It’s Starting To Look Like A Studio

I was just in the garage. It’s more studio now. Boxes still litter the floor. The rugs we ordered haven’t yet released their folds. The lights aren’t properly pointed. But there are signs it’s not for cars anymore.

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I was just in the garage. It’s more studio now. Boxes still litter the floor. The rugs we ordered haven’t yet released their folds. The lights aren’t properly pointed. But there are signs it’s not for cars anymore.

The sideview monitors are mounted. That’s how I’ll see the maps while on-air. There’s another monitor in the TelePrompter.

I’ve also erected a sound baffle/equipment room from an old cubicle KMIR let me have. Inside are utility shelves I brought home from Lowes. Equipment sits on them, waiting.

My Blackmagic Studio Camera has arrived, as has its zoom lens. The focal length was a guess. The camera itself is as cool as can be with a large flat monitor on the back.

The size and cost of cameras and everything electronic has dramatically plunged. This seems a good time to get in.

There are just two pieces missing. I am praying they arrive this week. Hey, NewTek, I’m talking to you. Pretty please. Seriously.

NewTek makes the Tricaster Mini. It’s the brains of the operation, acting as a full broadcast control room. Without it there is nothing.

I’ll be directing my own segment while on-the-air with its assistance. Yes, that is totally crazy!

The other missing item is the tripod. It will hold the very light camera and the much heavier Teleprompter.

I went to Fry’s and bought some cable last night–75 ohm coax with bnc connectors on each end in varying lengths. Even the nerd at Fry’s didn’t know where it was. These will be used to tie equipment together. I overbought. It’s inexpensive enough to consider an insurance buy.

I ordered a few 50 foot lengths of HDMI cable today. These will be used on the sideview monitors. 25 foot lengths were originally ordered. Oops.

Once the studio’s complete I’ll need to test with the station and make sure everything’s perfect. A week from today would be nice. It’s my goal.

I think I’ll call it Studio 5E, after the apartment I grew up in. I’m living the dream.

To Hollywood And Back!

What a cool piece of tech this is. It puts nearly all the functionality of a control room switcher into a tiny box It is broadcast quality HD at what historically would be seen as an insane price. Thank you computers.

Busy day. Allow me to bore you with the details.

Tomorrow is our 31st anniversary. That means, as it does most years, a Thanksgiving trip to Vegas with Stef. Of course it’s not that easy. There’s Roxie and Doppler to think about.

Our sitter is away, so we brought Doppler to Hollywood to join Roxie, Laura and her menagerie. Laura is magical with dogs.

IMAG1783On the way up we stopped in Garden Grove to see a demo on the new Tricaster Mini.

What a cool piece of tech this is. It puts nearly all the functionality of a control room switcher into a tiny box It is broadcast quality HD at what historically would be seen as an insane price. Thank you computers.

As the demo went on, I asked Kim (the nerdboy sales/engineer–said as a compliment) if it could do all sorts of non-obvious things. Every answer was yes. One question concerned a function so arcane I expected to have to repeat the question. Instead he said, “Yes,” then did it.

High definition video is a real challenge. 1920×1080 29.97 time per second is a lot of data. Each frame is full of information. All those pixels. All that variability. This high in the video chain the switcher must not degrade the signal.

As you can tell, I was very impressed.

IMAG1784From there it was up to L.A. Bless you GPS! Four freeways to Sunset, then west to Stef’s street off Hollywood.

We dropped off the dogs and headed to Canter’s Deli. It’s still family run, not far from CBS on Fairfax. A fixture in Hollywood since 1938.

Pastrami. Rye. Mustard. This is how it’s properly eaten.

We’re home now. Yes, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic at 8:00 PM.

Vegas in the morning.