WXIA 11 Alive News going HD

[jal]

WXIA-TV/11 Alive announced late last week that their entire news-gathering operation is going HD. They are announcing that it will occur sometime in February (when NBC will be airing the Winter Olympics)

They are also in the process of building a new set. Over the weekend, they were doing the newscasts from a small studio, but are back on their main set somewhat, with a much smaller desk that can only seat 3 people. (The weather anchors are doing their stuff from the chroma key entirely, as the weather set looks like it will be rebuilt asw well.)

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It looks like someone for one has beaten WSB-TV to new technology. Although WSB-TV was the first to go HD, as well as broadcast a local special in HD, it appears that they are missing out on this milestone. I think by the end of 2006 WSB-TV's news gathering will be all in HD as well. I don't think Cox can stand not being first with new technology.

 

[am_directional]

Any word as to what format and equipment they'll use to gather and edit the news?

Happy Holidays,
Joe


> WXIA-TV/11 Alive announced late last week that their entire
> news-gathering operation is going HD. They are announcing
> that it will occur sometime in February (when NBC will be
> airing the Winter Olympics)
{{edit}}

 

[JackieSteele]

> They are also in the process of building a new set...

Not surprising that they're building a new set if they're going to go HD. I remember hearing the story of how Meet The Press found out rather unexpectedly that things that look perfectly acceptable on standard TV can look as cheap as they really are on HDTV (If I remember correctly, MTP's wooden peacock painted with brass paint had to be replaced with one made of real brass). In other words, we can't get away with many of the set tricks we used to use.

 

[RoyGreen]

> > They are also in the process of building a new set...
>
> Not surprising that they're building a new set if they're
> going to go HD. I remember hearing the story of how Meet
> The Press found out rather unexpectedly that things that
> look perfectly acceptable on standard TV can look as cheap
> as they really are on HDTV (If I remember correctly, MTP's
> wooden peacock painted with brass paint had to be replaced
> with one made of real brass). In other words, we can't get
> away with many of the set tricks we used to use.
>

I took the NBC Studio Tour at Rock Ctr. a few months ago, and the guides made lots of references to studio upgrades for HD. Someone asked what that meant, and a guide said, both technical upgrades in the control rooms, and set upgrades. We were in the Dateline studio and one of the guides showed us how some of the old sets were actually pretty ratty and one set in particular was decorated with lots of painted duct tape -- looked ok in SD, but stuck out like a sore thumb in HD.

The same day I went to a Letterman show taping (just before they made the switch to HD), and I asked a staffer about any set changes. She said the late Kathleen Ankers (who designed all of Letterman's sets from the NBC days on) wanted sets to look as good in still photographs, so they didn't take many short cuts... so all of the Late Show's upgrades were in the control room, or furniture upgrades.

 

[JackieSteele]

> We were in the Dateline studio and one of the
> guides showed us how some of the old sets were actually
> pretty ratty and one set in particular was decorated with
> lots of painted duct tape -- looked ok in SD, but stuck out
> like a sore thumb in HD.

Yep. If you can think it, they can do it with easy ingenuity. I remember one time we did a big Keyboard type setup (remember the old huge Wall Keyboard from Headline News's early days?) Ours was made from tupperware-style storage containers painted gray. Many sets are made from cheap plywood and some carpeting (carpet on walls = no glare. Georgia Lottery Pick 3/4/5/6 sets are carpeted.)