SEPTEMBER 2006 - VQ VIDEO CONFERENCING DELIVERS UP TO THE MINUTE NEWS.

From it's early beginnings in the 1950's, Points West has become one of the BBC's most popular regional TV shows reporting on local events across Bristol, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Over the years, the newsroom has pioneered many new technologies including a new computer system for the entire BBC, regional subtitling, the BBC Bristol website and a local Ceefax text service.

The Challenge
Today, new technological developments are introduced almost weekly and live pictures and sound are now routinely transmitted to the studio and edited digitally on computer prior to broadcasting. As part of this ongoing process, Points West is actively evaluating web conferencing, an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionise the way in which up-to-the minute news content is obtained 'on the hoof' without requiring outside broadcast vehicles and technical staff.

As part of a report into the exam success of local A level students, Points West wanted to conduct live on air interviews with four students in Taunton, Bristol, Swindon and Cheltenham for broadcast during the early evening edition on the day that the results were announced.

The Solution
As one of the UK's leading developers of innovative voice and video conferencing solutions with previous experience of working with the BBC, VQ Communications was called in to assist with this ambitious webcam project.

The students were selected through the extensive relationships that the BBC has established with local schools throughout the region. Each agreed to be interviewed about whether the results were what they wanted, what their thoughts were and what they planned to do as the next stage of their careers. Points West wanted to use VQ Video Conferencing to capture the spontaneous reactions of the students during this time, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. In the event, two of the students even agreed to open their results during the broadcast.

Scott Ellis of BBC Bristol, which co-ordinated the broadcast, said: "This was a first for us and we relied entirely on VQ Communications' technical expertise to get our four guests kitted out with the right software. In the space of one week we went to air."

VQ Communications ensured that each of the students had broadband connections and a PC equipped with a standard USB webcam and headset with microphone. After downloading the required VQ software, the students required only a couple of minutes of instruction on the basics of using the system.

In readiness for the broadcast, the students joined a multipoint call, requiring only a couple of mouse clicks to access, and were then able to see and talk with the BBC journalist who was to conduct the interviews. Because the students were sitting at their PC's in their home environments in the company of friends and family, the spontaneous excitement of results day was effectively captured during the four minute web conference without any of the distractions that can often affect studio or outside broadcasts.

According to Mike Horsley, Chief Technology Officer at VQ Communications Ltd: "There were several major challenges that had to be overcome during the project. Firstly, VQ VC had to work efficiently using different consumer broadband connections, which tend to be variable in terms of available bandwidth. Secondly, the PCs, cameras and headsets used by each of the students differed in brand and specification. Thirdly, the broadcast was to be conducted using VQ 3.0, the latest version of software that had only just started beta site testing."

Despite one of the webcams failing just as the interview was about to go on air, VQ VC perfectly captured the excitement and buzz as the students discovered their results. The success of the broadcast demonstrated that VQ has the resilience to work effectively in mission critical environments using consumer broadband without requiring any additional equipment. As well as being straightforward and easy to use, all the students were impressed with the high quality video on their PCs.

VQ Communications CEO, Giles Adams added: "Web conferencing is clearly faster to deploy as it eliminates much of the advance planning required to schedule the necessary technical and staff resources for outside broadcasts. It has the potential to revolutionise the way that television news content is collected whilst delivering massive cost savings."

"Everyone was very pleased with the results and we are already thinking about how this technology can be used in the future," concluded Scott Ellis.

For more information regarding VQ products, contact
VQ Sales on +44 (0) 845 270 2345
or email at sales@vqlive.com

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