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CreaTV San Jose Chooses ZEPLAY for Multi-Channel Instant Replays
Posted on Thursday, December 15, 2011

 CreaTV San Jose, the community television channel serving the city of San Jose, California, has chosen and implemented the ZEPLAY Instant Replay Server by Tightrope Media Systems into their High Definition Outside Broadcast truck for their production and telecast of local high school sporting events.

ZEPLAY is a 4 in/4 out instant replay server that constantly records four 100Mbps HD-SDI streams while simultaneously playing out any or all of the streams. It is designed so that a single operator can effectively manage all 4 angles and all eight streams and also includes a sequence editor for on-the-fly highlights package creation, clip store, melts, transport controls, and frame blending in both slow motion and fast motion for super smooth replays.

CreaTV is currently producing and airing high school football and plans to air basketball and volleyball games later as well. According to Justin Cowgill, Director of Facilities and Technology for CreaTV, ZEPLAY makes sure that they never miss any of the action for their telecasts. “We looked at a number of potential solutions and ZEPLAY was the only one we could find that did absolutely everything that we wanted in a Replay server”, said Cowgill. “ZEPLAY is always recording on all four inputs, all of the time, even when you are replaying individual plays, or even sequences of plays; it insures that we never miss anything. And because each input is recorded separately, we can play out a highlight from one angle and at the same time, que-up any or all of the other angles, for the current play or any past play”.

Another feature of ZEPLAY that Cowgill uses frequently is the sequence editor for putting together highlight reels. “We air highlights at halftime and again at the end of the game”, explained Cowgill. “We use ZEPLAY’s sequence editor, which is essentially an NLE built right into the User Interface, to assemble the highlights package, complete with multiple speeds and transitions, right there in the van as the action is happening”. When asked about the experience of using ZEPLAY in general, Cowgill remarked that it has been fantastic and that they love the way it performs and the smooth and fast workflow. “ZEPLAY is the best replay system that we have ever used”, he stated. Even our replay operator who has a background with a regional sports network feels that this is the best system that he has ever used. We are very, very happy”.

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