Entertainment Tonight gets an HD makeover
Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
A 12,000 sq-ft stage houses two new HD sets, as well as lighting and camera control.
On Stage 4, two cutting-edge sets were designed and built by Steve Bass. The sets were made for the HD wide-screen experience and feature four 103in plasma displays, a walkway between the two sets and LED lighting to set different moods.
With its storied history that began in 1981, CBS Television Distribution's “Entertainment Tonight,” or “ET” for short, became the first in its genre to broadcast in HD. The show officially aired its first 1080i HD episodes on Sept. 8.
Along with “The Insider,” the show has moved to CBS Studio Center, in Studio City, CA, after 25 seasons at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The “ET” and “The Insider” executive offices and newsroom are now in the former Todd-AO scoring stage where numerous films — including “The Blues Brothers,” “Schindler's List” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End” — have been scored.
The move was precipitated by the parent company CBS' split into two separate divisions in 2006, resulting in “ET” and “The Insider” being wholly owned by CBS Television Distribution. At that time, “ET” and “The Insider” were already discussing to improve the production capabilities, according to Dan Henry, executive in charge of production for both shows. If they were going to move, he said, now was the time to go HD.
Following discussions that began in 2006, system integrator Teklogic, in West Hills, CA, did a relocation/upgrade feasibility and workflow study, which included a detailed budget analysis. Preliminary design began after NAB2007, and a detailed design followed in October, with on-site installation starting in March 2008.
Henry and his team weren't looking to reinvent the wheel. The main issue was how best to achieve their goals of operational efficiency and a streamlined production capability to get news content on-air (and online) quickly while staying to true to the existing and highly successful workflow. Teklogic's challenge was how to incorporate the existing workflow using current HD technology. Often it found that the technology wasn't quite there yet, which resulted in many evenings of brainstorming and design reviews.
The new file-based facility shines
The show originates from an all-HD-SDI infrastructure, which includes more than 150mi of coax and fiber cable. The newsroom alone is now three times the size of its former space. The 12,000sq-ft Stage 4 houses two new HD sets, as well as lighting and camera control. Stage 5 provides another 12,000sq ft for 28 nonlinear HD edit bays, two rooms for DigidesignPro Tools, two technical operations centers, two master control rooms, two transmission control rooms, two voice-over rooms with three voice-over booths, nine graphics workstations and three promo creation rooms.
One of two technical operations centers that monitor a variety of incoming feeds. Photo courtesy John Joannou/Teklogic.
Three new buildings were built to accommodate two production control rooms, a central equipment room and engineering workshop. There are also several separate talent suites, wardrobe, make-up and a large tape vault housing the company's historic videotape library.
CBS Television also supplies “ET” content to other regions such as Canada. The new infrastructure greatly streamlines this process and avoids time-consuming and costly dubs.
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