Township hopes new cable gear helps spike ratings
Grant expands N.B.'s capabilities when airing public meetings on TV
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

The Sony Anycast production system utilizes a laptop (above), which has eight built-in monitors on the screen, allowing various camera angles during council, Planning Board and Zoning Board meetings, as well as other functions held in the municipal courtroom or conference room. The cable studio upgrade includes five automated, robotic cameras (below) that can zoom in on an individual speaker or take a broad shot of the entire courtroom or conference room.

NORTH BRUNSWICK - With the beginning of a new year comes the beginning of a new cable studio operating system, thanks to a $60,000 Cablevision franchise renewal grant the township used to purchase new software, new cameras and a new outlook on township meetings.

After thorough testing, the Sony Anycast production system is finally up and running, the culmination of the Media Advisory Committee's interviewing of three supply firms and evaluation of proposals since early last year. Instead of adding another computer function or purchasing five bulky monitors for the existing system, the committee decided the more effective route was to upgrade the entire system.

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER AMATO

"The station, [prior] to the upgrade, operated with two tripod cameras that had to be moved from the council room to the courtroom, plugged in and moved for any other meeting we had. The Sony Anycast system is where the whole system is in a laptop and it allows us to go to a digital camera system and replace the two manual camcorders with five automated robotic cameras," said Roy Minieri, the station manager for TV22.

"Prior to going to an automated system, everything was very manual," he said. "This process enables us to walk into the studio five minutes before any meeting, turn on the Anycast system and … have all the cameras ready."

The three cameras in the courtroom have the ability to key in on individual speakers such as each person sitting on the dais, a speaker at the podium or any presenting member who is seated at the front tables, and any presentation materials that are used during a meeting. Also, a broad shot of the entire courtroom can be achieved. In the conference room, each seat at the table can be monitored as well as a larger shot of the entire room.

"Now that the television close-ups are so good, the council is looking into appropriations for a makeup artist." - Ralph Andrews Councilman

"The benefit of the Anycast system is that for everyone who speaks, there is a preset design in the system which enables us to press a given button to focus on any speaker at any given time," Minieri said. "Anycast lets you do everything you want to do in less than 2 square feet of space."

Therefore, less manpower is required because instead of having an actual person manually move the camera to focus in on subjects, the laptop accomplishes that with the touch of a button.

"Now that the television close-ups are so good, the council is looking into appropriations for a makeup artist," joked Councilman Ralph Andrews, a member of the Media Advisory Committee.

Another huge advantage is the mobility of the Anycast system, which can be set up at any location that has electricity. However, a wireless transmitting system would be needed, because live broadcasting is not possible without a fiber optic connection.

"It is totally a mobile professional studio. We can take one of the large camcorders and video right from the field," Minieri said. "The whole package is now totally automated and enables residents, as time goes on, to view more programs."

Besides meetings, there is the "North Brunswick Today" talk show Minieri hosts monthly and there was a cooking show produced last year featuring local chef Alfredo deBonis. Sporting events and township activities could now be offered in a more current, timely fashion to residents.

In addition, the sound system will be enhanced with the installation of another sound mixer in the courtroom to control individual speakers. There are also headphones available for audience members who need increased sound clarity.

"In between [deciding on improvements], we were made aware of some hearing-impaired residents who had come to meetings and could not hear, so we went out and purchased a wireless PA [public address] transmitter system which would enable hearing impaired people to wear a portable headphone device, sit in the courtroom and listen to proceedings," Minieri said.

The grant money was also used to purchase a DVD duplicating system that will be installed shortly so that viewers, who can currently request a videocassette copy of any meeting, will have access to a more economical and efficient DVD version.

Part of the grant has also been allocated to the Board of Education, which will receive $5,000 to take the fiber optic lines installed at the high school in 1998 and upgrade them, running the line to the new television studio constructed as part of the renovation project at the school.

Since the township's equipment is still operable, the township is making arrangements to donate the materials to the high school so it can begin to set up its own broadcast center. As of right now, the fiber optic line at the school will enable them to connect to the municipal building and send broadcast data so that TV22 can air it. In the future, if the Board of Education meets the criteria set forth by Cablevision, the board could possibly broadcast directly from the school on its own station.

Not part of the grant but an additional renovation to the system occurred in 2005, when the bulletin board featured on the television station moved from a simple PowerPoint presentation to the SCALA system, providing "a higher level of sophistication in bulletin board presentation," according to Minieri. The system is controlled by any one of four authorized people who can update the slides from their home computer, keeping in constant touch with the Board of Education and the Police Department. There is an emergency crawl on the bottom of the screen that features the most current, up-to-date information. Also, there are connections to the Weather Channel and the state highway camera system for traffic reports.

The SCALA upgrade was paid for by the 2004-05 budget with funds stemming from the Media Advisory budget. The weather and traffic services were provided free of charge from the state because a government agency is providing information to its taxpayers.

In the future, Minieri hopes to upgrade some of the existing computers and DVD players and perhaps do some streaming on the Web and utilize high definition broadcast capabilities.

Also, Planning and Zoning Board applicants could soon connect any PowerPoint presentations directly into the computer system, allowing residents at home to view the slides directly instead of seeing a video of them.

"Residents can see a presentation as if they were directly in the room, instead of having a camera on it," Andrews said. "Now with the new cameras, all of the cameras have the ability to rotate, [tilt, pan and zoom] … and get right in on the presentation, so people at home have the opportunity to see exactly what the Planning Board members are seeing."

The councilman and Planning Board liaison hopes this added feature will keep residents more interested in meetings, bringing them more detail and creating a more focused presentation.

"This is another thing that makes things more open for the public to see what's going on," he said.

The members of the Media Advisory Committee are Minieri, Andrews, Linwood Middle School Principal Pete Clark, township network administrator Troy Gorski, residents Steve Schadale and Richard Dreger, and Greg Kikelhan, the deputy director of the Department of Parks, Recreation & Community Services.