How can prospects in remoter regions see press demos without spending a lot of time and money travelling? What if they are simply too busy to go and inspect a new Rapida at KBA's customer centre in Radebeul or at one's of its agents? The answer is internet TV, which allows press demos in Radebeul to be transmitted live to prospects' computer screens.

This entails cutting-edge technology. Signals from video cameras and sound systems directly at the press are fed into the network via a video encoder, which processes the data generated during the demo and delivers a live stream which the prospect can watch after logging on to KBA's Internet-TV server via a web browser. The presses at KBA's customer centre are filmed in such a way as to give viewers the impression that they are there, on site. This modern presentation model can be used with equal effect during talks with customers, at trade events or fairs, and the remote viewer can communicate directly with the presenter at the press, ask questions or request a change in sequences or camera settings.
 
In recent weeks there have been several live transmissions of press demonstrations. On 13 and 14 April teachers and students at the Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt (national college of graphic design) in Vienna watched multiple job changes on a Rapida 75E. Shortly after that decision-makers from Austria's Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus (NÖP) in St. Pölten made a quick trip to KBA-Mödling for a live-stream transmission of four jobs being printed on a ten-colour Rapida 106 in Radebeul. Dietmar Dörfler, head of NÖP's newspaper and sheetfed offset department, was very impressed. He said: "KBA is constantly surprising us with world firsts, and we think this presentation model is great. The internet allowed us to observe and assess makeready, production, sheet run and quality monitoring, ie all the key press parameters."

The streaming of makeready and production sequences, flying job changes and QualiTronic inline colour control via the internet can be used to deliver real-time production images during discussions with prospects on technical and commercial aspects. This economical and highly efficient tool is a fine example of how online media can be exploited to promote print.

Live demos via KBA Internet-TV are now available worldwide.