Centralized Graphics: Look Good, Save $$

Because multiple users can access a single project, Connectus keeps a revision history, Mutter says. "If I need to step back to an older version, I can grab that from the server."

The Harris Connectus solution is in use at CTV stations across Canada, but Mutter says the system is appropriate for use on a smaller scale as well.

"You could even use it in one facility where you might have a graphics design room where people are generating content for one or two on-air devices."

VIZRT's Mindlin suggests that centralized graphics doesn't require all artists to be in a single location. One customer, a group with stations in mid-size and small markets, has some stations with one artist and some with none.

Whether artists are centrally located, or spread across a number of locations, the VIZRT offering is providing more than cost savings, Mindlin says. The VIZ Artist is a real-time graphics tool that "doesn't have any rendering involved, he says. "This makes it very easy for people to collaborate."

"It's an open file so you can have multiple people in different locations working on the file together,"  Mindlin adds.

At the center of the VIZRT solution is the VIZ Graphics Hub, "basically a proprietary database where all the graphics reside," Mindlin says.  "The database can exist in multiple places. In a group scenario, each station would have its own graphics hub. A graphics hub would replicate from one station to another automatically."

The VIZ Graphics Hub integrates with other VIZRT products including Object Store, which "is basically like Google," Mindlin says. "You can search for clips and images with metadata."

Order Management is another strength, Mindlin says. A graphics request is sent to the hub and a placeholder is created. When an artist creates the graphic, "that order automatically replaces the placeholder. So, the producer doesn't have to even go back and search for the order that was fulfilled."

Media General's Doyle says his group's decision to adopt Miranda's XMedia Suite was greatly based on XMedia "having an effective order management system" at a time when others did not. That's where the efficiency is."

According to David Jones, senior vice president, Miranda, the XMedia Suite comprises XStudio for creating graphics templates; XBuilder for building pages; Xplorer for viewing graphics; work order and asset management software; and the XMedia server for managing all the graphics assets."

"One of our differentiators is we can control the graphics for our systems, but historically we also always control other people's playout devices," Jones says. "We can do centralized graphics for our XG playout device, but we can also control graphics for Chyron and Deko boxes as well."

Jones adds that the workorder management software allows everybody across the station group to manage the graphics creation process. "That's very big for us."

The Miranda system is also being installed at Post-Newsweek stations.

"This has been a big business for us for the past two years," Jones says. "It's been accelerated because of the recession. If our customers can save operational expenses by moving to a centralized graphics model, now is the time to do it. The return on investment is quite quick."

While Doyle counts the savings from his centralized graphics operations, he is looking to further monetize it by taking on contracts from other stations and station groups. 

Already, the Media General MGFX graphics operation is providing news graphics for four Fox affiliates that have contracted with Media General stations to produce local newscasts.

"We're doing graphics for those shows," Doyle explains. "They have a distinct look from the Media General stations."