Chyron Enters Virtual Set Arena

Forms partnership with NeuroTV

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/17/2010 12:46:06 PM

Graphics vendor Chyron, which has been remaking its core graphics business by pushing the software-based Axis online graphics system, is now entering into the virtual set market through a new partnership with Belgian firm NeuroTV.

The companies have agreed to integrate NeuroTV's "NeuroVS" virtual set technology across Chyron's existing graphics platforms and co-market the combined system as a cost-effective way for broadcasters to revamp the look of their news set.

While virtual sets have been used widely internationally, they have been slow to take off in the U.S. because of the high cost of implementation, with most news operations relegating their use to special events like election coverage. But according to Chyron Senior VP and COO Kevin Prince, NeuroTV has created a single-camera virtual set operation that dramatically reduces costs and which Chyron plans to pitch to the local-station market.

"They can imbed talent into the 3D screen, unlike the current mode, where talent is keyed over a 3D screen," said Prince. "So you don't need complex tracking cameras."

Prince estimated that implementing the entire system, including lights, camera, and hardware to support it, would cost between $200,000 and $250,000, which he said could be as little as a fifth of the cost of rebuilding a physical set. A second camera can be added for extra cost. The system can also create a "virtual camera" effect that can pan to a graphic, allowing talent to move to a new location and giving the single camera time to set up the new shot.

Chyron will be demonstrating the NeuroTV integration on a green-screen set located prominently in their booth. It will be displaying a traditional set configuration to put broadcasters in a "comfort zone," said Prince.

"Realism-wise, it looks very, very good," he said. "It's amazing what you can do now. As the talent on the camera is now part of the 3D scene, they can be correctly projected onto graphics in the screen, which can enhance the realistic aspects."

The NeuroTV system will be sold as a one-time hardware sale, like Chyron's legacy graphics products. But it will integrate with the online Axis system, which Chyron has been promoting heavily as it gradually shifts its business model to being a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, driven largely by its Axis online graphics system.

Chyron believes that selling cloud-based graphics products like Axis, where finished graphics are delivered through the Internet to desktop users, is a better business model going forward as stations adopt a more IT-based approach to operations. The Axis system also creates recurring revenues instead of one-time hardware sales.

New features for Axis at NAB include a sales tool that will allow sales executives to log into the Axis system and use the graphic templates to create a mockup of an ad, such as a Web banner, while meeting with a prospective client; improved tracking capability that allows users to search and browse video clips and animations directly in the cloud; and enhanced integration with Forbidden Technologies' cloud-based editing service, FORscene.

Chyron President and CEO Michael Wellesley-Wesley referenced the cloud-based editing application in the company's Q4 earnings call last week and noted that the editing market is a much larger opportunity than graphics.

Axis is currently used by some 200 TV stations and reaches 5,000 desktops, said Wellesley-Wesley. After signing up Sinclair and Post-Newsweek as new Axis customers in 2009, Chyron expects to announce several "enterprise-level" customers in 2010, he added.