GE AR . LIVE CAPTURE
Marshall The physicist Werner
Heisenberg is known for his uncertainty principle, which states in the broadest possible sense that it’s impossible to observe something without affecting it. That’s an issue commonly encountered by sports broadcasters, who find themselves in a constant battle to get more interesting and useful angles – and all without getting in the way of the action. For a long time, Marshall has been a specialist in creating cameras small enough to do just that, often with the interchangeable lenses and full remote-control facilities familiar to – and demanded by – broadcast crews. One example is the diminutive CV344, an HD camera with 3G SDI output capable of 60fps on its single 2.5-megapixel sensor. Supporting the huge variety of lenses in both CS and C mount, the CV344 has recently been implemented on broadcasts of the National Hot Rod Association’s drag racing events. Both compactness and portability are key for an organisation with more than 50 events to cover – for both network and online distribution.
has exploited its Polymotion Stage system to record an unusual type of footage for various sports applications, with clients including Sky. Using a set-up that features dozens of cameras capturing the action from many angles, views from almost any position can be synthesised, and three-dimensional data derived for use in computer applications. The system rides in an expanding truck, making it possible to capture what the company is calling ‘volumetric sequences’ wherever is convenient. GOING GLOBAL With customers all over the world – from CCTV in China to NBC, CBS and HBO in the US – Blackcam is one of the world’s wider-reaching providers of broadcast-specific robotics. The provision of live, outside broadcast is familiar to the company, which had a huge 69m track set up in heavy snow to cover the World Team Challenge biathlon in the Bavarian Alps. The broadcast used the company’s B40 dolly system, with an Arri SRH-3 remote head interfaced for remote broadcast operation. The same configuration made an appearance at the Dortmund versus Bayern Munich game in last season’s Bundesliga, matching player motion up to a sprightly five metres per second. The increasing demand for both high speed and frame rate prompted Blackcam to develop the RH2W remote head. It was
a range of broadcast robotics. Remotely operable camera mounts have been important recently, in the context of keeping people safely apart. If we need to involve even fewer warm bodies, the Polymotion Player system is capable of allowing one operator to control up to 12 cameras. They keep athletes in frame under the control of a tracking solution, such as ChyronHego’s Tracab. In a departure from purely robotic camera platforms, MRMC
SPEED DEMONS With 80,000+ drivers on its roster, the NHRA is motor sport’s largest sanctioning body – and Marshall gets all angles of the action (below)
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