A1 Report is not the classic television channel that we are used to, but
presents itself in a very particular graphic skin: the layout is in fact
composed of several areas of different sizes where informative contents
of various nature are displayed, a few occupied by video services -
live and deferred - others are exclusively composed of graphics with
fixed images, on rotation and animated text with effects.
The result
is a screen loaded with news, pleasant to see and easy to consult.
Within the programming there are many interviews on contemporary events,
alternating with an ample area dedicated to sports, displayed both at
the end of the news program as well as in the section on the upper
right, where all of the main headlines regarding the most important
events are shown. Therefore, this means managing all according to "news
reporting criteria" and not like a traditional sports event.
What
the spectator sees from home is a mosaic of "pictures in pictures",
with graphics always shown and two main frames of different sizes where
the most important news rotate on continuous cycle.
The background
graphics run synthetic ticker text over on rotation and photos related
to the news of the day, step by step, involving national events and
international topics. On the right, the graphics report current news,
social events and the latest updates of the day.
The moment a specific event happens, the graphics change and the news is emphasized by appropriate "Flash" titles.
Olger
Teneqexhi explains: "For production and transmission, we exclusively
use various software by the Italian company ClassX that allows us,
through a connection with our CMS (centralized digital content
management system), to reproduce the photograph of the person/athlete
interviewed and the environment involved. Every news story is commented
by about 70 text characters and three photos that rotate one by one,
following an appropriate sequence. We often change the register of the
presentation from "Flash" to "Curiosity", and propose photos and
comments on VIPs, gossip, culture and curiosities from the world.
We
are really very satisfied with the flexibility of the modules that
comprise the ClassX software package and it is exactly thanks to this
that we will quickly go from the current display of flash news with
photos and text to a system based on the broadcasting of a compressed
video coming from a live feed. The implementation of the second Picture
in Picture will allow us not to interrupt the presentation of the main
news story displayed in the larger Picture in Picture, but to give yet
more emphasis to other "hot" news stories in the area for the purpose,
of smaller size. Soon, the DTT will permit choosing the audio and video
to listen to, giving the viewers the choice of listening to the content
of greatest interest."
Below this graphic area the A1 Report
television channel proposes an area set up for the display of
advertising contributions or promos for the various programs.
The
list of video formats supported is lengthy and ranges from files in
MPEG2, AVI, Windows Media Video, Xvid and others that are sent on air in
a pre-established sequence.
Horizontally, on the lower part of the
screen an area defined "banner" allows inserting advertisement in a
graphic-text form paired with one or more photos of the product.
In
the lower part of the screen there is a Ticker, also commonly called a
"crawl", it is connected to various RSS feeds coming from the official
A1 Report site but also from the BBC, CNN, Reuters with both text in
English as well as the Albanian language.
Olger Teneqexhi
specifies: "The fundamental motor of our TV channel is the ClassX core,
or the LiveBoard module which manages the whole flow of information and
related broadcasting through graphic templates created using specific
modules set up for the purpose.
All of the commands and all of the
updates arrive a tour main central CMS station, which is the same that
pilots and fills in the contents of the Web site this also
completely dedicated to news reports. Everything is managed by a
front-end from which the operator can pilot the contents remotely, even
out of office, changing what is necessary in real time.
We can
compose up to 4 live videos simultaneously on the same screen with
relative graphic inserts synchronized and positioned as desired in the
"picture in picture" in a dynamic way, basically with all of the layout
changes necessary."
The ClassX machine on which LiveBoard is
being run therefore creates all of the decoding part necessary on the
video feeds, manages the broadcasting of four live videos simultaneously
resizable as desired into windows and of all the graphic information
such as lower-thirds and promotional blinks.
Olger Teneqexhi
concludes: "The three modules that we use are those meant for the
production of text and graphic contents: CastaliaCG, MoreCG and CoralCG.
Each one shows characteristics and specific features that allow
covering every aspect related to the creation of quality information
that we need throughout the day. They are easy to use and decidedly
reliable."