The American University in Cairo goes HD with Blackmagic
Published: MEA
EGYPT: Starting in September, staff and students in the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism at the American University in Cairo will have access to a broadcast grade HD television studio. This will be built around Blackmagic Design products, including an Atem 2 M/E production switcher and Atem 2 M/E broadcast panel.
Products integrated within the facility’s new studio were supplied by Wahsh Engineering and the upgrade is being led by Rania Aboul Wafa, assistant director of operations and engineering services at the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism.
The addition of a second studio means that staff can expose students to new HD workflows, providing them with skills in the field of news reporting, writing, production, camera operation and video editing.
At the heart of the upgrade is a distribution system built around Blackmagic’s OpenGear Converters. Providing conversion and cross conversion from SDI, HDMI, analogue and audio, it will link the new facility with the university's existing SD television studio.
Blackmagic’s Atem 2 M/E production switcher and Atem 2 M/E broadcast panel will be used to switch between multiple camera sources, including a total of six HD-SDI and SD-SDI studio cameras, several external campus cameras and a graphics playout system. Sources will be monitored via eight Smartview HD rack mounted monitors.
‘Building a new HD production facility was a major priority for our department in 2013, as we are responsible for preparing our students to work in a modern newsroom environment,’ said Ms Wafa. ‘The world of television is changing and Egypt is gearing up for HD content. In order for our course to remain relevant we had to create an appropriate studio environment for our graduates to learn in. The addition of a broadcast quality mixer and control panel was essential because we want our students to be familiar with the typical layout of a studio switcher, and the ergonomics of the Atem 2 M/E broadcast panel has been developed to do just that.
‘The inclusion of SuperSource was another big plus for the Atem switcher,’ she added. ‘Not only does it allow students to do picture in picture, but it also allows them to add layered compositions for multi camera interview segments from both studio facilities and the other campus cameras.’