Accelerated Media Technologies Inc Creates WRC’s ‘Storm Team 4x4’ with ATEM Television Studio

Blackmagic Design  announced that Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT), a specialist in vehicle integration for broadcast and mobile communications, delivered a ground breaking new mobile weather lab for Washington DC’s WRC. Named the “Storm Team 4X4,” the mobile weather lab is based around Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Television Studio live production switcher.

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AMT is one of the United State’s premier manufacturers of ENG and SNG vehicles for broadcast and specializes in evolving traditional ENG/SNG platforms. Part of this development is the designing and building of live, motion switching capabilities and adding multi camera POV systems for news gathering, traffic reporting and storm chasing.

The WRC “Storm Team 4x4” is a mobile, multi camera, weather tracking lab and broadcasting station. It includes three cameras, one in front for live shots of weather, a forward looking POV camera and a camera mounted on a 30 foot mast tower that can take 360 degree shots, a large monitor at the back of the truck for showing on location graphics and a host of weather equipment, such as radar and wind speed indicators. The vehicle, built around a Chevrolet Express 3500HD Diesel Van, allows weathercasters to broadcast live from the vehicle while in motion or on location.

Built around an AMT designed and customized wireless robotic control system, ATEM Television Studio provides the ability to switch cameras and graphics in motion and on location. This allows WRC’s weathercasters and drivers to switch up to four sources from a laptop, iPad or wireless remote control. A four trigger dashboard control is also available, allowing the driver to switch cameras safely while driving through severe weather.

“With WRC, the simple wireless control gives the talent a familiar control format, like their weather clicker, for live switching between a weatherproof forward camera, a POV camera inside the work area of the vehicle, their mast camera and their weather graphics running on a laptop,” said David Miscia, systems design engineer, AMT.

ATEM Television Studio was perfect for this vehicle. The switcher’s six video inputs, with both broadcast SDI and consumer HDMI inputs, internal frame syncs on each input and both SDI and HDMI outputs gave us the perfect platform. The small footprint and rack mount format also was exactly what we needed because it is small enough to mount in the back of racks in vehicles as small as Subaru Foresters. Power consumption is nominal, and the unit's only other necessary connection is Ethernet,” continued Miscia.

“With our wireless remote application, we like the ability to use multiple, cost effective, HDMI based POV cameras, intermixed with HD-SDI cameras, all with one switcher and without additional converters or external references. ATEM Television Studio allows us to do that and gives us yet another powerful tool to give our customers a cost effective, dynamic and competitive solution to in motion switching,” finished Miscia.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.

Source:BlackMagic Design