NBC OLYMPICS IN TOP FORM FOR BEIJING - SPECIALFOCUS - BEIJING OYMPICS
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VOL 1 NO 1
AUG08
RECAP OF THE INDUSTRY NEWS AND TECH REPORTS FROM WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG 1JUL08–31JUL08
Beijing olympics Q&A...
Welcome to SVG re:PLAY, our newest benefit for members and
sponsors of SVG! Each month’s edition will include an overview of the top stories ...with Manolo Romero,
filed by SVG reporters around the world as well as an overview of upcoming SVG General Manager
events so you can plan your schedule accordingly. Please note that SVG re:PLAY of Beijing Olympic
includes shortened versions of our top stories so if you want to read the complete
story, please visit www.sportsvideo.org. While visiting our site, also be sure to regis- Broadcasting (BOB)
ter for the events you wish to attend! By Ken Kerschbaumer
Q: Can you shed some light onto BOB
specialFocus — Beijing Oympics and its role in the Beijing Games for those
NBC Olympics In Top Form For Beijing unfamiliar with BOB?
A: Our role is to produce an
By Ken Kerschbaumer international signal that is used by the
Nearly 1,500 NBC Olympics production personnel are in Beijing for the 2008 Summer broadcasters in different countries. We
Games working in facilities that will help the NBC Universal family of networks deliver don’t need to be known to viewers,
more than 3,500 hours of HD programming during the Summer Olympics that begin we like to be behind the scenes. I want
on August 8. to believe that our broadcast partners
“It kind of grew and snowballed,” says Dave Mazza, NBC Olympics, senior vice president support us and discuss with us the
of engineering, of the programming effort. “Even table tennis aficionados will be able to see innovations we want to bring. We’ve
every bit of table tennis.” been focused on achieving a standard
NBC Olympics is using 36 AT&T DS-3 lines and a single DS-3 on the AT&T uplink to deliver of excellence through the years and
coverage to the IBC and then to the U.S. “AT&T and CNC did a great job getting all the circuits building the trust of our broadcast
up as we now have 10-times the bandwidth we had in Sydney eight years ago,” says Mazza. partners.
Tandberg encoders and decoders are helping NBC Olympics send 50 video feeds (plus Q: Do your relationships differ with
40 Web streams and 450 Mbps of data services) from Beijing to the U.S. More than 20 HD and different broadcasters?
20 SD Snell and Wilcox Alchemists have also been installed. A: There are many possibilities for
While the move to all HD this year was a big project, Mazza says that, ironically, the what we can provide and we want
equipment is actually smaller than in year’s past. A key part of NBC Olympics’ set up is racks to make sure each broadcaster does
in a box or “RIBS” that can include up to 20 racks of equipment. The RIBS are pre-configured what they want. For the international
and pre-tested and then rolled into the International Broadcast Center, easing installation signal, we’ll deploy more equipment,
and testing. with the exception of some of the
“Our SD router used to take up half of a RIB which was 10 racks,” says Mazza. “But now the traditional venues like the Bird’s Nest
HD router has twice the inputs and outputs and takes up only one rack.” Only 8 RIBS will be or the Aquatic Center. We’ll have 70
used in Beijing, five less than in previous games. Smaller gear also means the RIBS can be of our own cameras and seven OB
located closer together, cutting down on cabling and making it easier to debug systems. vehicles at the Bird’s Nest that will
All told, more than 46 EVS XT[2] and IP Director units, more than 400 TB of Omneon create an integrated feed and six
storage, 300 TB of Isilon Systems storage, and 250 TB of Avid ISIS storage will be on hand to feeds with the different track and
ready content. “I was surprised by how much we went up in storage vs. Torino,” says Mazza. field events so the broadcasters can
Along with the storage is the editing and acquisition gear. More than 100 Sony cameras, compose what they want. We’ll also
continued on page continued on page 10
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY upcomingEVENTS Sports Video Group Produces Sports Asset
At-a-Glance Management Symposium at NASCAR Media
Please visit www.sportsvideo.org for more On July 22 and 23, the Sports Video Group
information and to register!
brought together more than 100 sports pro-
IBC Sport Technology fessionals from across the country in Charlotte,
Reception N.C. to share ideas, challenges and success
Sept. 13, Amsterdam stories in asset management.
Join SVG sponsors and European members Sponsored by Avid, Sony, Thomson Grass
to honor Beijing Olympic Broadcasting for its
Valley, Panasonic, Ascent Media, Aspera, Quantel
coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
and Bexel, SVG’s second annual Sports Asset
SVG Audio Summit Management event was hosted by NASCAR
Oct. 22, New York City Media Group and included an exclusive behind-
Learn about the latest audio gear, the hottest the-scenes tour of the company’s expansive Over 100 sports professionals attended
trends, and much more! SVG’s second annual Sports Asset
Charlotte facility, giving attendees a closer look Management event.
Venue Technology Summit at NASCAR Media Group’s new workflow. The
Oct. 27-28, Kansas City, MO tour included demonstrations by NASCAR technology partners Videobank, Front
A new conference focused on building Porch Digital, Pillar Data and Quantel.
broadcast-friendly stadiums and arenas. “Giving our members and sponsors a chance to see a world-class organization’s
D-Sports Digital Sports asset management and production workflow in person goes to the heart of SVG’s
Conference mission of advancing content creation and distribution techniques,” says Martin Porter,
Nov. 12, New York City SVG executive director. “We thank NASCAR Media Group COO Jay Abraham, Director
Join us for a day focused on sports content of Internal Operations Scott Rinehart and their entire team for allowing our members
creation and delivery via to get under the hood of NASCAR’s operations.”
the Internet and beyond. Following the tour, three conference panels were held focusing on top industry
League Technology Summit concerns like metadata and logging, choosing the best codec for one’s needs and
and SPORTS BROADCASTNG HALL weighing the different archive media and technology options. The interactive panel
OF FAME Ceremony discussions brought together top executives from technology providers, broadcasters
Dec. 16, 2008, New York City and sports leagues to share their experiences, answer questions and raise some new
For sports TV production professionals the ones regarding best practices in the field of asset management.
Summit is the must-do event of the year
while the HOF celebrates its second inductee
class.
svgSPONSORUPDATE
It’s been a busy summer for SVG as we look to continue to provide new educational
AUG08 and marketing opportunities for our sponsors and members.
VOL 1 NO 1
Topping the list in September is the second-annual SVG Fall Technology
Paul Gallo Co-executive Director
Marty Porter Co-executive Director
Journal, with a special focus on the Beijing Olympics. August 25 is the materials due
Rob Payne Sponsor Development date for those who have purchased a page as well as for platinum sponsors who
receive a free full-color page as part of their sponsor package.
Ken Kerschbaumer Editorial Director
Janice Brown RePLAY Managing Editor In sponsor news, SVG welcomes back Avid Technology as a platinum sponsor as well
Carolyn Braff SVGU Managing Editor as A Crewing Alliance as a mobile sponsor. Also, for those of you attending IBC, be
Andrew Lippe Associate Editor
sure to sign up online (www.sportsvideo.org) for the Sport Technology Reception
Dan Daley Audio Editor
on September 13. It’ll be a great way to end your day at the show and begin your
Kevin Hilton SVG Europe Editor
Saturday night! Lastly, SVG is proud to announce a special opportunity for sponsors to
Riva Danzig Art Director help raise money for the Ron Scalise Memorial Fund. Ron was a dear friend of the
For contact information, visit www.sportsvideo.org SVG community and was killed in a car accident last December. On October 22 SVG
will host an Audio Summit in New York City and all sponsor revenues will be donated
re:Play is published monthly by the
Sports Video Group, 260 Fifth Avenue, Ste. 600,
to Ron’s Memorial Fund that will support the college education of his three children.
New York, NY 10001 • 212-481-8140 While the event is an audio event please note that sponsorships are open to all SVG
rePLAY@sportsvideo.org companies interested in donating to the fund.
© 2008 Sports Video Group For any sponsorship-related questions, please contact Rob Payne at 212-481-8131 or
Printed in the U.S.A via email at rob@sportsvideo.org
re:PLAY august 2008specialFocus — Beijing Oympics continued from page 3 techTRENDS
13 production switchers, 42 Avid editing systems, 175 Sony HD XDCAM decks, and 32 HD
XDCAM camcorders will be used to record and edit more than 35,000 hours of material. LiveHive Builds Buzz for
Almost as surprising as the use of non-server-based storage is the existence of seven Canadian Football League
“traditional old edit suites”or “TOES”that will complete the linear-based editing facilities, along By Andrew Lippe
with an EVS XT-2 server and a IP Director.“TOES are still the fastest way to turn around a sporting
event until we can have a truly file-based workflow in and out of every edit room,” says Mazza. LiveHive is helping Canadian Football
“Seven new EVS IP Edit stations will be deployed in China. We have high hopes for these units League fans participate in predict-the-play
to be able to provide the relatively simple, but very fast, turnaround-editing in the future.” contests, trivia questions, and polls in an
effort to bring fans together via the Internet
and mobile devices. “Here is something
NBC Olympics Takes on the Technical you can do online with your friends and
Challenges of a 44-Venue Event in Beijing get that stadium experience in your living
room,” says Robert Riopelle VP of Business
By Ken Kerschbaumer
Development for LiveHive Systems Inc.
For most broadcasters, the challenge of dealing with one venue is enough to fill a day. “Players want to have bragging rights at the
So for NBC Olympics’ Chip Adams, NBC vice president of venue engineering, and his water cooler.”
team of 25 technical managers, dealing with 44 distinct Olympic venues this summer Sponsored by Nissan, the Make the Call
has been a test of patience, planning and fortitude. First and foremost, they needed to service will use LiveHive’s NanoGaming
wade through 870 pages of plans and diagrams that outlined the venues and Beijing platform for 72 CFL regular season games
Olympics Broadcasting’s plans for those venues. as well as the playoffs. LiveHive staffers
“Things start to change as the venues are delivered in their final configuration,”says Adams. watch the games and create prediction
“Adjustments to commentary platforms, camera mounts and locations are just a couple of opportunities and players then place bets
the things that change due to final seating assignments for guests and dignitaries.” on the opportunity. The less likely the
NBC Olympics has 50 broadcast cabins across 11 venues that serve as temporary facilities. play result, the higher the odds and point
In addition an OB van, serving as a “flash” vehicle, is on hand for cycling, time trials, road racing, payout.
and triathlon events. “Nissan liked the ability for LiveHive to
The backbone for NBC Olympics and BOB will be a contribution network built by Chinese capture deep information from the users
National Communications that connects all of the venues with the IBC. “BOB is providing the through poll questions,” says Riopelle.
equipment to transmit and receive the HDI signals in an uncompressed format to and from
“During the game we can ask things like:
the IBC,” says Adams. “The venues outside of Beijing will be encoded with MPEG-2 DVB at the
Are you thinking about buying a car in the
various profile levels for SD and HD and those will come back to the IBC on satellite feeds or,
next four weeks? What is most important
if the circuits are available, the SDH network that CNC runs within the country.”
when you are buying a car? Is it fuel
NBC Olympics will concentrate its facilities on the “A-level” venues including the
economy, is it looks? We can ask these
National Stadium (known as the Bird's Nest), home for the Opening and Closing
questions over a multitude of games.”
ceremonies and the track and field events. The other two A-level venues are the National
Indoor Stadium, which will host gymnastics events, and the National Aquatics Center, NanoGaming has been used by other
home to swimming and diving events. broadcasters, including ESPN who used
There is only one B-level venue this year, hosting beach volleyball, and NBC will have it for the NBA Playoffs and Monday Night
a flypack at the venue comprised of six Sony cameras, six Sony HD XDCAM recorders, Football. CBC used NanoGaming for NHL
and three EVS XT-2 systems. Editing facilities include an EVS XT and Apple Final Cut Pro games and Turner Sports has used the
system to give the up-and-coming sport its due. technology for NASCAR races.
This year, NBC Olympics is also taking a new approach to the C-level venue. “We
have upgraded our C-world production kits to handle HD video and be able to deliver Sunday Night Football Extra
a Surround Sound program,” says Adams. “On the video side we kept the core unit To Streamline
and added additional patching and terminal gear to accept a variety of switchers.”
By Carolyn Braff
BBC Delivers HD Olympic Action Over SD The NFL is joining the streaming revolution
and it’s taking NBC Sports along for the
Circuits with Help of Dirac Algorithm ride. Beginning on Thursday, September
By Kevin Hilton 4, football fans will be able to watch all 17
of NBC’s Sunday Night Football games,
Long before the first starting gun is fired, the Beijing Games has already stirred up several plus a menu of Internet-only extras, live
controversies. The number of people the BBC is taking to the Olympics is one cause of on nbcsports.com and NFL.com. Sunday
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY techTRENDS continued commotion. But the BBC prides itself on being at the heart of an event and says the 437
staff—33 more than the Athens Games—is necessary, because it is providing twice as
Night Football Extra will take the video much output as for those last Olympics. In bald figures the BBC will be producing 3,800
feed directly from NBC, replacing only the hours of footage, provided by 44 feeds supplied by Beijing Olympics Broadcasting (BOB).
advertisements, and offer four additional Many of the 437 personnel will be working in 18 edit suites that are part of the BBC
camera angles to enhance the television section of the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) in Beijing, as well as in production
broadcast. and ENG teams around the venues. To deal with the output from China there will be 16
“We want to be very complementary logging stations at Television Centre (TVC) in west London, operated by personnel who
must be wondering what they did wrong to not be considered for overseas travel.
to the game broadcast, not cannibalistic,”
Much is made of this being the first high definition Olympics broadcast, and the BBC
explains Hans Schroeder, NFL VP of digital
now has a dedicated outlet for the technology, but, as its HD Channel was not given the
media and general manager of NFL.com. official go-ahead until November of last year, the broadcaster could not confirm to BOB that
“Kickoff for the opening game on Thursday it would need suitably equipped connections for a number of its feeds.
night is 7:00 EST, so this is a way for people This means that although the BBC intends to have a great amount of material in HD,
at work to view the game.” only SD circuits have been allocated. To get around this obstacle, the Dirac Pro compression
On any given week, Sunday Night technology will be used to carry HD footage over uncompressed SD connections. BBC
Football Extra will provide four camera Research & Development developed the system, with the codecs for contribution work
angles outside of the main production feed. designed and marketed by Numedia.
The Dirac image compression algorithm encodes footage using a motion compensation
Possibilities for those angles include set
method and is implemented using Numedia’s Chameleon platform. Numedia was
shots from the end zone or sideline, a fully established in 2004 by former Snell & Wilcox engineer Stuart Sommerville; its range of Dirac
produced second game feed or a camera products includes units for 1080p to 1080i compression and HD-SDI multiplexing.
following a specific player throughout the
game.
industrynews
Sunday Night Football Extra, thus far
billed as a one-year experiment, will also Fox Sports, Game Creek Video Key Successful
feature picture-in-picture capabilities, on-
demand in-game highlights, live statistics
(and Long) MLB All-Star Game Broadcast
and blog interactivity with NBC’s Football By Ken Kerschbaumer
Night in America cast and NFL network Every year the MLB All-Star Game manages to pull off the feat of not only packing the
talent. dugouts with superstars in the form of athletes but the TV compound with superstars in
For its streaming technology, the NFL is the form of top TV production trucks, crew and engineers. This year’s exhibition was no
partnering with Adobe to develop a flash- exception as Gamecreek Video, NEP, NCP, NHK and other remote service providers rolled
based streaming player. out the big guns.
“Adobe’s really helping us co-develop Reporting from Yankee Stadium, Michael Davies, Fox Sports director of field operations,
what the product will be,” Schroeder says. told SVG, “The parking compound is dutifully organized and it looks more like a NASCAR TV
“Then we’ll use various CDNs to help compound rather than a regular ballgame with a multitude of trucks. It’s a site to behold,
distribute the product.” even on paper.”
Held on Tuesday, July 15, the MLB All-Star Game was handled by Gamecreek’s top-of-the-
line FX HD Production units that have keyed Fox Super Bowl and NASCAR coverage. FX HD
NFL Films 'Knocks' With features a 90-input Thomson Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switcher and a 72-input
Panasonic, Sony Kayak HD production switcher.
By Andrew Lippe Fox Sports was in post-season mode with 16 Sony HDC-1500 HD cameras, three Thomson
LDK6000 RF cameras (from CP Communications), three HD pan-and-tilt units and two Inertia
HBO, once again, is taking fans behind the
Unlimited in-ground cameras capturing the action.
scenes at NFL training camp beginning In-ground HD cameras have become a mainstay in Fox Sports', regional coverage of the
next Wednesday when “Hard Knocks” Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels but only the camera at first base was in HD on
returns to TV and turns its attention to All-Star Game night, as Fox Sports awaits approval of the slightly-larger HD camera for use
the Dallas Cowboys. Sony HDW-F900 HD in fair territory. “It will be an older SDI camera but we think it will provide superior pictures to
cameras, Panasonic HDX-900 DVCPRO HD those in past All-Star games,” said Davies.
camcorders, a Steadicam and Polecam will Gamecreek’s Freedom HD truck also provided HD coverage of the MLB All-Star Red
capture the action. Carpet Parade up Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Complete with 90-input Thomson Grass Valley
“The Polecam gives the show an extra Kalypso HD production switcher, Freedom HD was parked on 48th Street and captured the
wrinkle,” says Mike Greenwood, NFL Films, action with six cameras: two located at the set, two RF cameras, one jib and a Panavision
remote operations producer. Super Techno 50.
re:PLAY august 2008MLB Network Begins Building New Home techTRENDS continued
By Ken Kerschbaumer Greenwood and his team will deliver 200
hours of video every week to NFL Films in
The MLB Network has begun the hard work of turning MSNBC’s old facility in Secaucus, Mt. Laurel, NJ, where the material will be cut
NJ into a 144,000 sq. ft. facility that will be the HD home for the network set to launch on
down for each episode. Cross-conversion is
January 1, 2009. “The skeleton of a building infrastructure is here,” says Mark Haden, MLB
done on site at the training camp in Oxnard,
Network, vice president, engineering and IT. “Now we’re just tweaking the engine.”
CA, transferring 24p material to 30i. “We’re
The heart of the facility will be a Thomson Grass Valley K2 server SAN system that will
record incoming feeds of MLB games and related events. Approximately 25 Thomson Grass using a mix of formats but we’ve learned
Valley Aurora HD editing systems with Aurora Browse will also be installed. The workstations, to streamline the production process,” says
tied into an AP ENPS newsroom system for production and scripting, will allow users to tap Greenwood.
into the SAN and access both proxy and high-res nearline storage and an archive that will be Four Sony HDW-F900 HD cameras
based on LTO4 drives. MLB Productions will use 13 Apple Final Cut Pro systems for long-form capture practices while Sony BRC-H700
content creation. robotic cameras are in coaching staff
Home and away backhaul feeds from each game will be brought into the facility and meeting rooms, head coach Wade Phillips
recorded onto the SAN. “The network, to some degree, is going to be a highlights factory office, and the offices of Jerry and Steven
with feeds coming in dirty and being edited for air with a ticker providing scoring updates,” Jones. The Panasonic HDX cameras are
adds Haden. used to capture time lapse shots. And film,
The control rooms will include Sony MVS-8000G production switchers, and HDC-1500
as always, will play a part as NFL Films will
cameras with Canon XJ27 lenses will be used in the studio. Vizrt gear will be used to build
shoot close to four rolls of 16mm film a day.
most of the graphics with an Inferno and HAL system on hand for additional work. An NVision
router and Miranda KX multiviewer will also be installed.
The systems integrator on the project is The Systems Group, based in Hoboken, NJ and FCC Begins White Space
CBT Systems is the consultant on the project. The facility will open for testing and rehearsing Device Field Testing
beginning on November 1.
By Ken Kerschbaumer
Home Run Derby A Nice Change Of Pace For On July 10, the FCC Office of Engineering
and Technology announced it would move
ESPN Baseball Production Team White Space devices out of the lab--where
By Ken Kerschbaumer they failed to detect wireless microphones
and interfered with DTV reception—and
For ESPN’s baseball production crew, the Home Run Derby held on July 14 was a welcome
into real-world field trials for a four-week
change of pace from a 26-week run of more traditional coverage of MLB action.
Producing the Derby telecast in Yankee Stadium, a ballpark more than 30 years old and testing period, starting the week of July 14.
the kind of older facility that typically does not host All-Star Game activities, presented some The tests by the FCC are part of an
unique challenges. After setting up for the Derby in newly minted stadiums, ESPN had to kick attempt to understand whether companies
it old school in the House that Ruth Built. “Cable- and space-wise it’s more of a challenge,” says like Microsoft, Philips, and Google can build
Tom McShane, ESPN associate director, event operations. and deploy consumer devices that would
More than 30,000 feet of cable, both fiber and copper, was laid and more than 300 cable use the White Space spectrum that exists
ramps were used. “We are using the ‘Pope Fly’ cable run which was used for the Pope’s recent between TV channels and is currently home
visit,” says McShane. “Fiber was run up to the roof and then dropped down to the truck to wireless microphones. While associations
compound. It saved a lot of time, work and heartache.” like the NAB and MSTV are primarily
Another challenge was that this year’s Home Run Derby was captured using some fresh concerned those devices will interfere with
camera angles designed to capture the massive moonshots launched by the players. Two
over-the-air DTV reception (current results
upper tier camera positions in left field and another one in right field required additional cable
show they will interfere), the Sports Video
runs. And then there was the compound challenge: The Yankee Stadium compound can be
Group, the Grand Ole Opry and Broadway
crowded during a regular season Yankee game with the YES Network, a visiting network, and
NHK on site. But the All-Star Game? That is a headache unto itself. community, and a wide number of
McShane describes, “We’re using stackable office trailers because the truck compound has professional sports leagues are concerned
us, MLB, Fox Sports, MLB International, and NHK.” those devices will interfere with the use of
A total of 35 cameras were on hand for ESPN, of which 24 were dedicated to the Home wireless mics at their events.
Run Derby. These include eight hard cameras, one Super SloMo, one Inertia Unlimited Super “The FCC’s decision is moving towards
SloMo, six hand-held cameras, four Fletcher robotic cameras, three RF cameras from CP resolution this Fall and it is vitally important
Communications and Total RF and an HD shot from the Goodyear blimp. that the commission not adopt rules that
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY techTRENDS continued collegenews
cause interference to TV viewers and
wireless microphones used in sporting Herbst Working to Make CBS College Sports
events and live news coverage,” says David Network Top Destination for Hungry Fans
Donovan, Maximum Services Television
By Ken Kerschbaumer
(MSTV) president.
The FCC began field testing in mid-July Steve Herbst, newly appointed CBS College Sports Television executive vice president and
as part of its ruling to consider authorizing general manager, has some clear goals for the network as it looks to increase brand awareness
the operation of new low-power devices and fully capitalize on the tighter bond with the CBS brand.
“The thing that strikes me is the opportunity to take advantage of all the great
in the TV broadcast spectrum at locations
programming we have and the possibility to establish an identity of who we are and what
where individual channels/frequencies are we stand for,” says Herbst. “We have tremendous in-house programming and there is more
not being used for authorized services. The to come. And with so much content out there on TV, online, and via wireless, there are
field tests have taken place at Patapsco endless opportunities.”
Valley State Park in Elkridge, MD and at Herbst joins CBS College Sports Television after having spent nearly 20 years at the
National Basketball Association where he was GM of NBA TV. While at the NBA, he had
Thomas A. Dixon, Jr. Aircraft Observation
a chance to work with a global brand and capitalize on international superstars. The
Area at BWI Airport. Multiple residences college opportunity is less about star power and more about tapping into the power of
also served as test sites and wireless mics strong local brands.
were to be tested at a sports venue and “There is nothing quite like the history of collegiate athletics and the alumni relationship,”
an entertainment venue. The Buffalo Bills- says Herbst. “There are established traditions and rivalries and we want to take advantage of
Washington Redskins preseason game them and bring them to life on a daily basis.”
The growing medium of broadband-delivered video and audio content will play a key
on Aug. 9 at FedEx Field will likely be the
role. Conference USA has streamed more than 1,000 events in the past year and has already
first test of how wireless microphones staked out a leadership position in the college market. Expect other CBS Sports College
and digital television (DTV) signals fare Television affiliated conferences and schools to follow.
together in a major-league venue and From a programming standpoint Herbst points out some interesting pieces, like Maxpreps
broadcast environment.. and NCAA.com, which provide great programming. “Programming can be shared across all
Mark Brunner, Shure senior director of the platforms and drive the entire family of networks,” he describes, adding, “We want to
establish ourselves as the destination for college sports.”
Public and Industry Relations, comments,
Herbst will also oversee a major technical leap for CBS College Sports Television: the
“Although the FCC’s laboratory testing move to HD. Says Herbst, “HD has become a must-have and we’ll be looking for original HD
has not conclusively revealed that White productions in the fall."
Spaces spectrum sensing technology
will reliably protect wireless microphone
operations, thorough and well-designed Conference USA, CBS College Sports Flood
field testing will allow the Commission
to meet its commitment to consider
Streaming Viewers With More Than 1,000 Events
the scientific evidence of whether By Carolyn Braff
the proposed technology solutions
When it comes to online streaming, Conference USA is eliminating excuses by
will protect incumbent users from creating opportunities. Two years ago, the Conference began mandating that each
interference. All stakeholders will be best of its 12 member schools stream their athletic competitions online and backed up its
served by data that is both comprehensive proclamation with some cash, providing each school with the equipment necessary to
and meaningful.” do so. The investment has paid off, as the conference has since seen a four-fold increase
in the production of online content, and has laid the groundwork for other conferences
to follow suit.
Inertia's X-Mo Slo-Mo In 2006, in concert with CBS College Sports (then CSTV), the Conference began
Debuts At British Open purchasing equipment--Canon GL-1 camera, Toshiba laptop and Conopus Firewire
A/D converter--for its member schools, training campus representatives in the use of
By Ken Kerschbaumer
that equipment and encouraging each school to develop an online event offering.
Inertia Unlimited’s long awaited X-Mo, After streaming 285 events in the 2006-07 school year, Conference USA schools successfully
streamed more than 1,150 events in 2007-08 after working through some of the facility and
which features dual outputs, allowing the
wiring issues that plagued the schools the year before.
camera to pump out a full-speed output “Our audience is certainly growing,” says Britton Banowsky, commissioner of Conference
for live broadcasts while simultaneously USA. “We’re seeing more people purchase those packages online, so there’s a revenue side of
capturing slow-motion images, as well it, but most of all we want to be a conference that is ahead of the curve.”
re:PLAY august 2008Tom Buffolano, GM and VP of digital programming and subscription for CBS
College Sports Network, describes, “On a daily basis, we have people that work
techTRENDS continued
directly with the different Conference USA schools and their video departments as offering improved sensitivity and even
to make sure that we’re enabling them to stream as many events as they have greater frame-rate flexibility, made its
resources to do. It’s a collaborative effort and, from our perspective, Conference
debut with the ABC Sports/ESPN coverage
USA is doing something that no other conference is doing. Not just in the quantity
of events, but in the way they showcase to their fan base the best of their athletic of the British Open from Royal Birkdale in
department.” England, July 17-20.
“This is the camera we’ve been waiting
for,” says Jeff Silverman, Inertia Unlimited
Colleges, Universities Debate Proper Streaming founder and owner. “Our customers will
be able to use a live, un-interrupted feed
Business Model; Look Beyond Internet to VOD without fear of missing a replay and the
By Carolyn Braff camera operator can even mark clips
while the camera is playing out.”
With most of the nation’s top athletics programs aligned with streaming partners like
CBS College Sports or JumpTV, colleges are tempted to provide as much streaming At the British Open, the camera
content as possible, but finding where in the business model that streaming content recorded 720p/50 images that were then
belongs is not quite so simple. downconverted at the production unit
“Because the technology is still fairly new, a lot of schools are still trying to (the British Open was broadcast in SD, the
determine who they are,” explains John Antonik, director of new media at West
last major sporting event to remain in SD).
Virginia University. The Big East Conference’s television contract with ESPN for
football and men’s basketball restricts the conference schools’ ability to stream “We’ll be shooting head-to-toe shots
content for those two sports, so West Virginia has streamed select home events during the tournament at 1,000 frames
for soccer, women’s basketball, gymnastics and wrestling through a CBS College a second because a full golf swing is
Sports-hosted subscription service. The school’s agreement with CBS is now up for typically two seconds long and any
renewal, and Antonik, along with the deputy director of athletics and the marketing more frames than that and it will take
department, is weighing his options.
too long for replay,” notes Silverman. “But
“We weren’t sure we were getting enough exposure for certain sports within a
subscription model,” Antonik says. “After having some meetings, we felt the best for super-tight shots of the ball hitting
option for us would be to have a subscription model for football and basketball, make a club, which are much shorter events
on demand video free and have all of our other varsity events go to a free model.” than a full swing, we’ll crank up the
Some schools are looking outside of their university gates to expand the revenue their frame rate.”
digital content can generate. Mike Bilbow, video production manager at the University of
The camera was used in a dual-
Tulsa, a member of Conference USA and streaming partner of CBS College Sports, also has
an arrangement with local TV stations to send them short video football highlights over FTP configuration for the Open: an RF
for use on the nightly news. configuration, with the help of a Gigawave
Notre Dame, another CBS College Sports partner, has an exclusive broadcast HD Cam Link provided by CTV during the
agreement with NBC Sports for its football coverage, but Alan Wasielewski, director actual tournament and then in an ENG
of digital media for Notre Dame Sports Properties, is able to push football content he configuration during practice days and
produces outside of Notre Dame Stadium, including press conferences and player
off-the-course recording. For the ENG
interviews, out to third-party partners.
“We have an agreement with Comcast to send most of our videos to them on recording, two 8GB flash recording cards
demand,” Wasielweski explains. “So, you can turn on our on-demand channel on captured up to 52 minutes of HD material
Comcast and see 60 percent of what we do.” in Quicktime files that were then dropped
into an Avid timeline for editing.
Silverman adds that two companies,
audionews Convergent Design and Fast Forward
Video, are working on separate
NBC Olympics Gets Ambitious With Audio as technologies that will bring even more
Calrec Audio, Linear Acoustic Drive Experience recording capability to the camera.
By Dan Daley “Convergent Design will use four 32 GB
compact flash cards to record more than
The audio for this year’s Olympics on NBC won’t gild the lily: the sound crew is after
an hour of mildly compressed HD while
gritty reality, of which there will be plenty if the run-up to the event is any indication.
And that will be enhanced by even more comprehensive surround audio than four Fast Forward Video will use flash-based
years ago. SATA drives with 128 GB of memory. The
Bob Dixon, NBC Olympics’ director of sound design and communications, notes beauty of flash is you never have to worry
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY SVGU.org Takes Shape audionews
As the use of broadband video that this is the first Olympics broadcast to be produced totally in high-definition with
continues to grow exponentially and 5.1 audio, with some discrete multichannel audio from events that are broadcast live
the cost of HD production equipment and with upmixed 5.1 from other venues. It’s an ambitious goal, considering that the
continues to fall, the question facing vast majority of stereo viewers have to be addressed, as well.
every college athletic conference is the The 5.1 experience, Dixon explains, needs to be consistent and seamless, and thus
same: how do we take advantage of the need to interlace discrete with upmixed 5.1 audio. “The quality of 5.1 sound brings
new video production and distribution television viewing to a whole new level of enjoyment, adding another dimension that
technologies to enhance the brand of engages viewers in programming,” Dixon says. “If we were to shift between 5.1 and stereo
our schools and drive alumni donations audio during our broadcasts, our digital viewers would experience quite a shock as sound
and athletic department revenues? collapsed to the front wall.”
The Sports Video Group, in To avoid that, NBC is employing the Linear Acoustic UPMAX:neo upmixer, allowing the
association with Collegiate Images, network to incorporate prerecorded or edited stereo content into its broadcasts without
ESPNU, CBS College Sports Television, interrupting the continuity of the viewing experience.
the Horizon League, and the Broadcast Dixon says the network will mic more people—participants, coaches and even
Education Association (BEA), is tackling family members—as the narrative evolves, using both Sennheiser wireless body
those questions and more with the packs and Audio-Technica BP-4027 shotguns attached to cameras. Even with a built-
launch of SVGU.org this summer. in delay, these audio tracks won’t be used live but will be mixed in to replays and
SVGU, designed to meet the recorded segments.
information needs of conference Audio-Technica AT4050 condenser microphones will be used for surround ambience
commissioners, athletic directors, applications as well as in the announce booths at the Broadcast Center. The 4050s used for
sports information directors, team surround ambience will be positioned rather high in the stadium, spread across the field
video coordinators, professors and of view from the wide shot of the venue—left front, center, right front—but pointing back
even students, gives the university toward the crowd, Dixon explained; the same with the left and right surround, but from
community a single entry point to learn the other side of the stadium.
about those issues and more.
The Web site will feature a wealth of
editorial, with daily updates on college-
related news that will help personnel svgEuropeRoundup
keep on top of industry trends and also
enable best practices. Profiles of how Does 021 Deal for Scottish Premier League
conferences and universities approach
new media opportunities, from both
Mean Setanta Is Going HD?
a production and revenue standpoint, By Kevin Hilton
will also be part of the mix.
The SVGU.org Web site is only a first UK outside broadcast company O21 Television has won the contract to provide facilities for
step. The big leap will take place next Setanta Sports’ coverage of Scottish Premier League (SPL) football. Under the agreement, 021
June 22 when SVG and the above will cover 60 live games a season for a minimum of two years.
entities host the first-ever conference The high definition capability of O21 is likely to fuel speculation that Setanta is
designed to focus on the video preparing to follow the lead of Sky Sports and, more recently ITV, in broadcasting high
content, creation, and distribution profile games and competitions in HD.
needs of the college and university.
Last year Arena Television, which has a predominantly HD fleet, began providing trucks
Experts in the field will share tips on
how to properly produce a sports for the Irish broadcaster’s coverage of the English Premier League. Arena is putting three
event for delivery over the Web and more HD vehicles on the road this year and has also been signed up to cover Setanta’s
on TV. School IT departments will have broadcasts of the FA Cup, a contract running for four years from the autumn, and the UEFA
a chance to learn how to properly Cup for three years starting in 2009.
allocate IT resources to open the gates There is expectation in the industry that Setanta might begin HD transmission of the
for high-quality streaming. And, most SPL for the 2009-2010 season, but a spokeswoman for the broadcaster said there were ‘no
importantly, athletic directors and imminent signs’that it would move to the technology. She added that the matter is discussed
conference representatives will be able at Setanta on a regular basis but that a move to HD would not happen any time soon.
to learn how to use the content to O21 Television has built up its HD fleet over the past two years and business
increase alumni donations and attract
development director Andrew Jones estimates that the ratio is now more than 60-
top-level athletes.
Stay tuned to SVG for more details 40 in favor of the new technology. Another HD truck is planned and Jones says the
on attending and sponsoring this hope is to have an entirely HD fleet within two years. In the meantime, the SPL will be
important event. captured in SDI.
To support the Setanta SPL contract O21 is to open an office in Scotland.
re:PLAY august 2008CTV OB Brings HD To British Open For ABC peopleIN SPORTS VIDEO
Sports/ESPN and Turner Sports JVC Professional Products Company has
appointed Hajime Yamasaki to Vice
By Ken Kerschbaumer
President of JVC’s security division, where
The BBC may have used only standard definition cameras for this year’s British he will oversee product strategy and
Open coverage but that doesn’t mean HD equipment junkies can’t get their fix in planning as well as sales and marketing
the compound. CTV OB provided HD vehicles and cameras to ABC Sports/ESPN and activities of JVC’s security division. Prior to
Turner, including OB10, its newest HD vehicle. “It’s CTV OB through and through,” says this appointment, and since October 2005,
Bill Lacy, IMG Media, SVP production. “We have just about everything they own.” Yamasaki served as general manager of
OB10 is based around Sony gear with a Sony MVS800 HD production switcher the Professional Systems Business Group,
that has 80 HD inputs and four DVE channels and Sony HDC1500 cameras (although Overseas Sales & Marketing Department
Thomson LDK 6200 two-speed Arri hi-motion HD cameras are also on board). Vutrix HD
for Victor Company of Japan Ltd., the
plasmas with quad-split multiviewers, EVS servers, ProBel routers, and a Calrec Sigma
parent company of JVC Professional
console are also used.
Products ... Roberto Silva has been
“It’s a very golf-friendly OB unit,” says Lacy. “The tape area and graphics area are combined
and it’s a very self-contained unit with a huge audio room and a flexible monitor wall.” named NVISION’s Regional Manager
According to Tom Sahara, Turner Sports, Senior Director, IT and Remote Operations, Latin America, and will head up the
OB10 operated in SD mode as all the BBC camera feeds coming into the truck were Latin America operations and sales from
SD. “We have a Snell & Wilcox Alchemist and an Asaka upconverter in Atlanta that will Sao Paulo, Brazil. To this position, Silva
upconvert the SD to HD,” says Sahara. “Their motion compensation and upconvert brings 20+ years experience in broadcast
quality is very good.” technologies, telecommunications,
Turner Sports and ABC Sports shared the CTV OB units. CTV OB4 handled the main pay-TV, intellectual property, and
production, pulling in up to 40 BBC camera feeds and enhancing the coverage with consumer electronics, working for such
approximately 15 cameras for ABC Sports. Downstream from OB4 is OB10 that added in the companies as Philips, Barco, Telefonica,
Turner coverage. and DivX ... Bryan Perez has been
The biggest challenge, according to Lacy, was being downstream from the BBC, as named to the newly created position
there is a definite difference in the way the BBC produces a golf event vs. U.S. networks. “It’s of senior vice president and general
much more leisurely,” Lacy describes. “They think our approach is frantic and we think theirs
manager for NBA Digital, where he will
is slow. The BBC has no problem watching a player lineup for a putt for a few minutes while
oversee all day-to-day operations for
we’ll tend to show two more shots and then come back for the putt. It can sometimes be
NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.
a challenge to get into and out of their coverage.”
com, WNBA.com, NBADLeague.com,
NBA League Pass, as well as the league’s
Thomson, Panasonic Key Launch of EuroSport broadband and wireless businesses. He
HDAs Network Looks to Serve HD Market will provide leadership for all aspects of
the business, including programming,
By Kevin Hilton
operations, editorial, ecommerce and
Eurosport has built on the launch of its high definition channel in May by signing a Europe- marketing. Perez, who will assume his
wide deal with Panasonic to promote both the new service and the technology. As its official new role in mid-July, will be based in
HD partner, Panasonic is supplying HPX2100 and HVX201 P2 camcorders for the broadcaster’s Atlanta... Multichannel News reports that
coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. veteran Turner Broadcasting System,
Eurosport HD is a simulcast of the channel’s standard definition transmission and
Inc. sales executive Jon Diament has
involves what is claimed to be the biggest HD storage area network supplied by
been named executive vice president for
Thomson’s Systems Solutions division.
Turner Sports Ad Sales and Marketing...
The Grass Valley K2 SAN is formed from K2 media server systems installed at Eurosport’s
play-out centre in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, and costs more than $3 million. The HD Audio-Technica has appointed Dan
SAN receives satellite and fiber inputs coming into the broadcast complex and then plays Pelletier to the position of Audio
out material for transmission. Solutions Specialist, where he’ll respond to
The system involves 44 Grass Valley video server channels, running in SD and HD, with the informational needs of A-T’s customers
1000 hours of on-line storage, and six individual K2 servers. In turn these are connected to an seeking technical or product advice and
archive using IBM hardware and Front Porch Digital software.
application assistance. In this position,
Eurosport HD went on air in time for the broadcaster’s coverage of the French Open
from Roland Garros, followed by Euro 2008 and the U.S. Open, with the Olympics up next. Pelletier will provide creative solutions
Eurosport joins the already lengthy list of broadcasters set to use Panasonic P2 camcorders and technical expertise to A-T’s staff, reps,
during the Games, but the deal is also intended to encourage the move to HD in the home. dealers and end-users.
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY SVGQ&A continued svgEuropeRoundup continued
“The sports channel is setting trends in broadcasting, just as Panasonic’s Veira flat-panel
HDTVs are setting standards in the consumer electronics industry,” says David Nicholls,
general manager of Panasonic Europe’s TV Group.
Jacques Raynaud, vice chairman of Eurosport Group, comments, “We share a common
vision. We aim to deliver a new dimension in sports to viewers in as many HDTV-equipped
homes as possible and in as many countries where Eurosport is broadcast, to 112 million
homes and 59 territories across Europe.”
The 2008 British Open Signals Last Call for SD;
BBC Expected to Bring HD To 2009 Tourney
Manolo By Kevin Hilton
Romero
The British Open from Royal Birkdale is the last major global sporting event that has not
have 44 camera positions available for made the leap to HD, but rumors are circulating that July’s Open may have been its final
broadcasters for live interviews in the SD broadcast..
Bird’s Nest and they can integrate their The size of the course has been a factor in the BBC deciding not to present the Open
in high definition, even though other major golf tournaments are televised in HD. The
coverage with our coverage at the IBC.
international and domestic feeds are standard definition and stereo, although a BBC Sport
Q: How are the preparations going? spokeswoman said the situation was reviewed on an annual basis. “With the amount of
cabling and number of crew involved, golf is an expensive sport and we have to balance
A: The Chinese Olympic Committee
the expectations of the viewers with the value for money we give them as license fee
has done an excellent job with the payers,” she said.
venues and many of them will be This year 200km (120 miles) of cable was used on the course for approximately 10 hours
outstanding, both in size and quality. of live broadcast coverage during each of the four days of the competition. 56 cameras were
We are convinced the stands will be used around the course, including two commentator-cams at the commentary position,
filled with Chinesew spectators and with one locked off and the other having remote pan and tilt.
that will make it very vibrant. SIS OBs (formerly BBC OBs) provided three trucks--Units 2, 10 and 11--plus two
mobile control rooms. Other hardware includes nine camera hoists, generators
Q: The transition to HD at the Olympics producing 2 Megawatts of power and a blimp-mounted camera for aerial shots from
has been a fairly smooth one over the up to 1000 feet.
past six years. Why did you decide to When SIS bought BBC OBs, its chief executive, David Holdgate, said he wanted to
make the move to all HD and how see the outside broadcast trucks working closely with SISLink uplinking vehicles. For
the Open, SISLink sent two of its Dual Antenna Uplink vans, one of which is providing
has that impacted the engineering
connections for ABC/ESPN, Turner Broadcasting and ESPN SportsCenter.
process?
The two dishes on the second Dual Antenna uplink vehicle, which has been hired
A: The goal after Athens was to go all by IMG Media, handled the World Feed, News Feeds and TWIi Press Feeds for Eut W1
HD and we’ve been able to accomplish and two 9MHz feeds on IS-3, respectively. The World Feed is being distributed to the
that thanks to, not only HD cameras, US, Asia and Europe.
but also servers, LCD displays, super
high-speed cameras, and other new
developments. We’ve gone to extra
SFP Ensures Tour de France Fans Around
lengths to get everything in native HD. The World Have Top-Notch HD Experience
There may be a couple of POV cameras
By Carolyn Braff
that aren’t HD but if we aren’t 100% HD
we will be very close. The 95th Tour de France covered 3,500 kilometers and stopped in 10 new towns,
We aren’t thinking in SD anymore including two in Italy, creating a daunting scenario for broadcasters covering the
and we remind the producers to make three-week-long international event. Thanks to SFP’s RF expertise, however, nearly 200
sure they are careful for framing of 4:3 international rights holders, including Versus in the U.S., were able to rest easy knowing
that feeds from helicopters and motorcycles along all 21 stages of the event will be
but otherwise we’ve been organizing
broadcast cleanly in 1080i HD.
seminars on HD. In Surround Sound
After rolling out a wireless HD system for coverage of the 2007 edition of the race,
production, for example, there are SFP made a few changes to the coverage of this year’s event. In addition to equipping
high-quality operators that have the five motorcycles and two helicopters that sported HD cameras last year, the race
different ideas of what to do for director’s car was also outfitted with a pair of Thomson LDK 8000 HD cameras to provide
different sports. So we want to make a new angle into the action. SFP relies on its own LiveTools RF equipment, along with
10 re:PLAY august 2008Nell encoders, to get the feed from France Télévisions ‘ OB truck to the broadcasters who
relay it back home.
SVGQ&A continued
“The RF technology that the Tour de France employs is pretty spectacular,” explains sure we have the technology and also
Marty Ehrlich, vice president of production for Versus, the rights holder to the Tour de know how to properly use it.
France in the U.S. “They have technology that enables multiple helicopters to beam up
the RF signal. We take iso feeds of that, but just as importantly, we’re trying more and Q: What event will be the most
more to get inside the car with the team manager.” technically challenging to go all HD?
A: The marathon [and cycling events],
Versus also produced plenty of its own footage while in France, sending a motorcycle
not only because it’s in HD, but also
out to follow the sights and sounds of the tour. “We shoot a high degree of specialty using
because we wanted to do more to
Panasonic VariCam in 720p HD with very fast shutter speeds to give it that film look,” Ehrlich
improve the coverage over the use of
says. “We transfer all of our B roll over in house to PAL, so we can be fully equipped when
traditional motorbikes and helicopters.
we’re live on site.” Low-latency microwave HD systems
Versus’ 64-person production staff used two 40-foot trucks, equipped with 5 Triax Sony will be used and we’re not relying on
BVP 500 cameras, all shooting in PAL; 9 Sony DVW500 and A500 VTRs; 3 Avid Adrenalines; a helicopters for anything but backup
Thomson Xten DD switcher and a Clarity graphics machine. transmission.
Thomson Grass Valley Intros Super Slo-Mo Q: What advice can you give the
thousands of freelancers and staffers
At UEFA EuroCup; Solves Flicker Issue from around the world who will
descend on Beijing so they have a
By Ken Kerschbaumer sense of the cultural differences and
challenges?
The UEFA EuroCup championship broadcasts benefited from the use of a new super
A: Every Olympics presents a different
slow-motion camera system from Thomson Grass Valley, the LDK 8300, that captures
culture and a different way of looking
video at 150 HD fields per second, is frame-rate selectable, and has new anti-flicker
at things. We try very hard to work with
technology. Studio Berlin Adlershof’s OB truck, U6, was equipped with seven LDK 8300
the organizing committee. In the case
cameras and a further 26 LDK 6000 and LDK 8000 cameras for its coverage of the UEFA
of Beijing, Western broadcasters will
EURO 2008. find it more difficult to communicate so
“We needed to leap-frog the existing three-times camera systems,” says Jeff Rosica, SVP, we have to make sure we have enough
Thomson’s Broadcast & Professional Solutions within the systems division.“It has a new imager interpreters. We’re also training our
on the front end for a tangible difference in picture quality, but it is also fully switchable Chinese staff on the technology we’ll
between one-, two- and three-times recording.” be using.
Rosica noted that by being fully selectable the user does not have to compromise regular
speed playback. Previous systems would record at three-times speed and play out at regular Q: Looking ahead to the Winter Games
speed by sub-sampling frames. “The problem is the camera is still operating in three-times in Vancouver what should we expect in
mode so there is a loss of sensitivity and flicker,” he says. “But this camera operates in one- terms of changes from 2006? Will the
times mode at the flip of a switch.” alpine events make the leap to HD?
The camera also solves another problem that has plagued slow-motion camera A: Vancouver will be fully HD and
systems: shooting clear images under artificial lighting conditions. Thomson’s will have many of the same bells and
Anylight high-quality anti-flicker system eliminates any perceived changes in light whistles we’ll have in Beijing.
levels due to any differences in the mains power frequency and the synchronization
Q: Is 1080p something on the horizon?
with artificial lights.
How about 3D HD for special events?
“The different lighting and signage technology in stadiums can impact color imagery
A: NHK has been doing some 3D at
or cause artifacts that are more noticeable in HD,” says Rosica. “With Anylight the camera
the Olympics since the 1990s but
operator can dial in and have the camera compensate for timing differences between the it’s far from becoming a standard
frames and electrical light sources.” service. We want to provide a
The system is so new that UEFA and Thomson were actually tweaking it and reworking standard of excellence and also
programming code during the EuroCup. “Planning for UEFA EURO 2008 started many meet the minimum requirements of
months ago,” says Werner Reese, CTO of Studio Berlin Adlershof. “The LDK 8300 cameras were broadcasters. And the production
delivered on time and we had every confidence in using them.” investment is so huge that we can’t
The system will be more widely available in the first quarter of 2009. serve a niche service like 3D HD.
WWW.SPORTSVIDEO.ORG re:PLAY 11You can also read
