ITN to stream World Cup

TV Technology

The Outdoor Sport Channel will offer daily tournament news bulletins, interviews and live press conferences produced by ITN Productions. As well as streaming the content live, the channel will also offer video-on-demand packages immediately after the event. All programming will be available to view on Outdoor Sport Channel, which is accessible online and via satellite, cable and IPTV.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our customers this content through our partners at ITN Productions,” said Henk Van Meer, founder and CEO of Outdoor Sport Channel. “This is a huge event in the sporting calendar and has a massive following. Being able to offer this content as it happens will be a real differentiator for our customers.”

London-based ITN Productions produces content for major global brands in the broadcast, online, mobile and corporate sectors. It creates short- and long-form programming for customers spanning multiple genres including news, entertainment, informational and corporate.

- See more at: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/itn-to-stream-world-cup/228611#sthash.ibVtYAjC.dpuf

Ready for kick-off

CSI : Preparations for this summer's football World Cup in South Africa, where the host broadcaster plans extensive new editorial, mobile and 3D production.

http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/Ready-for-kick-off.php

BBC builds post, studio facilities in South Africa

TV Technology

BBC Post Production (BBCS&PP) has partnered with BBC Sport to build a post-production and studio operation to augment host coverage of the 2010 World Cup. The system is configured around an EVS network with LSM servers and IPDirector servicing media acquisition and quick-replay workflows. An Avid Unity system with five edit clients supports fast-turnaround editing.
According to the BBCS&PP, “The ability to move files quickly between any systems will greatly aid BBC Sport in achieving their aspirations for rapid production of high-quality content. In addition, there is a compositing operation to service high-end graphic workflows, which will also interface with the post-production media systems.”
The BBC production team has access to a vast amount of coverage on the host server, which is all in HD, including a range of additional isolated match camera angles and footage from the host crews embedded with each of the 32 teams. BBC Sport is supplementing this material with its own coverage of the England team matches and local color material from a roving HD crew.
BBC Sport is using flyaway kits, rather than OB trucks, and is sharing some satellite uplinking facilities with ITV, both of which will save on costs. SD content is minimal with the HD/SD split being 90/10.
The BBC Sport studio is based in Cape Town, providing views of the newly built Green Point Stadium, the iconic Table Mountain and Robben Island.
The HD studio and BBC Johannesburg international broadcast center facilities were installed by Presteigne Charter and supported by BBCS&PP. Cape Town will also house an additional HD edit suite to support stories and features cut in Cape Town and a complex analysis and LSM TX operation.
The analysis setup uses Piero and LiberoVision DiscoverEye, a new 3-D fly-through tool that enables viewers to see the action from any angle in the replay, fading out goal posts and goal keepers where necessary to improve the view.
HD and SD circuits enable material to be moved quickly from any platform between Johannesburg and Cape Town. There is also a circuit from Johannesburg back to London for HD transmission supplemented by a number of SD circuits to provide material for Red Button and BBC News outlets. Both locations have been designed to have backup transmission capabilities.
Other technical partners include SIS Live, Siemens, Broadcast Media Communications and Telkom South Africa.
- See more at: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/bbc-builds-post-studio-facilities-in-south-africa/228622#sthash.wjlQuYPY.dpuf

http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/bbc-builds-post-studio-facilities-in-south-africa/228622#sthash.wjlQuYPY.dpuf

Annova’s OpenMedia delivers World Cup news

TV Technology

German public broadcasting group ARD is supplying a mobile OpenMedia system to its journalists for use during the World Cup. OpenMedia is newsroom management software developed by Annova. ARD affiliate Südwestrundfunk (SWR) has implemented a mobile OpenMedia editorial system to support planning, scheduling and production.

Planned contributions include broadcasts from the German national team camp, press conferences, games broadcasts and the supply of background reports for the whole group of broadcasters. The journalists on-site receive their own agency information and access to all sports schedules of news agency DPA. Schedules can be directly imported and managed in the OpenMedia EventCalendar. The workflow includes weekly and daily planning as well as a broadcast planning system based on content containers.

The broadcaster’s editorial office and broadcast control room at SWR headquarters (Baden-Baden, Germany) are directly networked with the OpenMedia system in South Africa and are always linked to the current flow of the broadcast.

SWR previously deployed OpenMedia during the UEFA Euro 2008 championships in cooperation with Bavarian Rundfunk.

- See more at: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/annovas-openmedia-delivers-world-cup-news/230245#sthash.IRfsv0jV.dpuf

HBS introduces new graphical analytics tools

TV Technology

Host Broadcast Services (HBS) will introduce virtual offside line graphics to the main international broadcast feed of the 2010 World Cup. This graphic overlay will be managed using Epsio, a new EVS software tool that allows LSM operators to manually trigger the offside line with the jog wheel of the LSM remote. There will be one EPSIO in the outside broadcast facility at each venue and two within the international broadcast center.

According to Luc Doneux, EVS Asia-Pacific general manager and head of event projects, “Epsio is able to instantly and automatically recognize the playing field during actions and virtually draw the offside line along the borders of the playing field. This one-second operation is selectable with just one button.”
In addition, the host feed will be integrated with Deltratre’s new statistical analytics software MAGMA Pro, powered by Piero. HBS production teams will be able to replay pictures integrated with Magma Pro data from the FIFA Max server to create analysis of key moments such as goals and the position of every player on the pitch.
MAGMA (Match Analysis Graphics Machine) identifies patterns and categorizes and grades them. Producers can search the database to find the key moments and preview relevant clips from their desktop. The data can be output as statistics on-screen or can be fused with the clips and pushed to Piero, which automatically adds the virtual graphics effects.
“Audiences are beginning to demand depth of information to enhance their TV experience,” said Davide Bricarelli, MAGMA product manager for Deltatre. “We have found the way to exploit the incredible amount of data we track with MAGMA in order to improve the audience’s understanding.”

- See more at: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/hbs-introduces-new-graphical-analytics-tools/226005#sthash.syoXgUa4.dpuf

Interview – Epson’s home cinema offering

Installation International
http://www.installation-international.com/interview-epson-s-home-cinema-offering/
Although its business projectors are better known than its home cinema models, Epson is experiencing rapid growth in the residential market. Valerie Riffaud, projectors senior business manager at Epson Europe, talks to Adrian Pennington about the company’s residential offering – and how custom installers can add value.

Q: How would you characterise Epson’s approach to the home cinema market?
A: This is a smaller segment than our business portfolio but nonetheless of vital importance to us since it is growing rapidly. Whereas a few years ago the market was characterised by affluent early adopters who had a dedicated entertainment or viewing room, now many more consumers are attracted to home cinema as the content and the technology permits a range of exciting options. It has also come within the budgets of more people.
Q: How are you working with distributors and custom installers?
A: We found that there were quite a lot of old-fashioned ideas in the market about projection such as the necessity to have a complete blackout room, or that lamps wouldn’t last longer than a month. We work with a range of dedicated specialist installers who know the market and can provide the education that it needs to open the market up.
Q: What are your chief product lines?
A: Broadly we offer a combination product which includes a DVD player and speakers as an integrated plug and play for the family market at a resolution of 540p. Next up is a 720p product which suits those interested in watching live sports on a big screen at a high resolution. Where the market is really taking off is in HD 1080p. This is because content from broadcast to packaged Blu-ray and gaming is increasingly full HD. The knowledge that the consumer has about HD has also grown – they are requesting 1080p. Specifically we offer four products in the range – at the higher end this includes the EH-TW5500 which has the highest contrast ratio on the market at 200,000:1. The 1080p market has grown nearly 40% year on year and is estimated to grow another 50% this year largely because the World Cup provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase home cinema capabilities.
Q: How can custom installers add value to these products?
A: Our home cinema specialists are really knowledgeable. They bring support for installation projects into homes which can often be complex and involving masking of equipment and wires so that it fits the dÈcor to ensuring that the projection system talks seamlessly and reliably with all audio and hi-fi systems, with wi-fi if appropriate and with the source content provider or Blu-ray device. Customers will respect a custom installer who understands what they need and can deliver on that promise – and what’s more who deliver strong after-sales service.
Q: Are you developing a stereo 3D option?
A: 3D is something we are working on. The fact is that 3D is a very new technology and integration into product should be planned carefully. Epson is highly end-user and usability focused but today there are several different formats, different glasses requirements which requires a lot of understanding from a custom install let alone an end user perspective. We are working on a 3D-capable product for the mid-term but we want to be sure that we release one fully capable of supporting all formats and solutions and not just launch into the market for the sake of it.
Q: Are there any technology trends you have spotted?
A: The emergence of high-spec, high quality imaging in small and lightweight projectors has the potential to revolutionise the market. Even in Paris where there are many small apartments we can now intrigue customers with the real possibility of having a projection system in rooms as small as 20sqm. You don’t need to project from 500 metres away to deliver high brightness, high resolution onto large screens.

Annova’s OpenMedia to deliver World Cup news

TV Technology

German public broadcasting group ARD is supplying a mobile OpenMedia system to its journalists for use during coverage of the 2010 World Cup. OpenMedia is newsroom management software developed by Annova Systems.

ARD affiliate Südwestrundfunk (SWR) has implemented a mobile OpenMedia editorial system to support planning, scheduling and production. Planned contributions include broadcasts from the German national team camp, press conferences, games broadcasts and background reports. The journalists on-site receive their own agency information and access to all sports schedules of news agency DPA. Schedules can be directly imported and managed in the OpenMedia EventCalendar. The workflow includes weekly and daily planning as well as a broadcast-planning system based on content containers. The broadcaster’s editorial office and broadcast control room at SWR headquarters (Baden-Baden, Germany) are directly networked with the OpenMedia system in South Africa and are always linked to the current flow of the broadcast.

SWR previously deployed OpenMedia during the UEFA Euro 2008 championships in cooperation with the Bavarian Rundfunk.

- See more at: http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0086/annovas-openmedia-to-deliver-world-cup-news/227461#sthash.dT5fAzCB.dpuf