Yi-En Oregon Debate Competition of National Taiwan University (NTU) is one of the most prominent Oregon debate championships of the Chinese language competitive debate community. In 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak rendered the usual competition format unworkable, the organizer had to adapt innovative technologies to make sure the most prominent debate championship lives on.
Vizrt – Achieving Transborder Broadcasting
With Vizrt VMC1 and TriCaster TC1 Production Systems, the NDI protocol has formed a highly effective audio-visual communication system over a computer network. High-definition video data was delivered between cameras, production units and monitor screens in different locations connected with a LAN network with minimum involvement of SDI cables. The production and broadcasting environment has been setup within an extremely short timeframe, and it was capable of handling complex productions.
Apart from digitizing the entire production system, NDI provides the ability to communicate in low-latency in order to allow competition candidates to debate in real time, without any significant delay. Furthermore, TriCaster allows multi-locations and multi-endpoints communications to be carried out, regardless of whether it is a one-to-one debate or one-to-many question and answer session. Meanwhile, production teams were able to apply visual elements to the broadcast, such as titles, superbar, visual framing and background design, live with TriCaster Animation Store Creator; an add-on tool in TriCaster for creating broadcast design elements.
Vizrt Makes Video Streaming Easy
TriCaster is easy to use and can be quickly mastered, as the UI is designed to be intuitive. Throughout the process, Vizrt’s Taiwan partner, Voxel Vision Technology Corp. provided guidance to the competition organizers in setting up the production system, and trained them to make use of these amazing tools to achieve the best outcomes. The reliability and versatility of TriCaster was one of the reasons the event was so successful.
The organizer made extensive use of TriCaster and NDI protocol to turn a computer classroom in National Taiwan University into a broadcast-level production work space. This work space was able to communicate, deliver, and receive high-definition video and audio over a computer network in a high-quality manner suitable for switching in a live production environment. NDI tools come with multiple live screen capture features, without the need to install additional hardware. Even high-cost traditional SDI cables can be minimized by making use of ethernet cables as transmitting medium. While competition candidates located across the globe would only need to connect their webcams to be a part of this revolutionary event.
Continuing Growth in the COVID-19 Era
Four intensive days and 20 matches showcased the TriCaster and NDI’s excellent performance. The success of National Taiwan University Yi-En Oregon Debate Championship 2020 has become the benchmark of online debate competition, and the legacy of National Taiwan University Yi-En Oregon Debate Championship continues with the help of Vizrt and NDI technologies. Now National Taiwan University owns multiple TriCaster Production Systems.
