Lazy Updates

March 17, 2010 in Backteching with 1 Comment

Battling the flu here and a ton of deadlines, so this is a short short post with a couple links you may have missed.  I have a couple of posts nearly done, but I’ve been out of the office and haven’t been able to grab the drawings and photos that I want to put in. 

There was a media tour today to take a look at the new seats going into the upper bowl.  I took a walk up there last week, and sat in both the 20 and 22 inch seats.  If you are shaped like me and Kevin James, you’re going to be pretty happy in any of these seats.  Very comfortable, and lots of legroom.  I could see a potential problem if you have size 22 feet, but other than that I think you’re covered. PensTV also did a piece on this:

http://penguins.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=19&id=62955

Our good friends at the Trib have come on board as our first founding partner.  If you watched the game on FSN over the weekend you saw an artist rendering of an interactive area at the entry mezzanine.  The folks at the Trib have really stepped up here and are going to be bringing you a really fun and hi-tech attraction.

And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that Lady Gaga will be one of the early acts at Consol Energy Center.

More Consol Energy Center Photos

March 14, 2010 in Backteching with 4 Comments

OK, last non-tecchie/video/nerd/etc post here.  Promised to upload the rest of the photos from my walk around the building friday, so here it is.  Here’s a link to the album.

Enjoy.  Next couple posts are going to focus on the scoreboard and video control room.

You’d Have To Be Here To Believe It

March 13, 2010 in Backteching with 0 Comments

Took a walk around Consol Energy Center this afternoon will NHL Off-Ice Official Phil Spano (anytime you spend time with Phil you are compelled to drop his name afterward) and remembered to take an actual camera with me.

First let me say the speed at which this building is coming together is amazing.  I’m there at least 2-3 times a week and I see progress every trip.  Hats off to the trades, contractors, and managers over there – these guys are serious business. Made it to a few areas today that I hadn’t been to in quite a while.  None left more of an impression on me that the “brew pub” on the upper concourse.  Check out the view:

This area is big.  Very big.  Let me tell you right now that photos or even video will not do this area justice.  You have to see this area to truly appreciate it. 

Keep in mind that this is not my area of expertise, but from what I gathered this is a giant brew pub area, and it stretches from nearly end to end of one side of the arena. If you have seats in the upper concourse, you are going to love it there.

If you don’t, you are going to make the trip up there to enjoy the view.
Here’s a few more shots of the area:

Have lots more photos from today that I’ll get up throughout the weekend.

So it only took me a few posts to get off the technology rail, but I was so keyed after being up in this area today that I wanted to share.

“Dallas” Pre-Black Open

March 11, 2010 in Backteching with 0 Comments

Lots of people asked for it, the guys up at PensTV got it up:  The Dallas preblack video:

http://penguins.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=19&id=62476

NHL Aerial Cam

March 9, 2010 in Backteching with 0 Comments

The Dallas Stars tested out an aerial “Sky Cam” type technology this past week for a couple home games, and somebody finally dug me up some video of it. (thanks Dave Weldon)

We’ve been investigating something similar to this in Pittsburgh, although the rigging at Mellon Arena has made it near impossible to pull off.  One thing I noticed is that the camera has some trouble coming back to center axis when it does a sweep across the ice, which would be a deal killer for me.

I operated something like this on demo at a college basketball venue last year.  Interesting perspectives, and interesting to see how it plays out with the speed of hockey, particularly during quick changes in direction.  We sat in the top row and after 5 minutes you didn’t even notice it was there.

You might recall the “Rail Cam” demo a few years back at the Dallas All-Star game, which had no problem keeping up with action but was a definite distraction to the main TV cameras and the fans.

Something like this has a place in hockey.  Maybe not so much for the in-arena crowd, but it could bring a much needed “feel like I’m there” element to broadcasts.

Face it, something is lost in translation from being in an arena to TV.  No matter how great the broadcasts are produced, it’s still tough to get that “I’m there” feel at home.  Teams and broadcasters need to start taking chances on technology like this to help bridge that gap.

Welcome

February 19, 2010 in Backteching with 0 Comments

So here it is.

I’ve been ready to go live with this blog for about two weeks.  Writing this post and naming this blog has been my stumbling block.

I’ve had enough rewriting the first paragraph 100 times.  Here’s the deal:

- I’m the Director of Media Technology for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Before that I ran the video production department.  I work with a lot of exceptional and dedicated people.  Yes, working for the Penguins is awesome — but it’s a lot of work.  The time and effort people around the organization put in to get the job done would blow your mind. 

- I am not a spokesman for team.  Those of you familiar with me on Twitter already know this.  Don’t expect breaking news or organIzational statements from me, that’s neither my job nor place.

- What you can expect from me is talking about the things I love:  media technology, cutting edge video production, great concepts, the future of the content creation world, and of course, what I’m working on in regard to the Consol Energy Center.

- Two inspirations for doing this, and what I hope to be a blend of:  CanesVision-HD and Glen Gower from the Senators.  CV-HD documented their control room upgrade this past summer, and Glen always finds interesting topics from the presentation and entertainment world.

So that’s it.  Hope this works out for all of us.  All four of us that will be reading.

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