SUNY Fredonia TV Station Installs Broadcast Pix Granite System

SUNY Fredonia’s independent student television station WNYF recently installed a Broadcast Pix Granite 1000 video production system as part of its transition to HD production and file-based workflow.

According to T. John McCune, multimedia team leader, SUNY Fredonia, the Granite 1000, which was purchased through Audio Video Corporation to replace a Panasonic AG-MX70 switcher, was installed last August in time for the fall semester. McCune said the students are still excited about the new system, because it is easy to use and has improved the quality of productions.

Students produce a variety of original programming, including news, cooking and game shows, campus event coverage, and PSAs. WNYF also offers live campus coverage of men’s ice hockey from Steele Hall (using a fibre channel feed back to the station), and may expand its live sports coverage to include basketball. McCune said some hockey games have been streamed live on Ustream this season, which produced positive feedback from fans not able to attend the games.

The upgraded control room is based around the Granite 1000, and includes a Yamaha audio board, two legacy tape decks, computer stations for prompter and automation control, and an Apple Mac Pro with a Blackmagic Design DeckLink capture card for recording all programming. Programs are shot with Sony HVR-S270U cameras, which are equipped with HD-SDI outputs that connect directly to the Broadcast Pix system, and archived to an Apple Final Cut Server.

McCune credits the Granite 1000 as a major factor in the station’s cost-effective transition to HD production. He said the system delivers high quality performance at a great price point, plus its built-in Fluent workflow software provides a number of important tools. Using Fluent Multi-View, for example, the control room monitor wall has been replaced by a single 46-inch Sony LCD monitor. A 24-inch LCD panel in the control room is used by the CG operator, who uses Granite’s built-in Harris Inscriber CG.

McCune is particularly pleased with Fluent Watch-Folders, a built-in file management system that allows clips and graphics to be sent directly to the Granite system from separate workstations over a network. “For the workflow to be very powerful, I think it has to be intuitive – not just how you route files, but where you’re routing them from and how they appear,” he said. “Granite makes it easy.”