Recent Work

New MoJo app allows local governments, businesses, houses of worship and other organizations to maintain communications with their communities during COVID-19 crisis

St. Petersburg, Florida, April 8, 2020 — CP Communications, a leader in innovative solutions and services for broadcast and live event productions, is taking steps to help local organizations maintain communication with their communities in throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Leveraging a special mobile journalism (MoJo) app developed by partner Mobile Viewpoint, local businesses, governments, houses of worship and non-profit organizations can now directly and cost-efficiently live-stream important services and messages to their customers and communities.

In addition to bringing communities and local organizations closer through MoJo, CP Communications will offer backend services from at-home production facilities in Florida and New York to incorporate graphics, translations and other services to ensure messages reach the widest possible community audiences.

“The ability to communicate important information rapidly and accurately, regardless of the user’s chosen technology or platform, is paramount in these uncertain times,” said Kurt Heitmann, CEO, CP Communications. “One of the simplest and most affordable ways to achieve these is through the power of mobile devices and the Internet. We have introduced this special service to help organizationsdeliver press conferences, city council meetings, company announcements and worship services to their communities at a low cost and without technical burdens.”

The MoJo app has long been available to help journalists and content contributors cover breaking news, interviews and live events by turning smartphones and tablets into content acquisition systems. The system uses Mobile Viewpoint’s H.264 codec to encode live video and stream to multiple platforms, including social media outlets and control rooms. Users have the flexibility to connect external cameras(such as a GoPro), and manage and monitor streams in the cloud using Mobile Viewpoint’s LinkMatrix control and management center.

The MoJo app directs users to the Webstreamur platform to login once installed on a mobile device. Live streams begin automatically upon clicking the “Live” button, along with supporting applications such as location-based push messaging and text chat functions. Once users connect to MoJo at the front end, the streams automatically populate within CP Communications’ network operation centers in Florida and New York, where the company’s technical teams can offer additional professional services.

“We utilize a secure data center at each location where we can control, manage and schedule content on behalf of the user if needed,” said Heitmann. “The app is a free download, and the user requires no investment in on-site equipment or facility infrastructure to capture and stream live video. We are available to add or assist with any services needed to help these organizations cost-effectively communicate important and timely messages to their local communities.”

CP Communications invites local organizations to reach out for more information, and help them quickly launch new local live streaming services. Representatives can email CPSales@cpcomms.com for more information.

About CP Communications

For more than three decades, CP Communications has provided high-quality, cost-effective live event production solutions to major broadcasters, sports leagues and teams, and event and production companies. Our solutions include access to experienced professionals, state of the art equipment, and innovative technologies and techniques for wireless audio & video content acquisition, transport and delivery. Our culture of innovation, coupled with the highest quality assurance standards and passion for customer service, promote collaboration with our clients to determine the best custom solution for each live event.

Manufacturer’s representative enhances its professional DSP range to serve new business verticals, strengthening its value proposition as a supplier of complete high-end AV solutions

Toronto, April 7, 2020 — Xilica®, a global leader in digital signal processing technology for AV, IT and installed sound, continues to add proven talent to its global channel partner network with the appointment of Quantum Sales and Technology as Manufacturer’s Representative for Arizona, Hawaii, southern California and southern Nevada. The partnership raises visibility of Xilica’s broad range of digital signal processors, control and networked AV tools throughout the region, and enables Quantum to supply complete high-end audio-visual solutions to systems integrators serving corporations, convention centers, national restaurant chains, and other enterprise-level end users.

Quantum represents several of the AV and pro audio industry’s most recognized brands, including Sennheiser, Neumann, Roland, Lowell, and Tascam. While Quantum has offered DSPs before, it lacked solutions that could flexibly serve a broader base of installed AV projects.

“Xilica offers a DSP range that helps us serve the AV/IT enterprise segments,” said Omar Arnold, principal of Quantum. “This effectively positions Quantum for project wins with installers focused on business integration. We’re no longer number 10 in conversations about larger scale jobs; we have been moved to the front of the line, and it’s a great place to be.”

In business for nearly two decades, Quantum differentiates itself from competitors through its focus on complete solutions and customer service versus simple box sales. As Arnold explains, the Quantum team emphasizes education and promotion on its entire product line, and focuses on interoperable solutions between its vendors. He is especially excited about pairing Xilica Solaro Series DSPs with Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Ceiling 2 beamforming microphone, which ensures that end users maintain pristine, high-quality sound for online meetings.

“The strengths that Xilica has when paired with our other vendors opens up a world of opportunities for Quantum, especially in corporate AV, hospitality, and education,” said Arnold. “In general, Xilica adds value to our high-end audio message, as their DSPs are among the few to support full 24-bit 96kHz audio. Our customers get much higher audio fidelity and improved dynamic range, along with Dante interoperability. This means we also have a solution for large restaurant chains and hospitality environments that want excellent audio quality and flexible IP networking.”

Quantum anticipates developing training and education initiatives around Xilica products both in person and online. Quantum currently offers about six webinars a month for dealers and integrators. In addition to Xilica’s DSP range, Arnold looks forward to communicating the value proposition behind Xilica Designer software, which offers integrators a drag-and-drop, universal platform for AV project design and management.

About Xilica

Xilica® is an award-winning manufacturer of innovative, next-generation digital signal processing solutions for AV control and command applications including conference, corporate, hospitality and leisure, retail and transportation. From its headquarters in Toronto, Canada, Xilica sells and supports products worldwide in over 75 countries, gaining rapid acknowledgement for its all-modular, ultra-small-format and high-performance product ranges that solve critical business challenges.

www.xilica.com

New website and blog series aims to communicate the upside and work through the challenges or working from home

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, April 2, 2020 – The employees of Tightrope Media Systems have always thought differently. After all, the founders formed the company specifically to address underserved needs in broadcast and AV. No one would have called community TV automation, instant replay servers and digital signage lucrative product areas in the late 1990s.

And while corporations remain a substantial percentage of their customer base, Tightrope has never been one for strict corporate culture. The founders of the company, including CEO JJ Parker, remain down-to-earth people that value freedom and flexibility over structure and rules. That philosophy created a culture at Tightrope that fostered innovation and success through its entire staff, without being forced to work in a common location and confined to a 9-to-5 lifestyle.

“We have always had a ‘remote work’ culture,” explains Parker, “and in the past few years we have made working remotely a core part of our culture. We now describe the current version of our office as ‘remote-first,’ without being bound to physical locations.”

The COVID-19 spread has now forced many businesses to adopt a similar approach. Tightrope is sharing how businesses can continue operations unabated in a new blog, accessible at https://www.remotie.life. The site was launched in dedication of remote workers, and offers tips and tools focused on how to navigate out-of-office work. Entire sections are dedicated to everything from setting up shop and choosing the right tools, to maintaining health and working through new challenges.

Tightrope employees and other professionals will communicate how they handle the day-to-day-challenges (and benefits) or working from home in a series of written and video blog entries called “Remoties”. These Remoties are accessible at the website and on related social media channels. In addition to posting their own experiences, others are invited to share article suggestions and contribute content.

“The overarching goal is to help people thrive in remote work environments,” said Parker. “While there is plenty of upside, there are definitely challenges to work through when not collaborating in a physical space. This blog is for the worker.”

Tightrope Media Systems is the parent company of Carousel Digital Signage and Cablecast Community Media.

Latest Zeplay generation retains hallmark benefits of speed, reliability and 4×4 I/O capacity, while offering simultaneous replay sequences and a reduced server footprint

BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA, April 1, 2020 – Zeplay LLC announces that Lucas Oil Production Studios, which produces multi-cameracoverage of motorsports programming for four major networks, has added two of Zeplay’s latest-generation instant replay systems to its primary production truck.

Based in Corona, Calif., Lucas Oil produces 1080p coverage of a variety of racing sports, from Lucas Oil Late Model Series, American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) and Automobile Racing Club of America Menards (ARCA) events to professional tractor pulls (PPL) and Motocross. The company installed earlier-generation Zeplay systems in all three of its production trucks in 2016 and added the latest Zeplay to its “Alpha” truck late last year. The latest Zeplay release includes the Zeplay R7 server, which reduces the footprint by 50 percent, returning valuable rack space onboard Alpha.

Lucas Oil did not have a replay system before investing in Zeplay. Race coverage was line edited, with the program finished in an edit suite. Zeplay has allowed Lucas Oil to produce its replay sequences live, which eliminates the need to construct them in post. The speed of the system continues to impress across its new and existing Zeplay systems, allowing Lucas Oil to turn around replays within seconds.

The latest Zeplay system also allows users to play up to four different replay sequences simultaneously in real time on each of its four outputs. “If you’re building a sequence, you may want to add in a second sequence on the fly,” explained Shawn Stafford, technical operations manager for Lucas Oil Production Studios. “Adding a second sequence to the output gives the director and the producer another place to go and adds to the viewer experience.”

Stafford also praised Zeplay’s customizable multiviewer, which displays all inputs, outputs, and information on one screen. “Our Zeplay operator is in the middle of the truck, and the producer is in the front of the truck,” he said. “The built-in multiviewer provides the producer the same look that the Zeplay operator has, which allows them to proof the replay before it hits the air.”

With multi-format support, Zeplay allows Lucas Oil to natively transfer files from ENG cameras in the field without transcoding, so footage can be used immediately. “If they have shot a quick interview out in the pits for the opening sequence,” Stafford said, “they use the FTP server and drop it right into Zeplay.”

Zeplay has even helped an officiating crew at a recent event in Dallas, where there was a near-disqualification at the end of a very close race. The officials visited the production truck to review the replay footage. “They watched the end of the race, and discovered that the driver didn’t create the infraction,” Stafford recalled. “Zeplay helped them confirm he was qualified to finish the race.”

Stafford said he learned how to use the system in about 45 minutes. “It’s really not a complicated system to operate, and we can train new operators to use the system on very short notice. The learning curve is unusually fast,” he noted. “I think the biggest thing that came with our Zeplay is the customer support. I have not found a better customer support company.”

Stafford adds that the R7 server brings a new set of benefits to Lucas Oil’s mobile production environments. Introduced last year, the more compact Zeplay R7 – 2RU compared to the previous 4RU version – delivers solid-state drives for faster processing and improved reliabilityin addition to its reduced footprint.

“When building our production trucks, we need to consider space and weight because of how heavy all the other equipment is,” Stafford said. “The new Zeplay R7 came in at half the size of the old system, so it’s a lot easier for us to fit it into our production trucks. If I’m saving two rack units, that means I can add another 2RU piece of equipment – or I can put in another Zeplay.”

About Zeplay LLC

Based in Bloomington, Minnesota, Zeplay LLC is the company behind Zeplay, offering the broadcast and professional AV industry’s best price-to-performance ratio of any instant replay solution on the market. Fast and reliable with a quick learning curve, Zeplay empowers broadcasters, sports and live event venues, production trucks, and other end users and facilities with and a robust feature set to generate excitement for dynamic live productions. Learn more at www.zeplay.tv.

Creative team leverages technologies from disguise, Notch and BlackTrax to construct a dynamic visual universe around the musician during filming, while eliminating lengthy post-production process

ATLANTA, June 26, 2019 — MEPTIK, an Atlanta-based experience design agency specializing in dynamic live environments, is modernizing the video production workflow through the use of Extended Reality environments — an innovative technique visualized in a powerful new music video by the Nashville-based singer/songwriter and musician Fleurie.

The powerful new video for “A World Beyond” places Fleurie in an XR (Extended Reality) experience that surrounds her with outer space and underwater elements, among other dynamic visuals. However, unlike traditional greenscreen productions, the greenscreen is replaced altogether with imagery that is generated in real-time, on-set.

Through the use of LED screens driven by disguise gx2’s, with content created in Notch and tracking done through BlackTrax, the environments were visualized in camera, on-set, but also interactive. This allowed changes to be made in real-time, and also allowed talent to interact with the visuals onscreen.

The MEPTIK creative team worked closely with director Elle Ginter to produce the imagery that would capture the desired musical moods. Both Elle and Fleurie were able to visualize exactly what the finished product would look like without having to go into post-production.

“This is a new innovation for the creative process that removes lengthy and expensive post-production processes, and instead allows us to make real-time editing decisions on the set,” said Nick Rivero, co-founder and CTO, MEPTIK. “We are saving our clients an enormous amount of time and money with one-and-done captures, while offering a new experience for the performer by replacing the empty green void with visuals they can see and believe.”

The MEPTIK team leveraged three primary workflow components for the XR production:

         disguise gx 2: Powering reliable, high-resolution content playout with real-time rendering, the gx 2 was the core, high-capacity engine driving the visual universe on the set. MEPTIK added disguise’s Extended Reality (xR) toolkit to deliver the AR/MR elements within the live production environment.

         Notch: The MEPTIK team used Notch to very quickly and efficiently create the dynamic visual content deliveredvia the disguise gx 2, without any coding requirements.

         BlackTrax: This real-time, highly responsive tracking software was used to capture positional data of characters in the video as they interact with the visual universe. All positional data was seamlessly delivered to gx 2.

Rivero adds that the disguise xR toolkit is especially valuable as it gives directors and designers more control within immersive production experiences, which he views as a game-changer for larger film, television and live event productions moving forward.

“We believe that this music video offers a blueprint for directors and designers of larger productions that have grown tired of the long hours and high costs of traditional post-production processes,” said Rivero. “These systems represent the future of production, allowing creative professionals to build engaging virtual worlds that we can all live and innovate within.”

The official video for Fleurie’s “A World Beyond” can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn0pFvpfpsQ

Also visit Forbes for the official release: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianleak/2019/06/20/premiere-fleurie-shares-evocative-video-for-a-world-beyond/amp/

FILM CREDITS:

Featuring: Fleurie

Director: Elle Ginter

Director of Photography: Allison Anderson

Film Production Company: Evolve

About MEPTIK

MEPTIK is an Atlanta-based production and design studio specialized in creating interactive environments that blend creativity, human interaction, and technology. We work in environments that combine video, lighting, audio, and touch, converging these concepts together to build experiences and events that leave lasting memories. Combining years of knowledge in live events, content creation, and design execution, we understand the workflow of bringing it all together. From interactive experiences and live events to content creation and art installations, we bring our unique creative perspective to every project. Visit the company’s website at  www.meptik.com.