NG
noggin
Founding member
Many broadcasters use dedicated hardware devices for their news graphics.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
Aston 3,4,Caption, Motif, Ethos, Motto and now Red, Green and Blue are all dedicated broadcast hardware and software platforms - they aren't just PCs with a clever graphics card - though increasingly broadcast kit does include elements of WIndows...
In terms of news graphics - Quantel still have a large chunk of the market. Again they mainly sell their dedicated hardware and software together - Paintbox, HAL, Harriet etc. were all dedicated hardware and software platforms - not PC solutions. These days the most basic Quantel Paintbox system IS available as software to run on a PC - but I think in most high-end installations dedicated hardware is still used. (It is faster and more reliable)
PC and Mac software is used in a lot of places - especially in edit suites and long-term graphics production. Packages like Maya are used for 3D, Photoshop for 2D, and After Effects etc. used for moving video processing.
Similarly there are software solutions like Flame, Inferno etc. that are used for compositing work - though they require very high end hardware to run decently.
In many news areas you'll still find Quantel and Aston kit... Certainly most BBC News graphics are created on Quantel Paintbox or HAL - though with support from Macs or PCs running other software. Similarly most captions you see on the One, Six, Ten, Newsnight, Breakfast, BBC Three News etc. (and in fact on almost any show out of TV Centre and BBC Westminster) will have been created on an Aston. (News 24 and World are the odd ones out - they now use a fast-PC running Linux to generate their TOG captions - itself controlled by a Windows PC)
Sportt increasingly use a PC (I think) based system made by Viz - though Aston Ethos is still used as well.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
Aston 3,4,Caption, Motif, Ethos, Motto and now Red, Green and Blue are all dedicated broadcast hardware and software platforms - they aren't just PCs with a clever graphics card - though increasingly broadcast kit does include elements of WIndows...
In terms of news graphics - Quantel still have a large chunk of the market. Again they mainly sell their dedicated hardware and software together - Paintbox, HAL, Harriet etc. were all dedicated hardware and software platforms - not PC solutions. These days the most basic Quantel Paintbox system IS available as software to run on a PC - but I think in most high-end installations dedicated hardware is still used. (It is faster and more reliable)
PC and Mac software is used in a lot of places - especially in edit suites and long-term graphics production. Packages like Maya are used for 3D, Photoshop for 2D, and After Effects etc. used for moving video processing.
Similarly there are software solutions like Flame, Inferno etc. that are used for compositing work - though they require very high end hardware to run decently.
In many news areas you'll still find Quantel and Aston kit... Certainly most BBC News graphics are created on Quantel Paintbox or HAL - though with support from Macs or PCs running other software. Similarly most captions you see on the One, Six, Ten, Newsnight, Breakfast, BBC Three News etc. (and in fact on almost any show out of TV Centre and BBC Westminster) will have been created on an Aston. (News 24 and World are the odd ones out - they now use a fast-PC running Linux to generate their TOG captions - itself controlled by a Windows PC)
Sportt increasingly use a PC (I think) based system made by Viz - though Aston Ethos is still used as well.
NG
Not sure. ITN were certainly Aston users for a long time - though wouldn't be surprised if they used a Viz solution these days (I think their VR is from Viz?)
noggin
Founding member
time_warp posted:
What is the generator used for ITV News? I seem to remember the information used to be on the ITN website but since the revamp I think it has been removed.
Not sure. ITN were certainly Aston users for a long time - though wouldn't be surprised if they used a Viz solution these days (I think their VR is from Viz?)
ED
Pinnacle is starting to eat up a larger share of the marketplace with their Deko line of character generators.
ED
Founding member
noggin posted:
Many broadcasters use dedicated hardware devices for their news graphics.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
l.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
l.
Pinnacle is starting to eat up a larger share of the marketplace with their Deko line of character generators.
NG
Interesting stuff noggin, I presume the back up astons if TOG fails are ones run on Aston Ethos, is this right?
Not an Ethos - a motif, motto or Green I think (not sure which). No point in having an Ethos as the captions are generated under computer control rather than typed directly via an operator.
noggin
Founding member
harshy posted:
noggin posted:
(News 24 and World are the odd ones out - they now use a fast-PC running Linux to generate their TOG captions - itself controlled by a Windows PC)
Interesting stuff noggin, I presume the back up astons if TOG fails are ones run on Aston Ethos, is this right?
Not an Ethos - a motif, motto or Green I think (not sure which). No point in having an Ethos as the captions are generated under computer control rather than typed directly via an operator.
NG
Pinnacle is starting to eat up a larger share of the marketplace with their Deko line of character generators.
Yep - and PC based systems (like TOG) are becoming more widespread as well.
noggin
Founding member
ED posted:
noggin posted:
Many broadcasters use dedicated hardware devices for their news graphics.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
l.
The reason name supers are often called "Astons" is that Aston is the company that makes one of the most popular range of dedicated character generators used in the UK - and have done so since the 80s. In the US Chyron lead the field - and so a caption in the US is often called a "Chyron" (It's a bit like Hoover and vacuum cleaners...)
l.
Pinnacle is starting to eat up a larger share of the marketplace with their Deko line of character generators.
Yep - and PC based systems (like TOG) are becoming more widespread as well.
MQ
Since vizrt was mentioned, I know they've got a great website filled with different clips of their software in action. For Presentation enthusiasts, it's a great site to take a look through - especially to see the titles for bulletins like TV2 Norway's Nyhetene (music composed by David Lowe).
www.vizrt.com
www.vizrt.com
NG
The TV2 music is very Vangelis BladeRunner isn't it?
noggin
Founding member
Mr Q posted:
Since vizrt was mentioned, I know they've got a great website filled with different clips of their software in action. For Presentation enthusiasts, it's a great site to take a look through - especially to see the titles for bulletins like TV2 Norway's Nyhetene (music composed by David Lowe).
www.vizrt.com
www.vizrt.com
The TV2 music is very Vangelis BladeRunner isn't it?