Real-time graphics used for BBC election coverage

RT Software's new MixTV real-time graphics system, which is powered by NVIDIA Quadro graphics hardware, was used for the first time by the BBC during its live UK General Election coverage.
Viewers saw it in action when the graphics of constituency results appeared to sprout from the tablet PC screen on presenter David Dimbleby's table. The power of MixTV was fully demonstrated when the PC was passed around the table and the position and perspective of the computer generated graphics remained true.
Traditionally, this type of effect could only be achieved in postproduction, not live on television using data which had only just been received. MixTV heralds a new era in real-time graphics.
MixTV processes the video signal from the studio cameras and provides target-tracking data to a separate graphics rendering system, known as tOG-3D - also from RT Software (RTSW). This system creates the actual 3D graphics that are then overlaid on to the camera output correctly. As the graphics showed results as they came in, the challenge was to produce high quality graphics in real-time. This was achieved by the combination of powerful graphics processing hardware from NVIDIA and the efficient software from RTSW.
“NVIDIA is our GPU partner for several very good reasons,” said Mike Fredriksen of RTSW. “The NVIDIA Quadro 3000 and 4000 series cards are extremely stable broadcast quality products and the power of the cards enables RTSW to incorporate advanced features into its real-time rendering system. This is demonstrated in effects such as reflections and refractions in our models, effects that bolster quality and differentiate our graphics from competitors.”
It is this combination of reliability, high performance and cost-effectiveness that puts NVIDIA Quadro technology ahead of the pack when processing complex graphics in real-time.
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