KIFI News Group goes live with WiNG technology
Don Day May 12th, 2008
KIFI, Local News 8 in Idaho Falls, ID has found a way to break the traditional bonds of an ENG truck with a technology it calls WiNG - or Wireless Internet News Gathering. While doing a live shot via the Internet isn’t technically a new thing - KIFI is doing it on a shoestring in a very small market.
KIFI’s WiNG project uses WiMax from Digital Bridge Communications - with upload speeds of 2 MBps - paired with an encoder/decoder system from Streambox. Field crews plug their cameras into a laptop and the video is sent back to the station via WiMax where it is decoded and put on the air. KIFI General Manager Mark Danielson (disclosure: my old boss) has been working on the WiNG dream since he was news director at KTVB - but the upload speed just wasn’t there. Now in Eastern Idaho, Digital Bridge is testing the waters with WiMax, making transmitting video either LIVE or on tape a possibility.
“The technology from both partners worked well and effortlessly,” Danielson told Lost Remote. “It is critical that WiNG is simple and dependable for our staff to use.”
The video image is near broadcast quality, and while there’s currently a delay - it’s something that should improve as technology gets better. In a market that can’t justify the cost of an SNG truck, and where terrain and other limitations make ENG coverage spotty, the WiNG solution gives the station more options for news coverage.
You can see it in action here (click the video link in the story)
5 Comments Add your own
1. Anonymous | May 13th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I would but their website uses a platform that almost always freezes XP and starts and stops all the time when it DOES work. How retarded! I have 384 MB of DDR and a Sempron in there with more than a postage stamp for a hard disk drive and have been at this since the late 1970s. If the video is from Beirut I would expect bad video but I have already seen the stuff break down I can bet.
It doesn’t matter HOW the video was obtained if the Website Player Doesn’t WORK!
2. Steve | May 13th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Ditto. KIFI video is fail.
3. Don Day | May 13th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
The WorldNow website platform is less than ideal…
4. bill fesh | May 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
We are also testing it with another vendor. Until the speeds increase or your competition chooses to get rid of their live trucks, it would be wise to keep yours.
If they have a gun and someone tells you a knife will be good enough, chances are you’ll end up in the morgue
5. Muck Raker | May 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 am
Bill Fesh’s analogy is right on.
The GM of a television station is pimping (and using) technology that he states up front is “near broadcast quality.” When did television broadcasters make the decision that “near” broadcast qualioty was good enough?
The latency in the demonstration piece was irritating and the audio was marginal at best. But if doing local news “almost good enough” and doing it on the cheap are the objectives, they may be onto something.
If I’m their competition, I’m hoping tyhey use this system a lot.
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