Mayors and Administrators are always looking for funds to help stretch their limited budgets. Although NJ sits between to communications hubs NYC & Philly there are many areas in the state, both rural (northeastern forests and southern farmland) and urban who lack access to broadband that hurt business and communities. This panel will explore the challenges facing municipalities that are trying to improve broadband access, and what funding might be available to facilitate those improvements.
JAG president Bob Duthaler and Piscataway Community TV Station Manager George Fairfield discuss ways municipalities can continue to reach their citizens after the pandemic. Now that local governments have given the public access to their council meetings and other municipal events in their homes, can they go back to business as usual? Today, reaching your community through a traditional cable channel is not the only game in town. Our panelists will explore all the new ways to engage citizens with over the top (OTT) devices and applications: like: Roku, AppleTV, web applications and mobile devices.
Buy a new car in 2022 and the engine is going to be reliable enough no matter what you buy, but in the early days of automobiles the reliability and quality of the prebuilt engines which “coach manufacturers” built their autos upon varied greatly, and you needed to be aware of which vehicles had a top-tier engine and which had a bottom-tier engine.
Similarly, today server manufacturers are adding captioning inside their products and to lower their own costs they tend to build on the lowest-tier engines (IBM Watson, AWS, Microsoft), but the accuracy results from systems built using the more expensive mid-tier (VoiceInteraction) and top-tier engines (Speechmatics) are substantially better. Especially when it comes to a mix of regional and global accents, audio with crosstalk and background noise, and non-perfectly mic’d speakers.
Learn how to compare 3rd party and playback server captioning options, so you know ahead of time what you are sacrificing for quality if you select a system built on a bottom-tier engine over a product built on a mid or top-tier engine. Municipal Captioning sells products with ALL levels of captioning quality — from the low-budget solutions which trade quality for cost to the highest-quality solutions — and can give you quotes for all options so you can make an informed decision for your community.
I have been working with the Borough of Fanwood for several years. Towards the end of 2019 when China was in lockdown and we in America weren’t even dreaming of such a thing, the Borough was upgrading their sound system in the Council Chambers and looking into a multiple camera remote system. The purchase has been moving slowly due to the pandemic.
Fast forward a few months to February 2020, the Mayor of Fanwood, Colleen Mahr, and some health officials had a 4 camera shoot about the dangers of Covid, and what could happen. All this was shot in person, with some social distancing but no masks because the information was confusing, even for health officials. Not long after that, the lockdown occurs. Masks were required, social distancing enforced and only essential personnel were allowed to physically come to work in borough hall.
Fanwood regularly programed the TV station and was constantly updating the community bulletin board with updated information such as how many residents had Covid, how many fatalities, proper hand washing procedures, and other safety protocols to follow at home. They needed to physically go to the TV Station to post and schedule content. I shot the video coverage of the Mayor’s periodic updates. I did all my work in the field and in person and during that time I didn’t get Covid. I recorded the Mayor by herself in the Council Chambers utilizing masks and social distancing. It was new to us and we were all extra cautious when it came to the use of sanitizers, wiping down of equipment, hand washing, etc.
The Borough of Fanwood hired a consulting firm who set up and ran their virtual council meetings allowing the public to participate remotely. I would take the feed of the virtual meetings and simulcast it to Facebook Live, using a Live-U unit I purchased from Varto Technologies, and a cellular hotspot together with wired ethernet connection for backup, just in case there was a problem with the wireless connection. Months later, to reduce costs, the clerk’s office took on the duty of managing the meetings but to this day, I still take the zoom feed on my end and simulcast it.
A quick note, now the administrator initiates the zoom meeting and I rebroadcast it to Facebook. However, if there is a problem with Facebook in any way, it could disrupt the flow of the meeting. So we keep the computer originating the Zoom separate from the computer feeding Facebook Live. In this way, if there is a technical issue with the feed during the meeting there is another person with a second computer who can troubleshoot any potential problem that might occur without disrupting the meeting. This is a much safer way to manage the Facebook live feed. . Since Facebook has proven to be unreliable, the Borough has announced that the Facebook simulcast is only offered as a courtesy, but participation by the public must take place via zoom. However people continue to post questions to Facebook and they are read to the Borough Council.
While there are multiple solutions to having a virtual meeting like GoTo Meeting, Google and Microsoft Teams, we have chosen to use the combination of Zoom and Facebook Live. It has proven to be cost effective and overall, pretty reliable. Prior to the pandemic, work sessions were not broadcast on TV nor Facebook. Now all Council meeting are covered and broadcast. This is one positive effect of the pandemic.
As of this writing in November 2021, Fanwood still doesn’t have in person meetings, but are now looking into resuming them in January 2022 using a hybrid solution that will combine virtual and in-person participation.
In conclusion, the PEG stations became an invaluable asset during the pandemic, providing important hyper localized content during uncertain times. It’s a good reminder that, although the number of cable subscriptions is decreasing and over the air broadcast stations are losing viewers to steaming services, it is still essential that municipalities use their cable channels and social media to reach their citizens, particularly seniors who still used to traditional viewing methods to get information on matters of local interest.
Faces for Board of Trustees: Thank You To The Past and Hello To The New
To quote a Billy Joel song (with some slight “JAGish” changes) “So many faces in and out of our lives, some will last, some will just be now and then…” so goes some of the people on our board. Happily, these “faces” that are leaving our board currently have played an important role in the growth and development of the organization and more importantly they lasted! I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their time and efforts for their years of service. Additionally, I would ask that you reach out to them personally and thank them for their service. Although they may be stepping away from the board, I know that they will continue to be a part of JAG and help in any way possible. Join me in thanking: Dave Ambrosy (EBTV), Jeff Arban (RUTV) and Darryl Love (Scotch Plains). I would also like to point out that current JAG VP, Dave Garb has committed to running for another term.
I am happy to report out to the membership that a couple of our members have stepped up and decided to throw their hat in to the ring to run as Board of Trustee Members for JAG. If I was a butcher, I would tell you that the board has “Fresh Meat”! But since I am not, I will just say that we are lucky to have new people stepping up, sharing their experiences, and helping to continue to make JAG a great organization. I have included their brief bios below for your review. The vote for Board of Trustees is at our next general membership meeting, Wednesday, December 1st. Even though those running will be unopposed due to the number of seats open, it should be noted that they have stepped up and are willing to put in the work necessary. Here is a list of the board candidates:
Bob Nicholson is the station manager and coordinator at WM77 in West Milford. He also serves as co-chair on the Passaic County Film Commission and President of Access 23 TV in Port Jervis, NY. His background is in music, publishing, and production for the past 50 years as both performer and engineer. Video has been an active interest since the late 80’s when the home video explosion ignited the consumer market. A person of many job functions over the years, Bob has acquired vast experience and knowledge of the music, video, retail trades and the legal aspects. Always eager to expand his knowledge, Bob desires to learn something new every day.
Doug Seidel is an Emmy nominated producer and award-winning filmmaker. Doug has won best marketing twice at the Project Twenty1 film festival for his use of social media to promote his films. Along with his position at Piscataway Community TV, Doug runs the social media accounts for Jersey Access Group and Eastern Video Expo. Doug was also the technical producer for the Eastern Video Expo and JAG Awards by running the entire Zoom experience for the conference.
Rick Gearhart is currently the Station Manager for TV34, Montclair. He graduated with a degree in Creative Arts & Technology from Bloomfield College in 2010. He is 34 years old and started his television career when he was 21 – in 2009, working for WBMA-TV in Bloomfield, filming, and editing local events & meetings. It was here that he learned the importance of not only keeping residents informed of the events in town, but also the importance of preserving township history through video, by covering ceremonies, honor events, etc. Community Television has been the bulk of his television career, having worked for several different towns as a camera operator and editor, including Scotch Plains and Princeton, before being hired as the Station Manager for Montclair TV34. He has been at this position since December 2016.
Please be reminded that three of the Trustee positions are for a three-year term and one is for a one-year term. The person with the lowest vote total will be given the one-year term. When voting, you are allowed to vote for up to four board members, although you can vote for less. Please be on the lookout for the absentee ballot for those who cannot make the meeting or the live meeting dates for those who will vote in person. Please take the time to vote and show your support for those who have taken their time to be a part of this board.
Mayors and Administrators are always looking for funds to help stretch their limited budgets. Although NJ sits between to communications hubs NYC & Philly there are many areas in the state, both rural (northeastern forests and southern farmland) and urban who lack access to broadband that hurt business and communities. This panel will explore the challenges facing municipalities that are trying to improve broadband access, and what funding might be available to facilitate those improvements.
Over the Top Panel: November 18th, 10:45am in room 409
JAG members will discuss ways municipalities can continue to reach their citizens after the pandemic. Now that local governments have given the public access to their council meetings and other municipal events in their homes, can they go back to business as usual? Today, reaching your community through a traditional cable channel is not the only game in town. Our panelists will explore all the new ways to engage citizens with over the top (OTT) devices and applications: like: Roku, AppleTV, web applications and mobile devices.
by Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
If you didn’t hear the big announcement, Eastern Video Expo will be back May of next year! And even bigger news, our trade show will be in person! This means there will be announcements from now until May with new vendors joining the expo. Do you know the best place to find out who will be there in person with new products to show off? That’s right, on our social media! Be sure to follow the links below to find out who will be there and all other important information on the upcoming expo.
Also after the success of our virtual conference our workshops will all be virtual this next conference. Now is the time to chime in and let us know if there is something you want to see next year. All that attended last’s years conference can still watch the recorded sessions on www.easternvideoexpo.com but these videos will go away to make room for the 2022 expo, so be sure to login and watch before they are gone.
Leaders Wanted: Each year JAG holds an annual vote for board members. It is the opportunity for members of our organization to step up, be proactive and participate in the leadership of the Jersey Access Group. This may seem like a daunting task to members, but it should not be perceived as such. Rather, this should be viewed as an opportunity for you to share your unique talents and perspective. JAG benefits from a diverse board with a wide array of valuable insights all sharing the desire to enhance both PEG and JAG. All are welcome to nominate themselves and participate in our upcoming board elections.
I’m Not Ready to Be On The Executive Board: Many people want to participate more in the JAG organization, but feel that running for the board is not the right thing for them now. As a current board member, I felt that way too. So where do you begin? I can answer that question simply — join a committee. Committees play an important role in both the growth and development of our organization. This is a great opportunity to bring your unique perspective to our organization and your passion in a particular area of interest. This is the power of being part of a JAG committee. You can find further information about committees, and how to reach out to them, throughout this monthly newsletter. Here is a list of the JAG Committees that eagerly look for new, active membership participation:
Membership Finance External Relations Legislative
Production Conference JAG Awards
Committee Member Yes, Board Member Soon: Perhaps you are already a member of a committee. You actively participate in monthly committee meetings and are looking to one day make the move to the board. So what is holding you back? In talking with members, a common answer is additional leadership training and participation. JAG recognized this and created an opportunity for those members to take the next step. What is that next step? The next logical step would be to get yourself in the position of either a chair or vice-chair of a committee. The advantage of being a vice-chair of a committee is the ability to participate in the leadership development committee. This committee is made up of vice-chairs of all our committees. This group reviews the organization’s operations, comes up with creative solutions and then in turn presents these solutions to the executive board. This committee is a great stepping stone prior to becoming an executive board member.
Say Yes To JAG: The future of the Jersey Access Group lies in your hands. The only way for our great organization to continue to grow, evolve and be relevant is to have active participation from members. The future of JAG is in the hands of the participation of its diverse membership. The ability for its members to participate and share their unique opinions and insight is crucial to the survival of the Jersey Access Group. I hope as you read through this, it sparked something inside of you that makes you want to actively be a part of a JAG Committee, leadership role in that committee or ultimately an active executive board member. I look forward to seeing new faces and hearing new voices as the organizations continues to grow. I urge you to reach out to me, any of our board members or even our Managing Director should you have any interest, questions or just want to discuss further what it takes to be more involved in JAG.
Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
This month I want to take a moment to remind everyone of a few things since this has been a very productive year in social media and our digital footprint.
First, for everyone that attended Eastern Video Expo (or purchased a ticket and did not attend) all of the recorded sessions are available at www.easternvideoexpo.com. You just have to use the password sent via e-mail to attend the event, if you don’t have that password please contact someone at JAG.
Below are the links to our social media pages, please follow them and share with anyone that may be interested. We also have our YouTube channel and aside from sending us videos to host there, be sure to share the channel with friends and family.
Most recently we launched our updated website at www.jagonline.org. Be sure to check out the site and let us know what you think. Feedback is always key, and I would love to hear what you would like to see more of on our social media sites. We are also in need of pictures of your station in action to add to the home page carousel.
NEW CONTENT ON WEBSITE- We have now posted 24 programs from the Eastern Video Expo events to the members only section of our website. To view the video content links below, you need a members only password.
by Paul A. Distefano, Regional Sales Manager, DeSisti Lighting
What if, today, you need to interview a town official in their office? What if that official’s office is in a century old building with dark wood panels and incandescent lighting? What if that official’s office is in a 1970’s era cookie cutter building with overhead fluorescent tubes in the range of 4000K? What if it is a modern building with LED lighting which is nice and efficient, but not necessarily the highest color rendering because it was chosen to achieve a specific light level and a camera recording in there was not even an afterthought? What if any of these scenarios is further complicated by large windows and window dressing insufficient to control this ambient light….. even if you are lucky and the windows are oriented north/south instead of east/west? What if later that day, you need to cover a musical performance at a school, the library, the senior center, or some other venue that has similarly flat, ugly, low CRI, lighting? Wouldn’t a splash of color on the wall or reflecting off the performer’s guitar make the image more appealing, interesting, or just prettier? What if you also need to provide lighting for a still photographer in the room as well? What if there was a single line of lighting fixtures that could allow you to creatively light under all these varied scenarios, and more, allowing you to record the highest quality images with your camera, whether it is a pro quality 3-chip or your cell phone? Why, it would be the Zelig of lighting fixtures! Well, it exists….. and it is called the Variable White + Color technology provided by DeSisti! By the way, when the technology was first presented to us in its early development stage a couple of years ago, I made the same “Zelig” reference and my heart sunk when my clever reference was met by blank stares from my much younger colleagues on the Skype call. I’m banking on the average age of my friends here at JAG being old enough to get it, though.
Officially rolling out this month, the VW+C technology is now available in a range of several Fresnels and Softlights. By taking advantage of our tried-and-true variable white technology and adding to it, phosphor-based color emitters in red, green, blue and amber, we give our users infinite possibilities in one single fixture with the high quality of light that DeSisti is known for. As the name implies, we have added color to the variable white LEDs that are featured in our standard variable white product. We do not “mix” to white. Our fixtures consistently outperform our competitors with higher CRI, higher output CCT whites and consistent color, from fixture to fixture, throughout the life of the LEDs.
The Variable White + Color range offer nine different modes of operation, controlled locally or with as little as 8-channels of DMX. These modes include:
XY Coordinates – Plot coordinates on the CIE1931 color space graph, which is extremely accurate utilizing 6 colors as opposed to just RGB, as many of our competitors do
Variable White – This mode utilizes just the white chips for CCT whites from 2700K to 6500K with color correction, +/- green and the ability to add cyan and amber
Variable White + Color – Color hues added to white sources
ULTRA CRI – this mode extends the range of CCT whites all the way from 1800K to 12000K and maintains a CRI of 94+ throughout the entire range for enhanced image quality from your camera
GELs – Presets of Lee and ROSCO gels applied to your choice of CCT whites
FX – choose from many preset effects
Sources – choose from a variety of presets to approximate moonlight to several other natural and artificial light sources
DeSisti continues to offer all our products in single color Daylight, Tungsten and Variable White. The Variable White + Color range is available in our 60W 4.7”, 120W 6”, 160W 7”, and 180W 10” Fresnel and our 180W SoftLED2XL, 180W SoftLED4, 360W SoftLED8, 400W SoftLED8XL, and the 180W GIOTTO LED4 Cyc light. While not in the same range because of a different 6-color array (Red/Green/Blue/Lime/Cyan/Amber) Our 35W Piccoletto Color and Piccoletto Color FLEX, with variable optics and both DMX and Bluetooth control, is also available.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all again on Oct 27th and demonstrating our latest technology to you at this month’s JAG meeting. I have the F7VW+C, SoftLED8VW+C and the Piccoletto Color FLEX here to show you. For more information on DeSisti Lighting, please visit our web site, www.desisti.it. For any of you who are still wondering what the heck that Zelig reference meant in the first paragraph, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelig.
News & Events
Posted: December 8, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Broadband Panel
Mayors and Administrators are always looking for funds to help stretch their limited budgets. Although NJ sits between to communications hubs NYC & Philly there are many areas in the state, both rural (northeastern forests and southern farmland) and urban who lack access to broadband that hurt business and communities. This panel will explore the challenges facing municipalities that are trying to improve broadband access, and what funding might be available to facilitate those improvements.
Posted: November 26, 2021 by Doug Seidel
OTT Panel
JAG president Bob Duthaler and Piscataway Community TV Station Manager George Fairfield discuss ways municipalities can continue to reach their citizens after the pandemic. Now that local governments have given the public access to their council meetings and other municipal events in their homes, can they go back to business as usual? Today, reaching your community through a traditional cable channel is not the only game in town. Our panelists will explore all the new ways to engage citizens with over the top (OTT) devices and applications: like: Roku, AppleTV, web applications and mobile devices.
Posted: November 12, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Closed Captioning: Lots of Options
by Daniell Krawczyk, Owner, Municipal Captioning
Buy a new car in 2022 and the engine is going to be reliable enough no matter what you buy, but in the early days of automobiles the reliability and quality of the prebuilt engines which “coach manufacturers” built their autos upon varied greatly, and you needed to be aware of which vehicles had a top-tier engine and which had a bottom-tier engine.
Similarly, today server manufacturers are adding captioning inside their products and to lower their own costs they tend to build on the lowest-tier engines (IBM Watson, AWS, Microsoft), but the accuracy results from systems built using the more expensive mid-tier (VoiceInteraction) and top-tier engines (Speechmatics) are substantially better. Especially when it comes to a mix of regional and global accents, audio with crosstalk and background noise, and non-perfectly mic’d speakers.
Learn how to compare 3rd party and playback server captioning options, so you know ahead of time what you are sacrificing for quality if you select a system built on a bottom-tier engine over a product built on a mid or top-tier engine. Municipal Captioning sells products with ALL levels of captioning quality — from the low-budget solutions which trade quality for cost to the highest-quality solutions — and can give you quotes for all options so you can make an informed decision for your community.
Posted: November 12, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Spotlight: Fanwood Dealing with the Pandemic
by Eddy Cologna, Fanwood Television
I have been working with the Borough of Fanwood for several years. Towards the end of 2019 when China was in lockdown and we in America weren’t even dreaming of such a thing, the Borough was upgrading their sound system in the Council Chambers and looking into a multiple camera remote system. The purchase has been moving slowly due to the pandemic.
Fast forward a few months to February 2020, the Mayor of Fanwood, Colleen Mahr, and some health officials had a 4 camera shoot about the dangers of Covid, and what could happen. All this was shot in person, with some social distancing but no masks because the information was confusing, even for health officials. Not long after that, the lockdown occurs. Masks were required, social distancing enforced and only essential personnel were allowed to physically come to work in borough hall.
Fanwood regularly programed the TV station and was constantly updating the community bulletin board with updated information such as how many residents had Covid, how many fatalities, proper hand washing procedures, and other safety protocols to follow at home. They needed to physically go to the TV Station to post and schedule content. I shot the video coverage of the Mayor’s periodic updates. I did all my work in the field and in person and during that time I didn’t get Covid. I recorded the Mayor by herself in the Council Chambers utilizing masks and social distancing. It was new to us and we were all extra cautious when it came to the use of sanitizers, wiping down of equipment, hand washing, etc.
The Borough of Fanwood hired a consulting firm who set up and ran their virtual council meetings allowing the public to participate remotely. I would take the feed of the virtual meetings and simulcast it to Facebook Live, using a Live-U unit I purchased from Varto Technologies, and a cellular hotspot together with wired ethernet connection for backup, just in case there was a problem with the wireless connection. Months later, to reduce costs, the clerk’s office took on the duty of managing the meetings but to this day, I still take the zoom feed on my end and simulcast it.
A quick note, now the administrator initiates the zoom meeting and I rebroadcast it to Facebook. However, if there is a problem with Facebook in any way, it could disrupt the flow of the meeting. So we keep the computer originating the Zoom separate from the computer feeding Facebook Live. In this way, if there is a technical issue with the feed during the meeting there is another person with a second computer who can troubleshoot any potential problem that might occur without disrupting the meeting. This is a much safer way to manage the Facebook live feed. . Since Facebook has proven to be unreliable, the Borough has announced that the Facebook simulcast is only offered as a courtesy, but participation by the public must take place via zoom. However people continue to post questions to Facebook and they are read to the Borough Council.
While there are multiple solutions to having a virtual meeting like GoTo Meeting, Google and Microsoft Teams, we have chosen to use the combination of Zoom and Facebook Live. It has proven to be cost effective and overall, pretty reliable. Prior to the pandemic, work sessions were not broadcast on TV nor Facebook. Now all Council meeting are covered and broadcast. This is one positive effect of the pandemic.
As of this writing in November 2021, Fanwood still doesn’t have in person meetings, but are now looking into resuming them in January 2022 using a hybrid solution that will combine virtual and in-person participation.
In conclusion, the PEG stations became an invaluable asset during the pandemic, providing important hyper localized content during uncertain times. It’s a good reminder that, although the number of cable subscriptions is decreasing and over the air broadcast stations are losing viewers to steaming services, it is still essential that municipalities use their cable channels and social media to reach their citizens, particularly seniors who still used to traditional viewing methods to get information on matters of local interest.
Posted: November 4, 2021 by Doug Seidel
JAG at NJLOM
JAG will be at the League of Municipalities
November 17 & 18
Sign up for the conference
Broadband: November 17, 1:30pm in room 404
Mayors and Administrators are always looking for funds to help stretch their limited budgets. Although NJ sits between to communications hubs NYC & Philly there are many areas in the state, both rural (northeastern forests and southern farmland) and urban who lack access to broadband that hurt business and communities. This panel will explore the challenges facing municipalities that are trying to improve broadband access, and what funding might be available to facilitate those improvements.
Over the Top Panel: November 18th, 10:45am in room 409
JAG members will discuss ways municipalities can continue to reach their citizens after the pandemic. Now that local governments have given the public access to their council meetings and other municipal events in their homes, can they go back to business as usual? Today, reaching your community through a traditional cable channel is not the only game in town. Our panelists will explore all the new ways to engage citizens with over the top (OTT) devices and applications: like: Roku, AppleTV, web applications and mobile devices.
Posted: November 1, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Social Media Stats: November 2021
by Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
If you didn’t hear the big announcement, Eastern Video Expo will be back May of next year! And even bigger news, our trade show will be in person! This means there will be announcements from now until May with new vendors joining the expo. Do you know the best place to find out who will be there in person with new products to show off? That’s right, on our social media! Be sure to follow the links below to find out who will be there and all other important information on the upcoming expo.
Also after the success of our virtual conference our workshops will all be virtual this next conference. Now is the time to chime in and let us know if there is something you want to see next year. All that attended last’s years conference can still watch the recorded sessions on www.easternvideoexpo.com but these videos will go away to make room for the 2022 expo, so be sure to login and watch before they are gone.
Jersey Access Group
facebook.com/pegtv linkedin.com/company/jersey-access-group instagram.com/jersey_access_group
EASTERN VIDEO EXPO
facebook.com/Easternvideoexpo instagram.com/easternvideox/
Do not forget to check out our YouTube channel Have something you want on our YouTube channel? Send a link to dseidel@piscatawaynj.org for review.
New Content: Light Up Montclair Diwali Celebration– Montclair 34 Aging Insights 121 – NJAAW
Posted: October 16, 2021 by Doug Seidel
Social Media Stats – October 2021
Doug Seidel, Social Media Manager, External Relations Committee
This month I want to take a moment to remind everyone of a few things since this has been a very productive year in social media and our digital footprint.
First, for everyone that attended Eastern Video Expo (or purchased a ticket and did not attend) all of the recorded sessions are available at www.easternvideoexpo.com. You just have to use the password sent via e-mail to attend the event, if you don’t have that password please contact someone at JAG.
Below are the links to our social media pages, please follow them and share with anyone that may be interested. We also have our YouTube channel and aside from sending us videos to host there, be sure to share the channel with friends and family.
Most recently we launched our updated website at www.jagonline.org. Be sure to check out the site and let us know what you think. Feedback is always key, and I would love to hear what you would like to see more of on our social media sites. We are also in need of pictures of your station in action to add to the home page carousel.
Jersey Access Group
facebook.com/pegtv linkedin.com/company/jersey-access-group instagram.com/jersey_access_group
EASTERN VIDEO EXPO
facebook.com/Easternvideoexpo instagram.com/easternvideox/
Do not forget to check out our YouTube channel Have something you want on our YouTube channel? Send a link to dseidel@piscatawaynj.org for review.
New Content: 58th March on Washington Anniversary – CNet Aging Insights 120 – NJAAW
NEW CONTENT ON WEBSITE- We have now posted 24 programs from the Eastern Video Expo events to the members only section of our website. To view the video content links below, you need a members only password.
Emaillbesink@gmail.com for the password.
JAG will be recording our two sessions at the NJ League of Municipalities and be adding them to the Members Only session of our website next month.
Broadband Deployment in the National Infrastructure Bill. A JAG Joint Session with the NJ League.
And
Post Pandemic Tools That Can Help You Reach Your Citizens
Share the value of Jag’s newsletter with your elected officials, cable committee, station volunteers, associates, and friends. Send this invitation: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/B7EMU1R/JAGnewsletter
Posted: October 16, 2021 by Doug Seidel
DeSisti Presentation – The Most Versatile Lighting Technology Yet
by Paul A. Distefano, Regional Sales Manager, DeSisti Lighting
What if, today, you need to interview a town official in their office? What if that official’s office is in a century old building with dark wood panels and incandescent lighting? What if that official’s office is in a 1970’s era cookie cutter building with overhead fluorescent tubes in the range of 4000K? What if it is a modern building with LED lighting which is nice and efficient, but not necessarily the highest color rendering because it was chosen to achieve a specific light level and a camera recording in there was not even an afterthought? What if any of these scenarios is further complicated by large windows and window dressing insufficient to control this ambient light….. even if you are lucky and the windows are oriented north/south instead of east/west? What if later that day, you need to cover a musical performance at a school, the library, the senior center, or some other venue that has similarly flat, ugly, low CRI, lighting? Wouldn’t a splash of color on the wall or reflecting off the performer’s guitar make the image more appealing, interesting, or just prettier? What if you also need to provide lighting for a still photographer in the room as well? What if there was a single line of lighting fixtures that could allow you to creatively light under all these varied scenarios, and more, allowing you to record the highest quality images with your camera, whether it is a pro quality 3-chip or your cell phone? Why, it would be the Zelig of lighting fixtures! Well, it exists….. and it is called the Variable White + Color technology provided by DeSisti! By the way, when the technology was first presented to us in its early development stage a couple of years ago, I made the same “Zelig” reference and my heart sunk when my clever reference was met by blank stares from my much younger colleagues on the Skype call. I’m banking on the average age of my friends here at JAG being old enough to get it, though.
Officially rolling out this month, the VW+C technology is now available in a range of several Fresnels and Softlights. By taking advantage of our tried-and-true variable white technology and adding to it, phosphor-based color emitters in red, green, blue and amber, we give our users infinite possibilities in one single fixture with the high quality of light that DeSisti is known for. As the name implies, we have added color to the variable white LEDs that are featured in our standard variable white product. We do not “mix” to white. Our fixtures consistently outperform our competitors with higher CRI, higher output CCT whites and consistent color, from fixture to fixture, throughout the life of the LEDs.
The Variable White + Color range offer nine different modes of operation, controlled locally or with as little as 8-channels of DMX. These modes include:
DeSisti continues to offer all our products in single color Daylight, Tungsten and Variable White. The Variable White + Color range is available in our 60W 4.7”, 120W 6”, 160W 7”, and 180W 10” Fresnel and our 180W SoftLED2XL, 180W SoftLED4, 360W SoftLED8, 400W SoftLED8XL, and the 180W GIOTTO LED4 Cyc light. While not in the same range because of a different 6-color array (Red/Green/Blue/Lime/Cyan/Amber) Our 35W Piccoletto Color and Piccoletto Color FLEX, with variable optics and both DMX and Bluetooth control, is also available.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all again on Oct 27th and demonstrating our latest technology to you at this month’s JAG meeting. I have the F7VW+C, SoftLED8VW+C and the Piccoletto Color FLEX here to show you. For more information on DeSisti Lighting, please visit our web site, www.desisti.it. For any of you who are still wondering what the heck that Zelig reference meant in the first paragraph, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelig.