TVU Partyline Makes It Easy for Talent, Production Team to Come Together

TVU Networks products like TVU Producer have established the company in the live cloud-based production space. But the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the ability to have a production team and the on-air talent or guests be in the same room has led to the development of Partyline, a new feature that brings the disconnected production team and the on-air presenters closer together.

Jared Timmins says Partyline makes it easier than ever for on-air talent to be integrated into a production.

“Everyone pivoted to Zoom, GoToMeeting, and commodity standard conferencing environments but they aren’t broadcast grade and they are disconnected from the video production environment,” says Jared Timmins, TVU Networks, SVP of solutions.

With Partyline, production personnel, talent and tools can collaborate remotely in real time with full HD video quality and synchronized audio and video. The new feature is an integrated part of TVU Producer, TVU’s scalable cloud-based system for broadcast quality production; it is also expected to be incorporated within the TVU ecosystem for use with other TVU gear.

Key to the offering is TVU’s Real-Time Interactive Layer (RTIL) and TVU’s Inverse StatMux Plus technology delivers quality and stability, and RTIL adds a layer of real-time interaction.

“We have patents for low-latency and high-quality IS+ streaming for highest-quality audio and video signals that can be infinitely routed,” says Timmins.

Also important is one-click access for on-air talent and guests. They are sent a shared URL, click on it, and are then brought into the production and able to converse as if they are in the production control room.

“In a holding environment the talent can hear everyone else and the producer can tell them to move a little to the left,” says Timmins. “They have the kind of IFB feedback and collaboration like they would have on the Intercom system.”

The link can be done from a PC, Mac, iOS device, or an Android device and guests can even see return video. There is also the ability to have both the front- and back-facing cameras active simultaneously so that a sideline reporter could shoot their standup interview and have both a shot of themselves and the interviewee.

“And with TVU Producer different mosaic looks and feels can be built up so you can have six or seven people on one screen,” says Timmins. “And that can also be useful for coaches or players doing post-game interviews with reporters who can be on the screen as if they are in the room.”

Partyline also handles audio much more cleanly as every channel of audio in a multi-person call is isolated and mixed together so there are not the audio dropouts that occur when two or more people speak at the same time like on other streaming conference systems.

As for cost, it is $98 a month per administrative user.

“The global COVID pandemic has shifted the dynamic of TV production collaboration, requiring talent and technical staff to produce programming from their living rooms,” explains TVU Networks’ CEO Paul Shen. “Professional broadcasters require the ability to interact in real-time while producing programs in fully synchronized and broadcast quality audio and video. When achieved, that’s what we’re calling social production. It should be as close to in-person communication and interaction as possible. Producers shouldn’t have to settle for something that makes creating their important work more cumbersome.”