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LIVE BROADCASTING
THIS WAS NBC’S SIXTH STRAIGHT WINTER GAMES
VIRTUAL SETS AT THE BBC With the pandemic enforcing a new way of thinking about broadcast,
remote commentary became the standard, even among broadcasters who traditionally sent huge teams to past Olympics. What emerged was innovation in virtual sets and studio graphics. BBC Sport used Vizrt’s Viz Engine 4, coupled with an Unreal Engine 4 render pipeline and Vizrt’s Fusion Keyer – all driven by a virtual set, to create a dynamic studio environment with easy operator control. The Viz Engine offers native integration with Unreal Engine, and the Viz Arc control application allows
comms, along with VLink – an IP- software multi-channel/multi-access
communications solution that connects to RTS intercoms.
users to control aspects of both render pipelines. In April 2021, BBC Sport launched a Vizrt ecosystem to broadcast programmes like Match of the Day , Euro 2020 coverage and the 2021 Summer Olympics. “We converted a small studio space at Media City into a green screen area with a virtual design
and enhanced rendering technology, delivering an immersive experience for audiences,” said John Murphy, creative director and head of graphics at BBC Sport. “The studio, with five different presenting positions that can house a variety of outputs, will be a key presentation location for BBC Sport this year.”
WORKFLOWS NBC Sports incorporated EVS LiveCeption Signature tech for replays and highlights technology across International Broadcast Centres in Beijing and its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. This included EVS XT-VIA servers and LSM-VIA systems. The XT-VIA platform, also used at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, expanded to take in the Winter Games’ UHD 1080p and HDR production. Telestream provided media capture, automated media processing, closed captioning and test and measurement equipment. The Telestream Vantage Media Processing Platform and Cinnafilm’s Tachyon processing library gave the frame rate conversions required. The Telestream Lightspeed Live Capture and Vantage delivered a unique, mixed HDR/SDR conversion workflow for NBC Sports content produced in HDR. The NBC Sports Advanced Technology group worked with Telestream to develop custom-colour LUTs within Vantage, ensuring an accurate colour processing pipeline throughout. Signiant software
DISTRIBUTION MediaKind provided NBC Sports with a range of video processing and advanced modular receiver technologies, to support low latency and reliable US distribution. Engineers assisted with equipment installation and system set-up, and were present on-site to offer support throughout the event. The live 4K HDR broadcasts were delivered to local stations and affiliates with Harmonic’s XOS Edge solution. It allowed for distribution at scale in UHD HDR, streamlining all Olympic feeds from Beijing, enabling live 4K HDR broadcasts of the Opening Ceremony and nightly prime-time coverage. For the first time, NBC Sports employed a fully remote audio workflow for the Winter Games. Four Calrec RP1 Remote Production cores were at the International Broadcast Centre in Beijing, to cover numerous studios. Control for the IBC remote production cores was provided on Artemis consoles, based at the IBC in Stamford.
enabled transfer of the footage over standard IP networks, eliminating latency and packet loss, so US-based editors could begin creating highlights almost immediately, with action still happening. The software also allowed for content to be transferred quickly back to the IBC in Beijing. NBC Sports also used Telestream’s caption authoring and editing product in conjunction with Telestream Cloud’s Timed Text Speech – an AI-powered transcription service. It employed Telestream 4K/8K HDRWaveform Monitors to support alignment and confidence monitoring in local and remote operation. Chyron provided live on-air graphics with integrated data. LyricX CG systems were used for live production at figure skating and extreme sports, as well as in remote broadcast trucks based in NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Centre in Stamford. US-based operators also used the Chyron PRIME Live Platform to drive content for studio video walls in Beijing.
helped NBC Sports move petabytes of HDR and 4K footage back to Stamford, immediately upon capture. Acceleration technology
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MAY/JUNE 2022 FEED:XTREME
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