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Bro a d c a s te r s S h o w D a i l y M o n d a y, A p ri l 7 , 2 0 1 4 4 AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH NAB Lee M. Oser CEO and Editor-in-Chief Kim Forrester Paul Harris Jeff Rosano Associate Publishers Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director JoEllen Lowry Jeanie Catron Zach Calvello Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Vicky Glover Graphic Designera Mandy Feld Ruth Haltiwanger Customer Service Managers Larry Blaskey Levi Borland Carson Kieft David Lopez Jeff Mayer Justin Schmigel Account Managers Enrico Cecchi European Sales Solar Power Daily News, is published by Oser Communications Group ©2013. All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 www.oser.com European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy. CHIMERA'S INNOVATIVE LIGHTING PRODUCTS AT NAB Chimera has been attending the NAB show for many years, and it is proud to be a part of the film broadcast indus- try. Chimera continues to maintain its image as the premiere manufacturer of controllable soft light, with all the accessories to make lighting as effi- cient as possible – and everything is made in Boulder, Colo. Chimera is excited about its contin- uing development of lightbanks for the ever-growing LED market. With new models becoming available, the compa- ny is finding new solutions in materials and mounting methods. It now carries models for companies like Litepanels, Gekko, Lowel, TruColor, Flolight Ikan and Dracast, with more to come. Chimera also continues to find practical solutions in the way of kits, where all the components for a specific application are included. It has recent- ly introduced the Lantern Boom Kit. This kit contains a small standard lantern with the mogul socket ring and a Manfrotto boom stand combination with counterweight bag. Kits come with either a 500 watt or 1000 watt lamp. Another favorite kit, The Combi Kit, is great for small production outfits or start-ups. It allows sculpting of your light with three banks of different sizes and shapes: an XS and small Video Pro plus a small Video Pro Strip bank. You can see the innovative lighting products first hand by stopping by booth #C5446 in the central hall. For more information, visit www .chimeralighting.com, call 303-444-8000 or stop by booth #C5446. BESTAR TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEW MICRO-SPEAKER BeStar Technologies' newest micro- speaker is a super-small, thin, miniature speaker that measures 15mm long by 11mm wide by 2.5mm high. The speaker has applications for cell phones, tablets, e-books and PDAs. BeStar offers a variety of configura- tions and terminations, including contact pads, spring contacts and wire leads. Micro-speakers are mostly used in mobile communication devices and any hand held devices needing superior voice quality sound. BeStar has additional micro-speaker models available. These loudspeakers are usually installed in a plastic enclosure, and it is suggested that the back volume of the acoustic cavity is between 0.6-2cc. BeStar can provide the complete, tested audio module (speaker, enclosure and wire leads), pre-tested to your contract manufacturer in China or in the U.S. For more information, call 937-716- 3757, email paul@bestartech.com or visit www.bestartech.com. KEEPING SHOWTIME NETWORKS ON THE AIR THROUGH SPIN-OFFS AND STORMS Showtime Networks went on the air in July 1976. Thirty years later, when Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone announced that his company would spin off CBS, Showtime was suddenly a net- work without a home. Viacom had always provided its channel origination, and Showtime was being bundled into the CBS spin-off. Fortunately, Showtime had friends in the neighborhood. In 2003, the compa- ny had gone looking for a vendor to a video-on-demand (VOD) service. From the many bidders, Showtime Vice President of Broadcast Engineering Jim Occhiuto selected Globecomm to design a VOD network from content ingest through distribution to servers located at cable headends. By the time of Redstone's announcement, Globecomm had been running the network for three years, so Globecomm became a natural choice to originate the entire network. "We had only 12 months to design, integrate and go on-air," said Tom Parish, Globecomm Vice President for Broadcast Technology. "We simplified the design by building it at our teleport. But that still meant major additions to power, HVAC and the total square footage of the facili- ty. Once construction started, we were running multiple shifts around the clock laying over 20,000 wires and cables." "Jim wanted a new approach to mas- ter control, something that would reduce wear and tear on the operators and improve their ability to make good choic- es," said Augusto Villasenor, Principle Designer of the Broadcast Center. "We designed a set of 'pods,' each controlling two or four services, instead of cramming everything into one big room. Each pod was equipped to manage all of their services, so that there would never be a need to run to another console." While the pod system made the design more complex, Augusto worked to reduce complexity and cost else- where. The t r a d i t i o n a l design for a d i g i t a l b r o a d c a s t center sends all incoming and outgoing signals through a single big router. Augusto designed a modular system with two paths for every signal. The modular approach eliminated the router as a single point of failure and reduced the total amount of cabling required. The most nerve-wracking part of any broadcast center deployment is putting it on the air. In just a couple of hours – instead of weeks or months – Showtime transitioned 25 standard digital channels, three HD channels and one analog chan- nel to the new broadcast center. "Right after we went live," said Keith Hall, "there was a huge rainstorm with gale force winds. It made headlines by knocking out part of the New York City subway system. Here in Hauppauge, we had a major flood with an inch of water throughout our building and three feet of water in the teleport. Five of our guys were outside digging ditches while the rain was pouring down. But if you were a Showtime viewer, you never knew it happened. We were very proud of that." "It was amazing to see how every- one banded together to ensure the servic- es would not be impacted," said Jim Occhiuto. "From administrative assis- tants to presidents, everyone chipped in." For more information, stop by booth #SU6221. IMPROVE YOUR BROADCAST WORKFLOW WITH PROTRACK BY MYERS Improving broadcast workflow in a media environment starts with improving organizational transparency across all key departments. Programming, schedul- ing, sales, traffic, IT, engineering and accounting all play a pivotal role in broadcast operations. To implement a smooth operational workflow across all these departments, effective content management and consistency are critical. Myers' ProTrack software system is designed to intelligently manage these dynamic workflows. So what are the benefits of using a system like ProTrack to manage your broadcast operations' workflow? Maximize Revenue: ProTrack comes standard with a robust set of sales management features that allows sales teams to set goals, easily identify avails and track progress. Furthermore, ProTrack will also ensure that contractu- al obligations are fulfilled at the proper time, to the correct destination and in the right format by comparing broadcast logs with as-run files to identify any discrep- ancies so that they can be proactively addressed and invoiced properly. Reduce Costs: Using ProTrack as the central piece of the broadcast chain allows for single point of control for metadata entry, data analysis and real time updating of schedules. Eliminating redundant tasks boosts productivity by allowing existing staff to focus on other important tasks. Analytics: Over 100 standardized reports can be generated in ProTrack, providing key analytics for decision making. Decisions can be made faster and with greater confidence when data is known and understood. ProTrack gives clear insight into broadcast operations. Integration: ProTrack establishes, maintains and drives workflows by tight- ly integrating with systems up-and-down the broadcast chain. This allows ProTrack to direct content and its meta- data to the required system, exactly when it needs to be there – all based on what is placed into the scheduling environ- ment. S c a l a b i l i t y : ProTrack is a highly scalable application capable of supporting single channel media facilities to multi-channel broad- cast groups. It also supports linear and non-linear distribution strategies. ProTrack is ideal for public, education, government, faith-based, community, corporate and commercial broadcast environments. To learn more about how Myers can help improve broadcast workflow, enhancing organizational transparency across all key departments, connect with Meyers online or in person. Visit www.myers infosys.com, call 413-585-9820, email sales@myersinfosys.com or stop by the North Hall at booth #N6415.