MONDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2019

CNN London - IDS 'Self-Op' Area

Summary

The IDS system at CNN London is already being used to demonstrate its unique capabilities for many CNN bureaus around the world, such as CNN Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. IDS is also now a key feature in many global broadcasting environments.

Background

CNN’s London bureau helps to bring the news to more than 250 million homes around the world. It's rapidly expanding digital video production across all CNN platforms covers news, current affairs and worldwide features.

As part of that expansion, CNN London was looking to simplify a variety of difficult issues. With a heavy continual workflow, technical staff availability was tight, with little time to deal with camera work frequently required at the bureau’s designated “self-op” area.

A small space where a range of cameras, lighting and audio parameters continually needed readjusting to suit the requirements of individual presenters.

To save time and enable technical staff to stay focused on priority tasks, technicians at CNN London explored ways of simplifying this process. Aware of IDS as an intelligent display system, they discovered that it was also a highly sophisticated, tailorable control system that could automate their time-weighted processes transforming the whole operation.

Implementation

CNN London ultimately ended up with an IDS touch panel system that provides users with a greatly simplified interface enabling anyone to use it. Even those with no technical know-how. Regular users now simply press their designated button and the IDS system automatically makes all adjustments to the camera, lighting, and sound from pre-set requirements to their presentation preferences.

The user can then simply enter the space, touch their button, record their piece, press “End”, and walk away knowing that their report has been captured and stored professionally and consistently with no additional intervention.

In-house IDS developers created new control software specifically for the CNN London deployment to ensure interoperability with all the technology interfaces already onsite. Beyond that, the detailed parameters of the 12 pre-set buttons on the IDS unit, which is mounted next to the camera pedestal in the presentation space, were designed and determined by CNN London, which illustrates the ease with which IDS can be customised for individuals requirements.

There is a “Guest” button to accommodate irregular users which the IDS system then provides a separate set of basic, descriptive pan, zoom, lighting and other options that can be altered to suit without impacting the existing pre-sets or requiring any technical assistance.

Benefits

At a touch, CNN London can now perform simple to complex tasks eliminating costly and time-consuming assistance.