State of the art TV-2 Studio

TV2 News is finally moving into its new home – the 2,000 square foot studio and state-of–the-art broadcast control room in the newly renovated Franklin Hall.

   Dave Smeltzer, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, said the new studio is equipped with a virtual set that will allow for a variety of studio backdrops to be stored on a computer.  Using a 3-D graphics program, a virtual set will be electronically projected on a green screen that is permanently mounted in one corner of the studio.

   “It’s called a virtual set because you never see it until it’s composited as part of the scene,” Smeltzer said. “What’s cool about it is that it does real-time rendering of the space.”

   This means the set can be modified at any time using the 3-D graphics program. Objects in the background, such as a fireplace with burning wood,  are part of the image viewers see without taking up any actual physical space in the studio.

   Gary Hanson, associate professor of journalism and mass communication and TV2 adviser, said the program will include camera tracking software that allows the background to adjust to the camera’s movements. If the camera zooms in on a subject, the set will adjust itself with the camera, so the person won’t look bigger than the set.

   Hanson also said most of the classrooms in Franklin Hall are connected to the broadcast control room through the miles of video lines and Ethernet cables that run throughout the building. Using these video lines, for example, lectures in the FirstEnergy classroom can be streamed live to the plasma screens in the Hall of Fame foyer.  

   Hanson said panels in certain areas of the building that feed live broadcasts back to the control room also help add to the facility’s interactive capabilities.

   “TV2 could do a weather shot outside and feed it back into the control room and have it come up live,” Hanson said. “We could have an event on the front steps of Franklin Hall and have it recording back in Master Control.”

   Smeltzer said the studio and control room will soon be preparing students for high-definition broadcasts as well. The nightly news can be broadcast in hi-definition anywhere in Franklin Hall - that is, as soon as the necessary people are trained to use the equipment. Smeltzer admits it may take a little longer for the broadcasts to reach the community in high definition.

   “For the community, it will be in standard definition until everything with Time-Warner cable is worked out and we can be confident that we can do quality programming in high definition,” he said. “It’s a steep learning curve.”

   He said the technology and equipment used in high definition broadcasting are completely different than those used to produce standard definition broadcasts, and that’s why the training is necessary.  But it’s apparent that students graduating from Kent State University will be at the cutting edge of broadcast media.

— Kristen Russo, The Co-Lab