Vista Systems has supplied three Spyders to the broadcast booth for video and scoreboard operation at The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ where the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals make their home.
“The three Spyders, which comprise one system, give us all the inputs, outputs, and layering we need to accomplish production design that maximizes the fan experience,” says Michael C. Conner, video and scoreboard operations manager for the Arizona Cardinals Football Club.
“The beauty of Spyder is that it’s very flexible and agile,” he continues. “We really like that it’s resolution and aspect-ratio independent, too. That matters to us because our LED south board is a 33x9 aspect ratio (96x27 feet) and our LED north board is 16x9 (40x22.5 feet) with a strip taken out for scoring information. And we have a CCTV network that’s 16x9.” Additionally, Spyder’s GUI lends itself to a “very intuitive artistic design process,” he reports.
Spyder’s ability to deal with myriad sources is also key for the Cardinals’ applications. Inputs include seven server channels, routed videotape and computer outputs, and clients’ own DVR and DVD player output.
“The nice thing about Spyder is that it accommodates our production requirements which are very dynamic,” Conner explains. “And it adapts to all different types of events. We may do a football game one week, a kids’ fair the next and soccer after that.”