - I'd say they went with the Marriott. Well I don't find it tacky to have a old fashioned logo in the newsroom. The digital displays to me shows there isn't much ownership in the newsroom. I dunno, it shows the meh attitude, anything goes, instead of solidity and loyalty. I can't speak for all the equipment, funny thing that their phones were Cisco (I know that isn't broadcast related, since NBC had a long time relationship with Avaya going so far back when AT&T owned all of our phones.) But for graphics I can't stand for Norway, and NBC did the right thing to keep the money in the states than to some code addicts in Norway who don't have a damn knowledge of news graphics! I'm leaving at that before I piss someone else off again, because I have a working knowledge of graphic systems to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1679 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Well I don't find it tacky to have a old fashioned logo in the newsroom. The digital displays to me shows there isn't much ownership in the newsroom. I dunno, it shows the meh attitude, anything goes, instead of solidity and loyalty. I can't speak for all the equipment, funny thing that their phones were Cisco (I know that isn't broadcast related, since NBC had a long time relationship with Avaya going so far back when AT&T owned all of our phones.) But for graphics I can't stand for Norway, and NBC did the right thing to keep the money in the states than to some code addicts in Norway who don't have a damn knowledge of news graphics! I'm leaving at that before I piss someone else off again, because I have a working knowledge of graphic systems to begin with. 30 Rock and NY seem to be wired for Avaya. The latest build outs at KXAS, KNBC and a few others are Cisco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 30 Rock and NY seem to be wired for Avaya. The latest build outs at KXAS, KNBC and a few others are Cisco. If I am not mistaken, DC, Chicago, CNBC, Connecticut are Avaya shops. Some O&Os (Philly, SD) use other vendors (weird if NBCU has a top account with Avaya - you'd think it be more cheaper.) I kinda can explain this because my girlfriend works in what's called "Unified Communications" and the probable reason why most major networks use Avaya is the UX. Take one telephone number and split it up over a ton of buttons. (Call forwarding/con calling can be done on the screen keys.) So if you got a breaking news situation, an assignment desk can toggle between calls w/out disconnects, put a call on hold, call another producer, another phone tied to the same number can call the control room, screen another call coming in and eyewitnesses or others won't get busy signals, its an infinite solution. Cisco is internet varient of those phones you see on Mad Men. Sure it got buttons, but you can't do much when calls flood in its easier to just hang up. From what I know Avaya has jacked up the costs and maybe NBCU can't get much discount for local stations...dunno. Bonded Cellular/TVU/LiveU links do suffer in high-congestion areas, but they are far-and-away the best way to get on the air quickly in a Breaking News situation. You can break-down your shot in a matter of seconds if you need to move, you can easily do walk-and-talks, and you aren't confined to the length of your truck's cable reel. I never forgot the CO movie theatre killer shooting, during initial plea hearings at the Denver court. when all sudden the whole world jumped as the video became skippy. Thankfully they had fallback, using a tape cassette as they were also broadcasting that live. Not sure if KNBC had that ability, they should have. They seem to stumble with breaking news, even the earthquake in March, from what I read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToriElectra 291 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Cisco phones were used on the set of The Office, so NBCU had/has interest in them; I'm thinking they're half split between Avaya and Cisco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbs2newengland 71 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Does anyone have the video of KNBC's on air embarrassment? I'd love to see if it's as funny the thread's title is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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