Eagan High School in Eagan, MN, is using a Slate 1000 live video production system from Broadcast Pix as the centerpiece of its HD production curriculum. The Slate system is installed inside the school’s video production control room, adjacent to its dedicated television studio, and is used to teach production skills and support many academic programs through the use of video.
The Slate 1000, which was purchased from Alpha Video in Edina, MN, and saved the school significantly in cost when compared with other production solutions, was delivered last fall. With its integrated switcher, multiview, CG, clip and graphic stores, and aspect and format conversion, the Slate is also upgradeable to 3G 1080p operation for the highest quality image results.
Among the many features of the system, Eagan High students make extensive use of the Fluent workflow because they can create video packages in one of the six editing suites, drop them into the Slate’s “inbox” and bring those packages to air just by hitting a button.
Eagan High School’s weekly news show “Eagan AM” can be seen online. Produced entirely by students, the 12-minute live show is designed to have students write, shoot and produce stories.
Students produce field reports, edit news packages on Final Cut Pro, deliver the news with live graphics, and perform tasks ranging from news anchor to technical director.
Besides the Slate 1000, the school has three Panasonic AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorders and several Canon AH X1 HDV camcorders, plus prompters, an IFB system and an AJA Video KONA HD-SDI capture card. An extensive network runs throughout the facility, with camera hookups in the school gym, theater, and commons so students can run live video back to the Slate 1000.