These compact video converters receive and decode the SRT streams, with those feeds then fed into an Atem Constellation 8K live production switcher via SDI while sending camera control and tally signals back up to the camera using the same data link. Two weeks before the event, a real-world test took place in Saalbach. “We got up to a summit, and with just a normal Samsung mobile phone connected via USB-C to the camera, we were streaming SRT at 5Mbps output. We had a latency of half a second, which is nothing,” Angermüller exclaims. The mountains blocked certain positions from the 5G antennae in the valley, so a connection to the Starlink satellite network was deployed on one summit. “That worked well, with just half a second of latency,” says Angermüller. “On another summit, we had two Wi-Fi access points. If there was no 5G, the mobile phones would switch to public internet. But it’s always the same SRT connection via a phone.” At the finish line, the OB gallery using an Atem Constellation 8K for vision mixing had all the camera telemetry data to hand, giving them control over the camera’s colour grading, shading and shutter speed through the Atem Camera Control Panel. “It was as IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER NOT NEEDING TO BRING AN ENCODER AND SDI CABLES. WE SAVED A WHOLE DAY OF WORK WITH THIS APPROACH
though it was connected directly via cable,” reveals Angermüller. “We now had tally lights on the summit cameras to let the operators know they were live. “One of the hardest summits to reach turned out to be where 5G worked without any problems,” he continues. “Our operator took his camera and the mobile phone and headed up there. It was so much easier not needing to bring an encoder and SDI cables – the camera battery powered the phone. We saved a whole day of work with this approach. Conditions in the mountains were as low as -15°C with heavy snow. As the races started at 4pm, they ended at night. However, despite the conditions, the colour science, resolution and dynamic range of the Ursa Broadcast G2s served Mediahaus well in this unforgiving environment. Dramatic live coverage of the Mountain Attack race certainly proved the case for live production using SRT streaming out of the Ursa Broadcast G2, but Angermüller says the best moment took place one hour before the race. “All the cameras were on the multiview in the OB van, and the vision engineers said they’re all connected, they have tally and everything is working,” he concludes. “When they said we got them all, it all came together.”
SKIING UPHILL Innovative Blackmagic technology made SRT and 5G viable for streaming such an extreme event
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