ESPN'S Winter X Games Powered by
Accom
Brutus DVE, Component Digital Production Truck Centerpiece of Broadcast
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 1999
Susan Simon
Marketing Communications Manager
650-328-3818 Ext.231 Voice
Crested Butte, CO, USA -- Global sportscaster ESPN once again relied on an extensive
complement of Abekas® video postproduction equipment from Accom, Inc. (OTC BB: ACMM) to
create the exciting looks of its Winter X Games coverage in January. The competition was
broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN International and ABC. Accom acquired the Abekas product
line as a part of the purchase of Scitex Digital Video in December 1998.
The Abekas digital video effects systems (DVEs) and switchers in use at the X Games included
three twin-channel Dveous® DVEs, a top-of-the-line quad-channel Brutus™ DVE, and two 8150
switchers. In addition, Abekas Dveous and A51 DVEs are standard equipment on many of the
NEP and other remote trucks that were used at the event.
ESPN, which is known for its technological innovation in sports broadcasting, continued to push
the technology envelope through its implementation of a component digital remote truck at the
Winter X Games.
"Most of the big trucks today are still analog composite, and a lot of component digital gear isn't
flexible enough to be fully integrated in an analog composite environment," says Technical
Director Steve Laxton, whose live sports credits include the Nagano, Atlanta, Barcelona,
Albertville and Seoul Olympics. "Dveous and Brutus can interface simultaneously with analog
composite and 601, which gives me all the advantages of infinite layering and multi-generational
performance in a live environment."
The truck's CCIR-601 environment combined the powerful Brutus effects system with a Dveous
effects system and four Diskus DDRs, allowing up to 12 images to be processed simultaneously.
Brutus delivers the power of two full-blown Dveous effects systems, providing four twin channels
with the striking looks of SuperShadow™, SurfaceFX™, UltraWarp™, and the recently introduced
OrbitalFX™. "This kind of layering power is unprecedented in live sports," says Laxton.
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About Accom's Abekas DVE
Dveous is widely recognized as the most powerful and popular live DVE available, and has been used
extensively for such world-class events as the Nagano and Atlanta Olympic Games, the SuperBowl and
most NFL broadcasts, the Academy Awards, and the U2 PopMart tour. Junaid Sheikh, CEO of Accom,
said: "We are extremely pleased to have the Abekas line of products, particularly Dveous and Brutus. The
broadcast industry has come to recognize these two best of class products as being the most creative
and capable digital effects systems in the market today. Both Dveous and Brutus have set industry
standards and we are proud to continue to support these two outstanding products."
Dveous and Brutus are twin-channel DVEs that can be used in dual-video or video-plus-key configurations.
Dveous and Brutus features include OrbitalFX, SurfaceFX, SuperShadow and UltraWarp. OrbitalFX works
as a standalone process, continually running, or in conjunction with a normal keyframe based effects.
SurfaceFX provides textures and true 3D light sourcing effects on each channel. SuperShadow provides
independent control of all transforms and warps, allowing dropshadows to be transformed independently of
the main video image. UltraWarp offers quad splits, cylinders, rings and swirls.
About Accom
Accom, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, designs, manufactures, sells, and supports a complete
line of digital video production, recording and editing tools, and the ELSET virtual set systems, for the
worldwide professional television production, post production, broadcasting, and computer video
marketplaces.
For more information:
E-Mail info@accom.com
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