On Tuesday, November 5, 2013, with only an HD camera with SDI-HD out, a laptop, an on-set HD monitor, and a shared Google Spreadsheets document, Senior KRCB-TV Producer David Waxman made history with the station’s first-ever LIVE HD broadcast.
The opening and closing sequences were generated using Adobe After Effects, and were played back separately in KRCB’s Master Control Center. Live graphics were generated on another PC using Google Docs cloud technology and appeared seamlessly on anchor Bruce Robinson’s laptop which was being mirrored to the HD monitor on-set.
Without an HD switcher, the HD-SDI feed from the JVC ProHD camera fed directly into the Master Control switcher. Audio was mixed live using a Mackie switcher and fed directly into the JVC so that an embedded audio signal was delivered via SDI.
Live updates were provided at the top and the bottom of the hour starting when polls closed at 8pm, and continued until 11pm. The final update of the evening was also archived online so viewers could see the final results throughout the next day.
All-in-all, KRCB’s first HD broadcast was a smashing success! And it was all achieved WITHOUT an HD studio!