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Chyron Offers Fast-Track Graphics Fixes

Chyron’s Creative Services Group, in addition to offering training on their equipment, can help customers facing a fast-approaching deadline to produce a graphics package for news, sports, elections or entertainment shows.The group’s head, Selena Cohen, says, “We are driven by crisis. We come into our own then.”

By Frank Beacham

TVNewsCheck, June 9, 2011 11:49 AM EDT

Chyron’s Creative Services Group has been in existence for only three years, but the group of four design professionals is earning a reputation as the go-to place for television graphics design when deadlines are closing in. “Sometimes we are driven by crisis,” said Selena Cohen, head of the Chyron Group. “We come into our own then.”

Chyron is a veteran creator of broadcast graphics systems and software, as well as a relatively new networked system called AXIS, which is a cloud-based graphics offering. But for some of Chyron’s customers, buying new gear doesn’t mean they have the trained talent on staff to build complex graphic designs.

Some television stations these days might not even have an art department at all. That’s where Creative Services comes in. It helps Chyron customers facing a fast-approaching deadline to produce a graphics package for news, sports, elections or entertainment shows.

“We have about 15 graphics packages that are turnkey,” Cohen said. “Stations can pick what they like. We can then have it ready in a week for them to go on air.  And it’s incredibly cheap.

“What a lot of television stations don’t realize is if they go to a design company and say come up with a new look, that design company gives them photo files,” she continued. “They don’t give them the graphics in a form that can go to air. The station has to hire someone else to create the templates for air. We have that pre-packaged. We are a one-stop shop. Stations can save anywhere from 20% to 60% using us. A lot of people just don’t budget for it.”

Just a couple of weeks ago, Cohen and another designer trained four employees of Raycom Media at Chyron’s headquarters in Melville, N.Y. One of the nation’s largest broadcast groups, Raycom purchased Chyron BlueNet graphics workflow products for all 31 of its news-producing stations. Each station is getting a two dual-channel LEX3.1 graphics system with Lyric Pro 8 software, a CAMIO server and iSQ remote monitoring and playout applications.

However, Raycom’s four employees had no experience with Chyron equipment and needed to produce some graphics quickly for the station group. Rather than traditional training, which is provided by another Chyron department, Raycom hired Creative Services to both train and create the graphics simultaneously.

The Raycom team knew what they wanted. But their designs were on several different formats from legacy graphics gear used at Raycom stations. None of Raycom’s staff were familiar with Chyron gear. In only four days, the Chyron team not only trained the four employees but produced 28 ready-to-air templates for Raycom.

“This number of graphics in only four days is an absolute record for us,” said Cohen. “They were an amazing group and it’s a credit to them.”

David Folsom, Raycom’s chief technology officer, convinced management to standardize all the group’s graphics systems to Chyron from a diverse group of other brands. He said rather than just trying to reuse the earlier graphics with the new systems, the company decided to try to create some new graphics during the training.

One of the attributes of Chyron’s Lyric 8 software, he said, is the ability to import certain elements of templates from other graphics systems. That capability saved a lot of time, he said.

“Everybody was thrilled with the results,” Folsom said. “We were hoping they would learn to operate the software in the week they were there. They did a good job of that, though there’s much more to learn.

“But they actually ended up with an end product we are going to be able to use. That was the big surprise — to have an end product that was useful as opposed to an end product that would be used as a learning tool.”

Another project Cohen remembers vividly was for the YES Network, the broadcast arm of the New York Yankees. YES already had Chyron gear, but needed quick help implementing a new graphics package designed by others.

“They had a brilliant design but at the last moment — two weeks before air — their person pulled out,” Cohen said. “They came to us and said we need help. For two weeks, there were two of us pretty much working full time on it.”

On a job that normally would take months, the Creative Services team made the 2010 season broadcast deadline for YES in those two weeks. “The turn-around time was remarkable, and there was absolutely no compromise in quality,” said Ed Delaney, vice president of the YES Network.

Creative Services did election graphics packages in 2008 and 2010 for Waterman Broadcasting in Fort Myers, Fla. (DMA 65), where the group owns WBBH, the NBC affiliate, and operates WZVN, the ABC affiliate. Between the two stations, Waterman produces 11 ½  hours of news programming each day.

Bob Hannon, Waterman’s director of production, had nothing but praise for Chyron’s Creative Services staff, who he said were incredibly efficient and very cost effective.

“It all went very smoothly,” Hannon said. “As usual with Chyron, one phone call got me the right person. The software enhancements between elections were done quickly. The thing about Chyron is they stand behind their product. It’s not like some companies where you pay a fee and are told they will get back to you in 24 hours. When I call I get a human being the first time.”

Creative Services is now a diverse international operation. Its election package was used two weeks ago in South Africa, where it sent a team of workers to assist. In April, it did graphics for NRK, the public broadcaster in Norway. Earlier, it did the graphics display work for the new Cowboys Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Hannon said he became a true believer in Chyron on Christmas Eve 2009. “I had an equipment failure during the 11 p.m. news on Christmas Eve. I called Chyron after midnight,” he recalled. “Even though it was early Christmas morning, I got a call back in 15 minutes.  I had the solution the day after Christmas. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Leading TV Retailer sit-up shopping Builds New Look on Chyron HyperX³ Graphics System

 

Chyron announced that sit-up shopping, one of the largest and fastest-growing TV retailers in the U.K., has upgraded to a HyperX³ on-air graphics system, giving its broadcast presence a new look, thanks to the Chyron Creative Services team. Together, the HyperX³ system and graphics upgrade improve the quality and continuity of on-screen content while making it easier for sit-up shopping staff to enhance programming with motion graphics and 3D text elements. sit-up shopping launched the new look on its bid tv channel as part of a tenth birthday celebration, and the retailer will launch new looks for its price-drop tv and speed auction tv channels in early 2011.

 

“With their tremendous experience in broadcast graphics, the Chyron team has a deep understanding of how graphics impact and engage television viewers,” said Mark Hall, senior business development manager at sit-up shopping. “We approached Chyron just months before our planned graphics relaunch, and the Creative Services team responded quickly, enabling us to go live and on schedule with a polished, dynamic, and user-friendly new look. The Chyron HyperX³ upgrade and graphics update have given our team a lot of momentum, as well as the tools and motivation to keep improving our broadcasts.”

 

sit-up shopping boasts three of the most popular digital home shopping channels: bid tv, price-drop tv, and speed auction tv. Broadcast seven days a week, these channels are available to millions of digital homes via Virgin TV, Freeview, Sky, and the Web. Since its launch in 2000, sit-up shopping has appeared on The Sunday Times “Fast Track 100” list and on the Financial Times “Top 50 Creative Businesses” list.

 

Seeking to maintain its competitive and creative edge, sit-up shopping has taken advantage of the Chyron HyperX³ system’s powerful performance and 3D graphics capabilities to make bid tv text and images pop off the screen. Part of a wholesale overhaul of the bid tv set and on-air look, the new graphical approach also offers a much more visually cohesive product.

 

“sit-up shopping is one of the world’s most popular TV retailers largely because of its commitment to quality and its success in encouraging viewers to ‘sit up’ and engage,” said Bonnie Barclay, vice president and chief marketing officer at Chyron. “With its new HyperX³ system and graphics scheme, sit-up shopping is equipped to provide crisp, clear 3D text and to control graphics playout and transitions with a new degree of precision.”

 

Chyron’s flagship on-air graphics system, HyperX³ features seamless creation-to-playout capability, real-time 2D/3D animation, and a host of hardware and software features. The system is scalable to two independent channels and incorporates optional DVEs, clips, and the Lyric PRO 8 advanced creation and playout package, which includes a completely new 3D text rendering engine.

CHYRON TEES UP WITH GOLF CHANNEL

The new on air graphics for the Golf Channel scored a hole in one for Chyron, the leader in digital broadcast graphics.

Earlier this year, golf fans were treated to a fresh graphics look for the only channel devoted entirely to the sport – the Golf Channel. Chyron provided the hardware, software and creative services for the new look.

“Chyron has a long history with the Golf Channel. We worked with them last year to create Lyric PRO templates, and when they launched the new studio earlier this year. Our Creative Services constructed a new, 3D intensive look built using real time rendering capabilities of the Lyric software,” said Todd Martin, Vice President of Creative Services, Chyron.

Lyric PRO, Chryon’s flagship graphics creation and playback software, offers the ease and speed to create, update and playback real-time, high-end 3D animations to air. Lyric PRO is the choice of many Sports Broadcasters around the world.

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CHYRON TEAMS UP WITH YES NETWORK

CHYRON TEAMS UP WITH YES NETWORK
FOR YANKEES’ OPENING DAY

Melville, NY – May 25, 2010: Chyron (NASDAQ: CHYR) was awash in Yankee pride as YES Network  kicked off its 2010 season with a brand new graphic look for the Bronx Bombers.

Already a five-year client of Chyron, YES Network came to Chyron’s Creative Services team a few weeks before its season opener looking to implement a brand new graphics package designed from the ground up by award-winning motion graphics design firm MFactor.  The expertise of the Chyron Creative Services team was employed with the goal of producing the most dynamic graphic experience possible for Yankees’ fans.

“YES wanted to create a dynamic, cutting-edge graphics package which would distinguish it from everyone else.  With our flagship, on-air graphics system and the unmatched power of Lyric PRO, we were able to build a great package in time for opening day,” said Todd Martin, Chyron’s VP of AXIS and Creative Services.

In the span of a few short weeks, Chyron’s Creative Services Team completed a complex, data-integrated graphics package that normally takes months.

“We know Chyron’s iconic stature in the industry of graphic hardware, software and technology, but we had never done much work with the Creative Services Team,” said YES Network’s Vice President, Operations Ed Delaney.  “The turn-around time was remarkable, and there was absolutely no compromise in quality.  The feedback on the package that we’ve gotten from industry colleagues and viewers has been overwhelmingly positive.”