Virtual Set Stage

Create Network-Quality Programming with HCS's New Virtual Set Technology

Hollywood Center Studios has created a terrific new solution for anyone seeking to create live, network-quality programming for the Internet, broadcast or other distribution channels. Our new Virtual Set Stage employs the latest in virtual set technology to place talent into three-dimensional, photo-real sets for live streaming over the Internet. It is an ideal solution for talk shows, interviews, news shows, sports programs and similar types of content. It's even possible to patch in feeds from external cameras—including webcams—so that the show host can interact with third parties anywhere in the world.

"Our Virtual Set Stage is a great resource for television and web producers who need to create high-quality programming quickly and at relatively low cost," says Hollywood Center Studios Executive Vice President and COO Tim Mahoney. "It is an excellent alternative for producers from outside Los Angeles, for example, looking for a venue to record celebrity interviews, and who might otherwise have to use a hotel room or other make-shift shooting locations. Our solution will save them time and money, and result in a more professional product."

The Virtual Set Stage includes all of the resources necessary to produce a live show including lighting and three HD cameras. The studio's technology offers a choice of dozens of pre-rendered virtual sets to suit programs of different types and styles. It is also possible to create customized virtual sets. The system has the ability to incorporate graphics, live titling, audio mixing and multi-channel video effects. In addition to live streaming, programming can be recorded for later webcast, broadcast or archival purposes, or streamed to a remote projection system.

Although simple to implement, the virtual set technology has sophisticated features that allow it to be used like a practical set environment. They can be used with either a sitting or standing host and can accommodate multiple camera angles and shooting distances from close-up to wide angle.

The technology employed in our Virtual Set Stage has been used by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (for Emmy webcasts), the Arena Football League and the NBA. It has also been used to live stream such events as the 2008 Republican Convention, the 2009 USA Wrestling World Team Trials and the Inaugural Streamy Awards.

"As more consumers turn to the Web for their news, entertainment and sports, producers are looking for ways to high quality content on tight budgets," Mahoney observes. "Producers can now come to Hollywood Center Studios and literally within minutes be streaming programming that has the same quality and sophistication that people are used to seeing on TV."