CLIP N KEY ENHANCES ITV'S ACTION REPLAYS (December 2008)

UK sports graphics specialist Alston Elliot was the first company to use Clip N Key. The clip and sting store, which allows a special clip to be played repeatedly, made its live debut on 30th September 2008 with ITV's coverage of the Manchester United vs Aalborg UEFA Champions League football game, where it was used to replay the same wipe on the half-time action replays.

Alston Elliot, which provides computer graphics and software solutions to the sports broadcast market worldwide, had been looking for a product to add extra video sources to a mixer for the start of the football season.

Just four days after the board was first demoed to Alston Elliot, Clip N Key was used in a live studio broadcast from ITV's London Studios, with the UEFA Champions League game shown live on ITV4, followed by highlights on ITV1. Clip N Key was connected to the London Studios' mixer with GPIs used to trigger the star effect wipe to enhance the action replays at half-time.

Neale Connell, Director at Alston Elliot, particularly liked Clip N Key's value for money and ease of use. Not only was Clip N Key entirely appropriate for this type of application, it also freed up the server they had previously used to play stings.

Alston Elliot was so pleased with the Clip N Key's performance that the company immediately ordered a second one for the BBC coverage of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix Snooker in mid October, which was delivered two days after the football transmission. For the snooker Alston Elliot used a one minute looping background for one output with keyed internal graphics over for the other output.

The two Clip N Keys will be used for more wipes for ITV in future – and Alston Elliot has just purchased another two!