Vizrt, short for VisualiZation (in) Real Time, is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 company that creates content production tools for the digital media industry. Its products includes applications for the creation of real-time 3D graphics and maps including stereoscopic playout, integrated video workflow solutions and online publishing tools. Their software is used by many broadcasters and publishing houses, including: Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....

, Aljazeera, CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

, CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, Fox

Fox

Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...

, BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Sky

Sky

The sky is the part of the atmosphere or outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a pale blue surface because the air scatters the sunlight. The sky is sometimes...

, ITN, ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

, Star TV

STAR TV (Asia)

Satellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....

, Network 18

Network 18

Network18 Media & Investments Limited is an Indian media conglomerate with interests in television, print, internet, film, mobile content and allied businesses. Network 18 FinCap is the holding company for several media entities in India such as Television Eighteen India Ltd , IBN 18 Broadcast...

, SVT, TV Today, CCTV, NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

, antena3

Antena 3 (Spain)

Antena 3 is a Spanish terrestrial television channel owned by Antena 3 de Televisión. Some of the more popular programmes broadcast by Antena 3 include Aquí no hay quien viva, El Barco, Los Protegidos, Los Simpson and El Internado....

, GMA

GMA Network

GMA Network is a major commercial television & radio network in the Philippines. GMA Network is owned by GMA Network, Inc. a publicly listed company...

, The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...

, The Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

, TN Todo Noticias Argentina

Todo Noticias

Todo Noticias is an Argentine news cable channel. It is owned by the Group Clarín. TN began broadcasting on Tuesday, June 1, 1993, at 07:00...

, 24 horas TVN Chile

24 Horas (Chilean newscast)

24 Horas is a Chilean news, broadcast by Televisión Nacional de Chile since 1990. It originated after the return to democracy, when the board decides to give another image of the canal, especially in the information environment...

, The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

, News of the World

News of the World

The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...

 and Die Welt Online. Other customers include the New York and London Stock Exchanges.

The company is traded publicly at Oslo Stock Exchange and its headquarters are in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. As of September 2011, Vizrt has 36 offices and 600 employees worldwide.

History

In 1999, the Norway-based Pilot Broadcast Systems AS merged with the Austrian company, Peak Software Technologies GmbH, to form Peak Broadcast Systems. Pilot was a subsidiary of Norwegian TV channel TV 2. Peak Software was a developer of software for real-time 3D graphics and animation, virtual sets and playback control systems. The new Peak Broadcast Systems offered software for real-time 3D graphics creation and virtual sets, asset management, and playout control.

The following year marked the formation of Vizrt when Peak Broadcast Systems merged with RT-SET, an Israeli virtual studio system developer.

In 2005, the company acquired London-based Curious Software, developers of 2D and 3D animated maps for broadcast television, corporate presentations and online applications.

Later that year, Vizrt acquired 19 percent of Adactus AS, a Norwegian company that specializes in the transport of content to mobile phone platforms. Vizrt and Adactus then developed Viz 3G, a graphics motor for mobile telephones and other mobile devices. Based on Vizrt’s Viz Engine renderer and Adactus’ MPEG-21 standards-based multimedia delivery platform, it was the first integration of a graphics engine for mobile phone video viewing applications.
Vizrt acquired the rest of the shares in the company in 2010.

In 2006, Vizrt acquired Ardendo, a digital asset management company for the television broadcast industry based in Sweden.

In 2008, Vizrt acquired Escenic

Escenic

Escenic is a subsidiary of Vizrt. The primary products of the Escenic line in Vizrt is Escenic Content Engine content management system and the Escenic Content Studio...

, a Norwegian developer of content management software for digital media publishing. Escenic technologies drive many of the world’s top news media websites, including [The Globe and Mail], [Times Online], [The Telegraph] and [Welt Online].

In October 2010, Vizrt announced that it has formalized its strategic collaboration with [Stergen Hi-Tech Ltd.], a developer of 2D to
stereoscopic 3D video conversion software. Vizrt will hold approximately 20% of the company. Stergen develops 2D to 3D video conversion technologies for the TV sports market.

In November 2010, Vizrt announced that it has entered into a terms sheet with Swiss company [LiberoVision AG], a global leader in the field of virtual sports enhancements. According to the proposed terms sheet, Vizrt will purchase all of the issued and outstanding share capital of LiberoVision by the end of 2012.

Noteworthy events

When first introduced in 2006, Vizrt’s Viz Multi Platform Suite marked the first integration of a graphics engine for mobile phone video viewing applications. Viz Multi Platform Suite is based on Vizrt’s Viz Engine server and Adactus’ multimedia delivery platform. It is an end-to-end platform for delivering real-time graphics and video content to mobile devices.

Vizrt’s Viz Virtual Studio software and Viz Engine renderer were an integral part of the success of the first remote “holographic” live interviews conducted by CNN during the 2008 U.S presidential election. Tracking data from the cameras in CNN’s Election Center was processed by Viz Virtual Studio software. From the images captured, a specially developed Viz Engine plug-in, created a full 3D representation of the person.. CNN also uses Vizrt for its award-winning MAM system, for broadcast graphics and for streaming to mobile.

Also in 2008, Vizrt technology powered a play-along version of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire,” which aired on TV2 Norway. The show featured web-interactive elements. Viz Multi Platform Suite delivered real-time 3D graphics to the show’s online participants.
PGA Tour Productions selected Viz Ardome media asset management software to manage its HD and SD content in 2009.
Also in 2009, ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), one of two large public broadcasters in Germany began broadcasting from two virtual studios using Viz Virtual Studio and broadcast graphics solutions from Vizrt. ZDF now broadcasts from Europe’s largest and most advanced virtual studio

Virtual studio

The term virtual studio can refer to any number of technological tools which seek to simulate a physical television and/or movie studio. One such use of the term follows....

.

In 2011, Escenic and Sveriges Television (SVT) demonstrated the world's first professional website founded on responsive design.

External links

• Company homepage
• A sample of broadcast graphics - primarily done with Vizrt http://www.vizrt.com/news/article12351.ece