Titan TV is the official student television station of the UW Oshkosh campus and falls under the umbrella of the Radio-TV-Film academic program and student television station, Titan TV. As a student, I worked with Radio-TV-Film faculty and engineers, student executive board members, and on campus financial organizations to upgrade the station’s infrastructure and workflows to high definition.
To give a little scope on this project, Titan TV is available to all students living in on-campus housing, along with residents in Oshkosh subscribing to Time Warner Cable, which is approximately 25,000 subscribers. Each academic year, Titan TV produces over 100 original productions including news, sports, and original narrative content. The conversion to high definition was necessary because of outdated standard definition infrastructure and failing equipment.
We started the upgrade process by researching and testing gear from various broadcast suppliers. After reviewing our options and organizational budget, our chief engineer, myself and our director of television services decided to move forward with a Ross Video switcher and we built the rest of our equipment proposal around that. We worked with AVI Systems to find a solution that met our specific needs.
Once we received the final quote for the equipment upgrade, our next step was to secure funding from an on-campus technology organization. In conjunction with the director of television services, I wrote the proposal outlining the need, timeline, lifespan, and metrics of the Titan TV HD upgrade. We submitted this information and presented in the spring of 2015. Shortly after our submission, we received word that our proposal had been accepted.
Similar to many broadcast environments, we were on a tight schedule to make this conversion happen. During an academic break; myself, two full time engineers, and one other student worked tirelessly to install and test our new HD system.
Our engineering staff took on the task of integrating the entirety of this new equipment ourselves. We started by creating cutsheets and signal flow diagrams in master control. Shortly after, we were making cables, installing rack units, and firing up the new gear. It wasn’t long until our Ross NK Router, Carbonite Switcher, and Panasonic Studio Cameras were up and running. Not to mention all of the UpDownCross converting and IP networking that we did along the way.
By the start of the spring 2016 semester, we were ready for productions. The Titan TV production facilities had been successfully transformed into industry standard HD environments. At the conclusion of this project, I learned a plethora of knowledge from our engineering staff in addition to my own independent research. The technical troubleshooting and planning experience was invaluable. More importantly, UW Oshkosh Radio-TV-Film students are now using equipment and workflows that mirror the current broadcast industry and receiving a truly professional experience and education.