Markets /markets Customer Profiles /markets/customerProfiles/default.asp Stuttgart Parliament /markets/customerProfiles/StuttgartParliament/default.asp Stuttgart Parliament Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany Government /markets/customerProfiles/StuttgartParliament/imgs/image_StuttgartParliamentAssembly.jpg /markets/customerProfiles/StuttgartParliament/imgs/image_StuttgartPanelPage.jpg /markets/customerProfiles/StuttgartParliament/imgs/image_StuttgartParliamentPanelShot.jpg /markets/customerProfiles/StuttgartParliament/imgs/image_StuttgartPlasma.jpg In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Baden-Wuerttemberg, a state in southwest Germany bordering France, the Stuttgart Parliament upgraded the existing Assembly Hall's camera system by adding additional units to improve the visual and audio documentation of each session. The AMX NetLinx Control System provides one-touch control and automation, dramatically enhancing every public broadcast over local television feeds and Internet streaming. Knowing "Who Is Who" In this age of modern democracies, many parliament debates are no longer held in secret behind closed doors. Interested Stuttgart citizens demand to remain informed of every vote, every important topic by attentively viewing these live discussions. The NetLinx system, installed by mevis.tv of Stuttgart, is programmed to manage an "Inscriber Program" as video and audio signals are distributed by a local broadcast company. This useful inscriber feature allows the television audience (as well as those people logged onto the Internet) to not only see who is has the floor but that parliament member's name and party affiliation. Some Background Info The Stuttgart Parliament meets for an entire week, once a month. These meetings are usually open to the public. Seats are available in the Assembly Hall for visitors to follow agendas that include education, law enforcement, agriculture and other topics. Members of the parliament are elected every four years. The Heart And Brains The heart and brains of this installation is NetLinx, which controls the title inscribing feature of the video signal. The title generator is a PC with a built-in Inscriber Card, which stores the names of parliament members and party affiliations in a comprehensive Access database. Through an AMX 15" Touch Panel positioned in the technician's booth in the visitors area of the building, the operator can watch four separate on-screen windows to track video for the Inscriber Program and three cameras simultaneously. According to Mathias Muglich of mevis.tv, the technicians are very enthusiastic about the new system. Easy-To-Update Database, Software Upgrades The Inscriber Program on the PC and NetLinx communicate with the same Access database. The advantage here is that parliament employees only need to update a single source of information. As members and party affiliations change from year to year, new names are automatically inputted. Due to the sophisticated nature of networking the Inscriber Program to the Access database, several software upgrades were initiated using i!-Database Plus, an Internet Inside application from AMX that can access, read, translate and download database information directly into NetLinx. The application's wizard builds the complete source code frame for communication between NetLinx and the database. COMM-TEC, an AMX Distributor for Europe, provided the necessary programming support to mevis.tv. Thoughtful Ergonomics, Efficiencies A novel aspect of the system, NetLinx controls source switching, the Access database and the Inscriber PC. In addition, the operator experiences an ergonomically-correct view of the panel and efficient menu selection of database content. The operator can quickly decide whether or not the name of the parliament member should be "inscribed" to the video signal. The member's party logo is automatically dragged over from the database. Every member of the parliament can be selected and displayed instantly using the Touch Panel, including the topic being discussed. This data is forwarded to the Inscriber PC, where the information is written into a separate table of the Access database. The Inscriber Program retrieves the information for broadcast and the NetLinx Master Controller sends a signal to the Inscriber PC to implement member names and party logos directly into the video signal.