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5. SWCSR 11-29-2012 Sherburne Wright Cable Commission 3rd and 4th Quarter Report November 8th,2012 SWTV Production Trailer We have had an extremely busy summer and fall since our last commission meeting and have covered many events with our production trailer(which Mark will detail later). We have been working hard to add more to our coverage of events. To this end we have added an edit system and disc duplicator in the trailer. This equipment helps us in numerous ways by allowing us to make instant copies for volunteers and cities. Our most exciting upgrade has been the addition of slow-motion replays to our sports coverage. Our viewers and announcers love it. It has really added some extra magic to our productions. We were able to accomplish it with existing equipment and a lot of creativity. 4 fi+ l -- N • �� • .E UP t iP Photos from Big Lake Football Came setup, Elk River Football Came Setup and 20t1 Buffalo Parade 1 Elk River Football Came We had a person trip over one of our cable crossovers during the Elk River football game on Friday September 14th. The person was examined by the Elk River ambulance crew that attends the game and released. I have attached a copy of the police incident report and a photo of the cable crossover that she tripped over in the exact location it was placed. We found out about the accident about 1 hour after the game was over and the stands were cleared. The Elk River High School Athletic Director came over and told us about it. He was not angry and told us we did nothing wrong. He asked us if we could run the cables a different way next time and at the next game we did that. The cable crossover is an OSHA approved piece and is used professionally by many broadcast crews. We use it in locations where there is no other alternative to run cables but across a walk way. This is very frustrating to us because we always cover the cables first before doing anything else. It's a point we stress to our volunteers and city staff. We also frequently use caution tape and colored fluorescent tape to mark cable runs and rope off equipment areas. Also as you can see in the photos we use cones and have our volunteers wear safety vests when they are in the public right of way. We have not heard anything further from either the police or the school since receiving the police incident report. Mert notified the league insurance and we have been contacted by them. The football game was co-produced with the City of Elk River. Their producer Jake Pace set up the equipment along with several volunteers. I could not participate with setup due to service calls in other cities but I showed up right before game time to direct and did not go near the field until after the game during teardown. Mark had a movie in the park setup that night in Big Lake and wasn't there until he towed the trailer back to our storage area after the movie was over. Even though neither Mark nor I were there for setup,the Elk River staff member,Jake Pace, who supervised the setup is a very experienced producer and has been doing this for a long time. Signage In addition to having our logo and city information placed on our production trailer we have printed banners that we are using during sporting events and parades. This has really helped the public understand who we are. We hang them on our screen during Movies in the Park and on tents and buildings during parades and sporting events. If you look closely at the photo of the movie screen on the next page you can see one example of how we hang the new signage. We have a sign that lists all the cities in the commission and other ones that have the SWTV logo and our contact information. We would eventually like to add an electronic sign on our production trailer (like the one you see in the photo on the next page on top of the "Ghostbusters" vehicle on the next page) to advertise when the program we are taping will play 2 on the channel. We can also use this to solicit volunteers and for promotion at city festivals. I am currently getting quotes to present at our next meeting. yfM . Af� WD ' �.. y_.� � .:fin Y` k�.✓ b.~� . & 'L' -014',44 Photos from Maple Lake and Monticello during"Movies in the Park"this summer. Movie in the Park Notes We had a pretty successful movie season except for a few rain outs in Monticello. A new trend is starting to develop as cities are taking advantage of the movie screen and using it during special city events or having entertainment before the movie. In the previous photos you can see the "Ghostbusters"who came to downtown Maple Lake with their 2 custom Ghostbusters vehicles, inflatable Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man and costumes. The children of Maple Lake were thrilled as the vehicles came down the street to the sounds of the movie theme song. In Watertown the city invited local musicians, we hooked their instruments and microphones up to our sound system and they proceeded to entertain the crowd before the movie started. Rockford used the screen for a HS senior's party and also a movie which we moved to the fire department because of rain. After some low turnouts at the city park, Delano held one at the local elementary school and the turnout was fantastic! It seems like city staff and organizations are starting to realize the real potential of this asset and are finding ever increasing ways of utilizing the movie equipment to benefit their communities. This year Cokato is planning on having a magician perform before the movie and other cities are exploring adding other pre-show entertainment to supplement the movies. We will need to purchase a new screen surface for next year as our current screen has gone through a lot of wear and tear. We also recently changed out the projector bulb which had lasted for almost 3 seasons! 3 Council Chamber Presentation Equipment Upgrades Many of our city councils are getting frequent requests by staff,presenters and the public to be able to use Apple laptops and iPads during their city presentations. Some cities have gone a step further and they are having the council and staff use iPads during meetings to reduce their costs associated with using paper packets and to take advantage of the many meeting and presentation applications that are available on the Apple platform. This technology is spreading very quickly around the state and country. I have been meeting with the Apple business group this year and they have allowed me to look behind the scenes at their custom boardrooms and presentation technology. I recently setup the City of Watertown with a device called an"Apple TV" interface which allows them to use an iPad and display it on the council chamber monitors and also be viewed by the home cable TV audience. Luke Fischer is starting to use his iPad and different"Apps"during council meetings and workshops to streamline his presentations. Buffalo, Monticello,Maple Lake, Cokato and Elk River are some of the other cities that have also asked to have this technology installed in their facilities. The basic equipment is very inexpensive and depending on the city,the install takes about 'A a day to interface with the other city presentation equipment. There are thousands of apps that allow the city to display spreadsheets,PowerPoint,annotated PDF's,word documents and also use programs like Skype, You Tube,etc. The list is expanding dramatically every day. Microsoft has even announced that they are coming out with an Office app early next year! I have listed the basic costs in the city equipment upgrade requests. As always I am available to assist your city with this technology and answer any questions your staff or councils may have. Inventory I am currently in the middle of doing a new commission wide equipment inventory. I have completed this in 6 cities already and also the production and movie trailers. This inventory will be very valuable in our budget process and also in transitioning our equipment to the HD format. I will also be merging my service log with it so that I can better track equipment issues. Phil Kern and Mert Auger have been helping me with it. 4 Governor Dayton and Tom Emmer During our coverage of a concert in Elk River's river side park we taped Governor Dayton presenting the city with an award. We also presented him with an official SWTV t-shirt which he said he would use while jogging. To balance things out politically, Mark was able to talk Torn Emmer into announcing the Delano football game that we taped! City Equipment Upgrades and Repair Overview Here is a list of some of the work in the commission cities during the last 6 months. 1) Updated Leightronix Nexus firmware and software in 6 cities. 2) Added new meeting room presentation monitors in Buffalo, Monticello and Elk River. 3) Background music has been added to the bulletin board playback in Cokato and Dassel. 4) Added dais VGA switcher and other presentation equipment in Watertown. 5) In Rockford and Delano updated their TriCaster software and graphics cards. 6) Repairs and upgrades were done to playback equipment in Buffalo, Delano and Elk River. 7) New projector and screen system in Rockford. 8) Installed a new Sympodium in Delano to replace deceased unit. 9) Mic repairs in Watertown, Monticello, Delano and Buffalo. 10)Replaced DBX audio limiter in Dassel. 11)Provided training for new staff member in Dassel. 12)Service calls for Channel signal problem Big Lake. 13)Trailer installs include replace DVD recorder plus camera repairs and disc duplicator and started edit system install. 14)Factory repair of a DVCAM deck for Elk River. 15)Installed new lobby monitors in Delano. 16)Service call to playback system in Cokato. 17)Replaced Sympodium PC in Buffalo podium. 18)Replaced power supply in Dassel bulletin board system. 19)Relocated edit system in Big Lake. 20)Battery Backup repairs in 4 cities. 21)Storm related repairs and issues in 6 cities. 22)Installed a new TriCaster monitor in Cokato. 23)Installed a new projector in Big Lake. 24)Repaired wireless mic system in Delano. 5 Monticello FiberNet The Monticello City Administrator Jeff O'Neill has asked if it would be possible to send a feed from our SWTV Channel 19 to their headend so that they can re-broadcast it on FiberNet. I have been working with FiberNet staff to come up with a solution. The SWTV Channel 19 playback equipment is located in the City of Buffalo media room. Charter uses a return on their fiber to send it back to their head end where they then re-broadcast it out to all our member cities. One possible solution is to use equipment from Leightronix to send a duplicate signal via the internet to the Monticello head end where it could then be re-broadcast over FiberNet. With the commissions direction I will continue to work with Monticello to come up with a solution to this issue. Equipment Requests Trailer Steps We need to replace our steps on the outside of our production trailer. We currently have a metal step that pulls out and has become jammed. We are getting quotes on an automatic step like most motor homes have. The current step also gets very slippery in the winter time and we are worried that volunteers might slip on it. I am requesting permission to get quotes for a new set for each door and review them with the commission treasurer Mert Auger. We would like to have them in place before the snow starts. Elk River Elk River has requested that we help them to upgrade the presentation equipment in their council chambers. They recently had one of their 2 council audience monitors go out. After discussing it with the Mert and Elk River staff we installed a replacement. They would like to add a second one to replace the monitor that was installed in 2004. They have also requested that we put Apple interface equipment in their chambers. Elk River Equipment List: Sharp 80"LED- 54895.00 Apple Equipment—$297.00 Elk River Equipment Total-$5192.00 6 Buffalo Buffalo has also requested that we replace the presentation equipment in their council chambers. Their original monitors were installed in 2003.They have also requested that we put Apple interface equipment in their chambers. Buffalo Equipment List: Sharp 80"LED-$4895.00 Apple Equipment—$297.00 Buffalo Equipment Total-$5192.00 Delano Delano has requested that we help them to upgrade the presentation equipment in their council chambers. Delano Equipment List: Sharp 80"LED - $4895.00 Delano Equipment Total$4895.00 Monticello Monticello has requested that we put Apple interface equipment in their chambers. Monticello Equipment List: Apple Equipment—$396.00 Monticello Equipment Total-$396.00 Maple Lake Maple Lake has requested that we put Apple interface equipment in their chambers. Maple Lake Equipment List: Apple Equipment—$198.00 Maple Lake Equipment Total-$198.00 7 Trailer Equipment We have been archiving all of the programs that we record onto Blu-Ray so that we can re- purpose the footage for future use in productions and also have a clean copy for editing and future copies. Currently we have to go through a complicated process to do this by having Mark take the master recording home and dump it to Blu-Ray. This is an incredibly time consuming process. If we install a Blu-Ray recorder directly in the trailer we can make a master copy during the event and bypass having Mark do it later. This unit has the connections to adapt to our current equipment as well as being able to hook up to future equipment when we eventually upgrade to HD gear. JVC Pro SR-HD2500US Blu-Ray and HDD Recording Deck with 500GB Hard Drive Blu—Ray Recorder-$3795 We are also in need of an additional cable reel to help us with our long wire runs in some of the high school stadiums and auditoriums. As you can see in some of the photos of the trailer, we need to run our cables very long distances and this reel will help us to locate our equipment a little closer to the action. This cable reel also has the connections to adapt to our current equipment as well as being able to hook up to future equipment when we eventually upgrade to HD gear. TecNec 400 foot High Del Broadcast AV reel with connectorized hub including 4 XLR and 2 BNC HD SDI cables-$2099.00 We currently use a 2 channel wired intercom system that allows us to communicate to all of our camera operators and our announcers. We have run into situations where we need to place announcers and camera operators away from the areas where the intercom cables can reach. We would like to add some wireless intercom equipment to our current system to allow for this need. Clear-Can AB120 On-Air Announcer's Console$1275, Clear-Com C111-222 Tempest 2.4 GHz Wireless base station -$4795, Clear-Com 2400 Belt Pack 2 Channel$1595 Total for all Clear-Cons Wireless Intercom Equipment- $7665 Total all Trailer Equipment Requests-$13,559 8 Watertown The Watertown council currently uses iPads as part of their paperless council meetings and also for public presentations. They previously requested that we find a solution to display their iPads outputs so that the viewing public and the audience in the council chambers can see them. After clearing it I with our commission treasurer I installed the interface equipment. Watertown Total -$399 All City Request Totals The total for all the equipment requested is as follows: Elk River Equipment Total-$5192.00 Buffalo Equipment Total-$5192.00 Delano Equipment Total-$4895.00 Monticello Equipment Total-$396.00 Maple Lake Equipment Total-$198.00 Total all Trailer Equipment Requests- $13,559.00 Watertown Equipment Total-$399 Total All Equipment Requests- $29,831.00 9