Global Television's The Morning Show Launches In Toronto With Christie MicroTiles And Spyder X20 On Set

Canadian national broadcaster Global Television launched its Toronto morning news program on October 11 with a Christie Spyder X20-1608 managing the content for 40 Christie MicroTiles and 11 LCD panels. The Morning Show, airing in HD weekdays from 6am to 9am, is revitalizing morning news and marks the return to the airwaves of popular co-host Liza Fromer. Applied Electronics ,in Mississauga, Ontario, was the systems integrator for the Christie MicroTiles and Christie Spyder X20.

Visible from Bloor Street in the heart of Canada's financial capital and located behind the anchor desk in the new glass-walled studio, the four-high-by-10-wide MicroTiles array captures the attention of both the studio audience and passers-by. Flanking the desk are two pillars housing 40" LCD panels while a 52" LCD panel is in the interview location. Rounding out the new social media area where apropos Twitter and Facebook feeds are displayed are street-facing LCD panels along with several vertically mounted LCD panels.

"We wanted to support the on-air personalities with a different means of showing video and entertaining the audience," says Paul Thomas, director of broadcast engineering services for Global Television's Eastern region. "We became aware of Christie MicroTiles and thought they'd be a great solution for presenting moving images of headline stories on a dynamic, high-res display." The MicroTiles will eventually display content 24/7.

Merging the strengths of LED and DLP technology, Christie MicroTiles have a color range that far exceeds conventional LCD and plasma technologies and integrate easily with the cameras and audiovisual equipment used on broadcast sets. With 115 percent NTSC and PAL color gamut, displays are adjustable to the required color temperature - ensuring pure blacks and unprecedented set-balanced color, even in high ambient light environments.

"Our four-by-ten MicroTiles display is the perfect size and its 2,500 by 1,600 pixel resolution meets our needs very well," says Thomas.

Thomas discovered the Christie Spyder X20 at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show and was impressed by its power to feed displays through a complex set --exactly what is required for The Morning Show.

The Christie Spyder X20 resides in an equipment rack designed into the set.

"We can throw a lot of different sources to the displays, including all four of our HD cameras, a Blu-ray DVD player and a Matrox VGA2 HD converter that feeds custom graphics," Thomas reports. "We can also take advantage of layering in the Spyder X20 for great transitional opportunities."

According to Thomas, Global Television has enjoyed "amazing support" from the Vista team at Christie. "They really helped us understand what we are able to do with the Spyder X20," he says. "We're starting slow with graphics and effects and will beef things up as we gain confidence.

"Both the MicroTiles and the Spyder X20 looked fantastic at the launch," says Thomas, "and are working well on the new show. Three hours is a long time to keep a live audience entertained, but the MicroTiles/Spyder X20 combo does just that."