Look, This system is more scary that Friday the 13th. Cost looks good. Yeah, it will cost you in the end. Why do people insist on getting rid of jobs? Is that American? wake up people. Not a good decision. Get real production eq. What is that Iron Maiden song........"run for the hills"? Problem Problem Problems. I am hearing more and more about law suits and Eq. returns. Too bad, I really love GVG. The made a really bad decision buying into Parkervision.

Finally got to see this. Get a look while it's still up, it's well worth your 8 minutes - especially the sports at the end.

Having worked in the Hawaii market at a network affiliate, I can say that every one of those things, or something similar, happened at my station at least once while I was there. Just not all in the same newscast. That's hilarious.

I managed to catch it before it went down. Remember the first day of your college studio production class? Ever seen really bad public access? This was worse. Think about every mistake you've ever seen happen in your entire career compressed into half an hour. The newscast started off with a still frame of something unrecognisable then cut to the anchor ("Well, this newscast is off to a great start"). A little bit later he threw it to a reporter in the newsroom. 5 seconds after he threw it, it finally cut to the newsroom camera with no audio, took a couple seconds for the reporter's mic to come up. At one point they put two commercial breaks in a row, probably to buy themselves time to fix things (Anchor: "That was the longest commercial break you will ever have to sit through, I promise"). Later in sports it started out with a VO about Michelle Wie at a golf tournament, and the highlights in the VO had nothing to do with what the anchor was talking about. Then it was apparently supposed to go to a SOT of Wie talking, but it never happened. Anchor kept asking if they had the tape but the director was probably understandably too busy to respond. It was then supposed to go to a graphic of tournament standings. What happened instead was an animated background with an ID super over it. Then the CG advanced on-air through something like 4-5 pages before it finally got to the standings graphic. Then the background cut to a camera with the standings super still keyed (Anchor: "Folks, let me tell you, this *really* sucks"). At the end the sports and news anchors had to fill for something like 90 seconds because of all the missing video.

Maybe the sales folks at that station were afraid that the truth would hurt their sales???? On an interesting side note, a local station signed a deal with youtube that allows their content to be put up their. Of course, I doubt that they would allow anything negative to the station to be uploaded....

>>This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by KHON 2 >> That was quick! Copyright law sucks. I still wanna see this, though.

Revisitng this topic with more great highlights from "When using the Ignite system Goes Bad" Past Saturday's broadcast from Fox affiliate in Hawaii:

So, given all of this cheery talk: what are we 30-ish TD's, who aspired to join the business in the mid-90's, doing to re-train and survive and work for the next 35 years?

Aforementioned station in this post is looking for an Ignite TD....anyone want to go to Hawaii with its high cost of living and work in a shop where morale is sinking???? KHON2 is looking for an Ignite Automation Director. Successful candidate will be a dedicated self-starter who can demonstrate a strong potential to learn new technology and who will take the initiative to design the elements needed to replicate or improve our current newscasts quality using the IGNITE system. Operational knowledge of peripheral devices such as still store, cg devices, servers, etc. required. Directing or technical directing experience is preferred. Must have ability and willingness to teach others and to share information.

I am new to this forum, because I felt I didn't have much to contribute to the TD forums, I am trying to become a TD in Pittsburgh, I am extremely green, but I am doing my best. To the reason I decided to write on this subject. I currently work at a station that has had Parkervision for 2 Years now. We have not yet made the move to Ignite, so my opinions are based on the CR (1st) Version of PVTV. I must say, I agree with everyone on the loss of jobs, it was a sad day when our staff dwindled. Luckily for us it was done through attrition. Sadly however, our station has always been a training ground for what are now many great production techs in this region, most have moved on to market 20 or higher (that is over a 130 markets higher). Now PVTV can be very clunky, it can be flexible if need be. Although everyday, at some point or another, I sit back and wish I still had my switcher, I can't say PVTV is to bad. The thing with alot of the issues that have been discussed we have been able to avoid them with redundancy, the network issue is resolved with one switch, if we loose power to half of the system we have enough battery back up to get us through a day or so, until the generator is all good. If we loose PVTV all together, we have our prodcution truck ready to put on a newscast for as long as we need to. The thing I have learned the most about PVTV is the planning that goes into PVTV is key. Without the planning nothing can be done correctly with PVTV. I don't think the system is "perfect" in any way. I believe alot could be done to better the system. It does slow down the show, it kills the pacing, it makes a clean show very difficult, however, it can be done. When we planned to put PVTV on-air myself and 5 others were sent to Jacksonville, FL for training. We were told more than once, "you can't do that" we have figured out how to do alot of things, we do things with PVTV that some can't believe we do. It isn't easy to create anything that is a DVE move, it is clunky, and you are limited to two keyframes per Sequence. So anytying advanced requires multiple sequences. Really all I wanted to get out there for everyone is: 1. PVTV isn't quite the devil, but in no way is it heaven either. 2. When used correctly PVTV can put on a good show. 3. Being a TD I Miss my switcher everyday...I miss flexibility

Man, he says that every time his contract is up - you know that better than I do. Then they throw a bunch of money at him and he comes back. What else is he gonna do??? Retire? Move to KITV? ha.

Along the same lines....how does this system handle breaking news or live shots??? When something is happening NOW? I recall days when everything going on in the studio had to be dropped and there was a need to get on the air right away.....or do stations and news departments don't care about this anymore.......I highly doubt this. I was a promo monkey for a brief time, and know this is what the honchos thought were important selling points of your news product. In an interesting development, the anchor at the station originally mentioned in this post has been #1 for almost 20 years and has publically stated that he's not only unhappy with the compromises, but may not stick around. That means a major whammy for the new owners who could be losing their most important asset.

I'm just wondering, have any of these systems been used during/after a major event such as a hurricane or earthquake where the studio may be on partial power and IT networks not 100%? I remember reading years back about how a California station, LA I think, did news after an earthquake by using a microwave van and some small generators powering a Lowell light kit. It was a down and dirty telecast but the station was able to provide information to the residents. Imagine being the GM of a station that couldn't do emergency news because your IT network was damaged...

One state in our network has had a "one person operation" news studio for some time, and we are currently installing one in my state. It's not Ignite, but has been highly customised according to our requirements. At present, this studio is to be in addition to our regular news studio, intended for hourly newsbreaks, finance updates, and the like. End of 2004, when our national Midday news bulletin (big studio) was in recess, the one person studio did replacement half-hour bulletins including a special on the Tsunami. It was able to cope with 2-ways, phoners, unexpected overlay, late graphics etc. They were highly-praised for a fantastic job. Successes like that make management (and accountants) ask why we continue to do it the old way with a big studio etc. However, in practice when things DO go wrong, they go VERY wrong. Very, very wrong. Every event that happens, needs to be programmed as a code in the Newsroom System. If the entered title of a clip does not exactly match the title in the Profile, it can't find it. If a CG code is entered incorrectly, the super will be in the wrong format. And so on. The system works best in networks that replay the same news over and over again. You only need to get it right the first time, and from then on the repeats of the story will be perfect. The operator needs only (in most cases) to press the space bar to "do the next thing", whatever that happens to be. Dropping a story from the rundown drops all the coded commands associated with it. The downside is that the one person who operates has to be the expert in everything. If the Character Generator is not talking with the computer, they need to know how to diagnose and fix the problem. If a Profile channel goes down, they need to know how to override the System and use a different channel, and/or fix the problem. If there's a typo in a script (and associated commands), they have to be able to make the changes while simultaneously continuing to operate the transmission PC. We had a case where a journalist accidently highlighted the entire rundown and drag-and-dropped it somewhere else - everything suddenly disappeared from the studio rundown. With a full crew, we were able to carry on manually until we worked out what had happened; with a one person studio, it would have brought the show to a halt. Only one pair of eyes and one pair of hands limits severely what can be accomplished when things go wrong. The high level of automation means audio (for instance) must be perfect on the clip, since there is no separate audio operator balancing levels. All sound including atmos must be at full level, not pre-faded for voice overs (so the computer can do a "voice over" event or a "full sound" event on cue). As has already been mentioned, pre-production becomes severely limited. You end up only doing what can be done live (such as with some of the more advanced Character Generators), or only playing back maps or animation which are created somewhere else. The former allows events to happen on cue, but the latter locks in the duration of a script to match the animation, so compromises the journalistic aspect. If the operator gets sick, you need to replace them with someone who can do the lot. It's not like phoning around for a freelance Audio guy, or a Camera operator, etc. And the position carries a great deal of stress - more so than any position in a fully-staffed studio. If something goes wrong - and it will - the operator will carry the emotional burden, and no doubt the blame from the boss. I'm told that there is a high turnover of staff in the operator's position in the other state where one person operation has been running for some years. When someone asks how much skill it takes to hit the space bar, it's good to think of an airline flight attendant as an analogy. It doesn't take much skill to serve tea and coffee. And that's what they do close to 100% of the time. But we all trust that in an emergency, the attendant has the skill to overcome the problems and to save our lives, whether those skills are first aid, operating the life rafts, or calming a hijacker. Ultimately, "quality" is the perogative of management. They are the ones who decide what level of "risk" is acceptable. If they get the ratings, they'll feel justified by their decision. But they should remember that some viewers tune in just to see how bad the mistakes are this week. That's not the sort of reputation I'd like for my news.

Nice post bob! I couldn't agree with you more. It goes to show you how many strings the bean counters can pull just to save a buck.

The successful use of Ignite makes a couple of assumptions - the 1st being that News is a repetative, sterile job that does not require any forethought or on-the-fly thinking. As such, automating it would seem to make perfect sense, just as it would for Master Control. If all you do as a TD is "just push the button that you're told", then you're a candidate for replacement...frankly anyone can mark up a rundown with pre-programmed E-MEMs & recall them as the rundown dictates, and that's what Ignite does (after the Director programs the myriad of macros to cover all potential permutations of each on-air effect - for EACH show...this takes (from what I hear) about an hour...when do they do THEIR pre-production?). However, Ignite (in my opinion) has at least one fatal flaw - it does not provide for flexibility or "creatability". It plays back the same effects time after time after time. It does not take into account preproduction effects that must be created on on-the-fly effects that a TD adds during the show...it only deals with playing back pre-built effects. As we all have seen, where somebody like the late Steve Laxton can create all of the effects for network football games & then use (theoretically) lesser-talented regional TD's (at a substantially reduced rate) to just play back the fancy stuff, the concept of "one creator - many workers" DOES work. Even at the local station level, you usually find one or two "super TD's" and a bunch of "replay artists" who just recall the effects built by the "super TD's". Ignite just takes that idea one step further, automating the playback process, and getting rid of even the "super TD's" with the assumption that you can always find someone to come in one & a while & build a new look. But I believe that even these "video typists" have some level of creativity - given the chance, they can significantly add to the production value of the show. It's similar to removing the editor from the equation & having Producers or News Writers edit their own thing (the term is "Preditor") - it CAN be done, but you lose one set of eyes & one brain from the editing process, virtually always ending up with a lesser product. The same holds true in a control room - the TD is in effect the 2nd Director, waiting that extra half a beat for a camera to reach framing or for the anchor to put down their coffee before taking the shot, regardless of what the Director calls - and I would offer that if a TD is NOT doing that, then they probably could & should be replaced with a machine. In my classes, I have oftn used the expression "when the Director calls for a camera cut, it's only a suggestion". If you take away the TD from the equation, you lose not only the quality-control from the show, but you lose close to half of the creative talent in the control room - we are NOT just "button pushers". So who does Ignite actually benefit? Well, there's a certain network who is EXTREMELY anti-union. There are elements of this network who want to get rid of all engineering employees at all costs, regardless of the final quality of their on-air look. They are pushing the use of Ignite for their O & O's. OK, so they get rid of the engineers at 5 or 7 stations that they own around the country - at between $50,000 to $100,000 per employee per year at each of these stations, they stand to save some money, and they don't care how their newscasts end up looking (it'll be less fluid & more sterile). What about the other networks in the big markets? I personally think that when these others see the sterility of the newscasts, they'll think twice about what they lose by going to a system like this...you stay #1 by keeping your look fresh - the repetitiveness of Parkervisioin-style newscasts gets really old really fast...that style plays well in Europe, but not in the U.S. How about smaller markets? Here, Directors often already punch their own show - it's been that way for a long time & it works well. What do you gain by putting in an automated system? Maybe a few less errors per show or per day, but (regardless of what the Station Managers may think), the home audience doesn't recognize or remember most technical errors - so the monetary return on investment is minimal. In small markets, you'd be replacing $10-$10 per hour employees (who do everything from TD to sweep the floor) with a multi-million dollar system...it will take a LONG time to reach a break-even point in a small market, One last flaw that I believe that is inheirent in the Ignite system is the fact that it is self-destructing. What I mean by that statement is this: To build the effects necessary for Ignite to call up, you need an EXPERIENCED TD (or Director with TD skills). If Ignite systems replace TD's at stations, those TD's either find another job somewhere else, or (in the words of one Thompson top manager) "retire". Eventually, the talent pool equred to change or update the news look 3 times a year (which is what happens each sweeps period) diminishes to the point that you will run out of talent to build what is needed - let's face it, how many of us remember how to BUILD graphics on a switcher...not just key pre-built graphics, but build them from scratch? - So few of us have to to do all the time that our skills at this have atrophied. Those few who are left knowing how to build a seemless newscast will be able to charge humungous sums for spending the approximate 6 weeks required on each station's system to do the reprogramming. But the rest will move on to other things, and eventually there won't be anyone to maintain & build the effects for the owners of the automation systems to utilize...it will (in my opinion) eventually self-destruct. For those of you that believe that by embracing technology you will stay employed at your current job, keep in mind that for the past few of their contracts, the DGA already has jurisdiction over such studio automation systems as Ignite or Evolution. According to the DGA contract, THEY are the ones who will be 1st in line to drive these systems. They saw this coming long ago & got a lock on it. Sorry to sound negative about all of this, but I for one am very bothered by the fact that a creative industry is being destroyed by accountants who don't care about the final look of their product - as long as it makes money - you could probably put a test pattern on for 24 hours a day & someone would watch it...that would be considered a success to some station managers. Every TD that I've ever met has a level of creativity that far exceeds their yearly dollar compensation. For "bean-counters" whose greatest creative achievement is to decide on what tie to wear to work that day to push those creative people out of business and to potentially destroy the quality of a show's look just to save a some dollars is iny opinion a travesty. The saddest thing to me is that because "consumer level" equipment such as DV is now accepted as "broadcast": because MPEG 4 (which "blocks up" the picture and smears the image when the camera pans) is accepeted as broadcast, and because even VHS is now acceptable as a broadcast format, the home viewer has been so innundated with low-quality programming that they probably won't even miss the contributions that we as TD's add to the content of the shows that we work on. So in my opinion, I believe that Ignite is a "nitche" product - it will find its way into some markets, but it doesn't fit the bill for everyone. Some of us will be pushed out, but not all. I for one am working on my next job lines - "Would you like fries with that?"; "Paper or Plastic?"; and "Good Morning - Welcome to Wall-Mart!"

I hate to toot my own horn, but 20 years ago when I quit doing master control, I said then that it was a position destined to be run by a computer. Face it folks, we're in a technology-based industry. As long as there's a yes (1) or no (0) answer to anything, it can be done by a computer. My advice to anyone out there who sits around and b**ches about their jobs being on the line, get off your butt and embrace the technology. Use it to your advantage and there will always be a job there for you when you want it. A couple of years ago I had the unpleasant experience of being inside the plant during a labour dispute where I work. There were several occasions where I was the only person in the control room for our newscast other than the audio operator (separate room). Not only did I direct the show, I switched, timed, did Chyron, stillstore, DVE and video as well. And you wouldn't have known the difference from when we were full-staffed. I'd like to think that because of 1) my ability and willingness to learn multiple technical positions over the years 2) my computer programming knowledge and 3)my embracing of all things techno, if we ever went to a system like "Ignite," I'd be a front runner to operate it. For all those station managers out there, rest assured people who can "do it all" aren't going to come cheap. The stress of doing everything is probably going to cost extra and we're going to be hard to find - let alone keep.

Fortunately in some ways for the TD Eric metnioned, he is THE #1 freelance sports TD in the market....and before you think "what is there in Hawaii?", we've had the good fortune of having the local Time Warner company decide to broadcast 2-3 events a week, somtimes more, at very good rates that are not much less than when National or Regional events are done here. And the contract calls for escalating rates the next two years. So at least he has that to fall back on. And he is a prime candidate to run this Ignite system if he should be retained by the station. What really sucks was that the station is the #1 news station and "recruited" him over from another station with a big raise. With the new ownership, the G.M. who personally brought him into the fold decided to jump ship, leaving behind the TD and a couple other talented production folks who were "stolen" from other stations. Fortunately, they're good and should find work. Hey Eric, how's the weather? It's only 81 today!!!! Kevin

I'm going to have to agree with Dan on this one. There are always challenges as markets change, but as long as you are willing to adapt you can come out on top. And I think it's going on across all industries - you can't pay autoworkers $70,000 or pilots $180,000 a year and stay in business. Companies are ditching pensions left and right, etc. But I'm not one to sit back and say "this is how it should be because this is how it's always been" because it's a losing proposition. As for news, the theory behind automated production makes a lot of business sense, and in 20 years it will be standardized and bug-free and no one will believe it used to take 20 people to do the same thing. They'll probably be producing news off a laptop by then (hell, probably a Dick Tracy-esque wrist hologram computer). In the meantime, they're going to have to pay serious bucks to the guy that can program and maintain their buggy and incomplete system. And as for the future of TDs, sports may become the training ground. Hockey went away, and things didn't really slow down for me. Then hockey came back and the phone has been ringing off the hook! Even now, the experienced TD can really cut his own deals. Even regional outfits and over the air shows are done on Kalypso and everyone is using DDRs. Thats really raising the bar. But while that cuts into my own argument a bit, think down the line a bit to when webcasting comes of age. When an outfit in Oklahoma decides to webcast table tennis back to China (where it is much more popular). Suddenly you're going to have an exponentially bigger market place. So there will be plenty of spots to fill for the newbies. And if you're smart now, you'll start thinking of how to position yourself to TD the bigger shows. Or direct. Or start your own production company and package the shows yourself. Hell, start your own network. good luck Mike

I don't know if they got fined, but I do know the crew member who did it was found and fired after two months of having everybody in the station write "F*** off" right- and left-handed, including the traffic reporter. There's just something about that image that strikes me as unbelievably funny, despite how serious the whole matter was. Anyway, I don't think I've ever met a single person "in the trenches" so to speak who was actually in favor of automating the news, if not because of job security but because they didn't think it would be possible to put out the same quality newscast. The only people who are for it are the beancounters who've never worn a headset in their life and can only see the numbers. The thing that worries me, though, is the loss of all the entry- to mid-level newscast positions. An entry level employee will probably get put in as a floor director/prompter operator or master control and have literally no chance of advancement to look forward to short of going to another station that hasn't gone with automation. Most of the TDs I know got their experience cutting news. If the TDs are automated out of news, where does the next generation of TDs get their experience? It's true, there are a lot of jobs in TV, but a lot of us set our sights on a particular part of the TV world. Personally, I can't imagine working on any show that's not at least live to tape if not live to air. The pressure of getting it right the first time with no mistakes, reacting to changing conditions, that's what I live for and wouldn't have it any other way. Sure I can go be a photographer or editor and make just as much money, but if you're in it for the money, what are you doing working in TV? I'd be out programming computers or something.

Wow, that's quite a bad, and expensive clip... That TV station should have been fined, if it wasn't. There's a lot of talk about Parkervision/Ignite in the SF Bay Area (market #6, used to be #5). The name Ignite came when GVG purchased Parkervision, so far as I know, it's the same thing. Currently the ABC affiliate here has been trying to get it on air for about 2 years. The latest info I've heard is early February (yup, sweeps), but then every other air date for the system has come and passed for several years now. Basically, every other station in the market is waiting for the ABC affiliate to get it up and running before they purchase it. One of the stations I work at has pretty much said that it is coming, probably in house by the end of the year. The problem is (at least what I know of it), that it has issues talking to all these different pieces of equipment out there. If you start from scratch, it's supposed to work better, but if your station has robo cams already, and servers, etc... it'll take a while to get everything talking to each other. From what I've heard, when the system enters the building, you have about 1 1/2 to 2 years before it hits air. The connection of all devices, the training, the building of all effects and possibilities, breaking news macros, CG's... etc. I see it as working well when there is no change in anything... but we all know that doesn't happen, and therefore with so few people watching and working, many many many "F... Off"'s will happen. But, the station is saving $$$$. They don't care about quality in news anymore. I started working at one of the best news operations in the US 6 years ago where I would get yelled at for using a fader bar to do a specific dissolve instead of the pre-programmed Auto-Trans. Now that same station (still a good news operation) could care less, just so you get something on-air that resembles what is supposed to be there (& yes, they are the ones getting Ignite by the end of the year). What are your options when it comes to your station? Embrace it, and make it your baby and be the best at it, because you will always have a job there then. Or, make sure you can do other things and venture outside the station, start now, cause it's coming to a station near you. There is a lot of work in TV. This business isn't a fad, you can turn on any TV set and find 100 to 200 choices to watch, make sure you are able to get those feeds to people some how, and you will have a job. The jobs are more abundant that you think. I'm tired of hearing people talking about how this & that new box is taking away all our jobs... Turn on the TV and tell me that there are no jobs. --- Dan

I've heard quite a bit about Parkervision myself, mostly through coworkers who were scared to death of it. It basically reduces an entire news production to a producer and a director. It handles TDing, video playback, graphics, audio, and robotic camerawork. I'm not exactly sure who runs the teleprompter. Apparently you can choose exactly how much automation you have, however. You can keep manual control panels around for your switcher, audio console, CG, etc. if you want and only automate as much as you're comfortable with. The whole thing relies on macros to get things done and exploits the heavily scripted nature of news, basically the director just hits a "Next" button for an hour. If there's breaking news the producer can drop a breaking news macro into the script. This all has to be created beforehand, so you still need someone on staff who knows his way around a video switcher. The big problem is that no director can possibly be expected to keep track of every single aspect of the entire production. If something goes wrong it's very hard to depart from the script on short notice. This video is from a parkervision TV station, shortly after the transition to the system: (Warning, some profanity and a very cool-headed anchor) The story is that the talent didn't look at his telestrator preview, and the director couldn't change the script fast enough so he just had to advance through to a point where it wasn't visible anymore. It was later attributed to a disgruntled member of the former crew.