STRIKE BACK EVS’ experience with major world events meant it was well placed to livestream Counter-Strike tournaments
plus in-game action. At the heart of the system is EVS’ IP media sharing network, which enables more efficient live media sharing by all client users. Overseeing all of this is EVS Media Infrastructure’s broadcast control and monitoring system, Cerebrum, which configures and manages all SDI workflows within the Blast production environment and all devices in the flypack, including the router, multiviewer, vision mixer and audio desk. Cerebrum handles UMD (under- monitor displays) and tally for the entire system as well, including the XT-VIA’s built-in multiviewers. Cerebrum also offers customisable panels that can be designed to Blast TV’s specific needs with easily saveable and loadable configurations and presets. EVS has also been able to bring its slomo technology to esports with its IP-based replay and highlights system, LSM-VIA, which extracts maximum potential from the XT-VIA servers to create super-slow motion in-game replays and support studio analysis. “Not all games require slow motion, but for Counter-Strike, where the action is very fast, slomo is important,” explains Neveux. “The movement of the players needs to be very accurate and it can go so fast that, as a viewer, you miss things, unless you are an expert and really concentrating. We thought we could figure out how to do that, and we were the first ones to do live slow motion for Counter-Strike.” In order to access, browse and select content regardless of location, as well as publish in-game clips to social media, the Blast team opted for the EVS Live Production Asset Management (PAM) solution. The team can extend PAM’s capabilities using the system’s web browsing tool, and certified integration with Adobe Premier Pro allows Blast editors to instantly access clip elements.
The back-end resources of the EVS Live PAM are hosted on EVS’ virtualisation platform, providing flexibility for operating a scalable infrastructure, as well as offering cost-savings on power and rack space. The EVS solution also offers extended file exchange, backup and transcoding, which is extremely helpful when publishing highlights to Twitch and social media. But the quality of the production is only as good as the audience’s final experience, and esports companies are finding that just ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough. “The most important thing, from our perspective and from the customer ’s perspective, is that we are broadcasting live, so you cannot afford to fail,” explains Neveux. “In the past, the esports community was used to figuring out their own solutions and hacks. But ensuring you won’t drop a single frame during your live
broadcast is another story. You can’t ask a player in the final of Counter- Strike to redo the scene. Going with EVS, knowing that we’ve covered all these major world events, makes them feel very secure.”
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