EVS 3D servers will be busy at Wimbledon
[by Sports Video Group staff]
EVS kit will be a firm feature of this year’s Wimbledon, working with various partners to provide major international broadcasters, including BBC Sport, with host broadcast services. In a busy Championships for the company, EVS servers will also record the first ever 3D coverage of the men’s and ladies’ Wimbledon finals and, working alongside partners IMG Media and Timeline TV, will provide instant searchable access to archive footage from the last four Wimbledon tournaments.
Since 2007, Timeline TV has provided a large host broadcast solution for the Wimbledon tournament based around EVS servers and EVS IPDirector production management tools. This year the company will utilise 16 HD EVS XT series servers to record every televised match, and more than 60 EVS IPDirector terminals to manage ingest control, content management, metadata management and on the fly editing.
Each point played will be logged in IPDirector, with the logs combining live statistical information from the on-court scoring system and producer-entered classifications to provide colour to the edits, such as shots of players’ actions between points and close-up reaction shots of the crowd. The EVS system is also directly linked to the Wimbledon scoring system, giving producers access to instant statistics such as rally count, speed of serve, type of serve and winning shot. Producers and editors will use the IPDirector terminals to search for court action and either send the media to their chosen edit platform or directly to EVS servers for playout.
Daniel McDonnell, Managing Director, Timeline TV, comments: “Throughout the workflow there is a huge amount of data constantly having to be processed, managed and stored. With the reactivity and reliability of the EVS systems, the content is secure for the entire duration of the tournament. In addition, the IPDirector suite is highly configurable to create any bespoke system that the client requires”.
Timelime TV is also offering broadcasters a new service this year, providing instant access to highly searchable archive footage from all televised matches from the 2007-2010 tournaments, including supporting material such as press conferences and crowd shots. IMG Media, which owns the rights to the Wimbledon archive, will allow access to the fully logged footage on its own EVS servers in Chiswick, West London, directly from Timeline’s IPDirector terminals on location in Wimbledon. The archive material will give producers and editors a wider choice of footage than ever before, and the speed of the search tools will allow for fast turnaround edits and packages.
David Shield, Senior Vice President, IMG Media, comments, “The central Wimbledon archive relies upon on the resilience and speed of EVS technology. This year we are pushing it one step further by offering instant access to past tournament footage, which no event has done before. To be such an important part of the process we had to have a system that is 100% reliable, with a fast turnaround and excellent technical support – and that is what we get with EVS”.
IMG Media will use the EVS system to produce the world feed nightly highlights programme, while the BBC will use it to enhance the continuous live coverage across BBC One and BBC Two, including its nightly highlights programme.
Several EVS servers will also be installed in NEP Visions’ Gemini OB units which are providing host OB technical facilities for the tournament, including the feeds from the first ever 3D broadcasts of the gentlemen’s and ladies’ finals.
See the original post here: http://svgeurope.org/2011/06/16/evs-highlights-wimbledon-role/
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At Center Court: ESPN Serves Up Wimbledon in 3D; French, Australian Opens Extend U.S. Deals
[by Jason Dachman, Associate Editor, SVG]
This has been a busy week for Grand Slam tennis. ESPN 3D announced that it will televise live semifinals and finals action from Wimbledon, while the Australian and French Opens agreed to a new four-year, multimedia programming deal with ESPN and Tennis Channel.
3D From the All England Club
ESPN 3D will televise the semifinals and finals of both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s draws from the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in London July 1-4. The four matches will be the first 3D tennis televised by the network, which launched in June 2010 and has delivered more than 100 3D events to date.
The announcement comes on the heels of the French Open’s 3D debut in the U.S. on Tennis Channel over Memorial Day weekend. The network delivered more than 20 hours of 3D action to Comcast, DIRECTV, and AT&T U-verse subscribers. The French Open has been produced in 3D for two years, but this marked its first appearance in 3D in U.S. households. CBS Sports produced live center-court action in 3D at the 2010 US Open.
At Roland Garros in Paris, Tennis Channel relied on the 3D world feed (produced by Eurosport, Panasonic, and the Fédération Française de Tennis) but also had a devoted 3D control room to add its own graphics and commentary. ESPN 3D will deploy a similar strategy, taking the world feed produced by host broadcaster BBC and Sony and augmenting it with ESPN graphics and commentary. The BBC and Sony will also distribute the feed to 3D-equipped theaters throughout the world and to other global broadcasters.
“ESPN 3D continues to provide fans the best in sports, and adding coverage from Wimbledon is another example of a marquee event on our network,” says Bryan Burns, VP, strategic business planning. “ESPN 3D has shown several championships over the course of its first year, and we are pleased to enter our second year of programming with this outstanding tennis event.”
In addition to the 3D coverage, ESPN2’s two-week schedule includes more than 100 live hours of HD programming at Wimbledon, beginning June 20.
Four More Years From France, Australia
In more Grand Slam news, ESPN and Tennis Channel have agreed to a new four-year, multimedia programming pact for the French and Australian Opens.
Under terms of the new deal, ESPN2’s telecast windows for the French Open will be almost entirely live, usually 5-10 a.m. ET. Tennis Channel will then take over coverage for the rest of the day’s live matches and into its French Open Tonight coverage. Tennis Channel will continue to air match replays overnight, leading up to ESPN2’s morning coverage. In all, ESPN2 will televise more than 50 hours from Paris, and Tennis Channel will offer 60 live hours.
In addition, ESPN3.com will stream live action during both ESPN’s and Tennis Channel’s telecast windows from both tournaments. ESPN will continue to carry action on all its platforms, including ESPN Deportes, ESPN Mobile TV, the WatchESPNApp, ESPN Interactive TV, and ESPNNetworks.com, under the new deal, which takes effect with the 2012 French Open and the 2013 Australian Open.
ESPN’s Australian Open coverage (ESPN’s agreement with Tennis Australia runs through 2021) will continue to total more than 120 hours, with daily marathon late-night live telecasts, including the men’s and women’s semifinals and championships. ESPN has carried the Australian Open since 1984, making it ESPN’s oldest uninterrupted pro-sports programming property.
“Sports fans want to see the action live, and that’s how we deliver tennis and all our sports,” says John Skipper, EVP, content, for ESPN. “Tennis fans are among the most dedicated, willing to stay up or get up to see live competition, and that’s what we will provide for years to come from Melbourne and Paris. In addition, we look forward to continuing our relationship with Tennis Channel to best serve tennis fans at both events.”
Tennis Channel will televise up to 100 hours from Australia, including approximately 30 hours of live play.
“Not only is there more championship-caliber tennis on television week after week than ever before, but consistent, daily schedules allow fans to follow and enjoy this sport in a way that was impossible even just a few years ago,” says Ken Solomon, chairman/CEO, Tennis Channel. “With this arrangement, there will be no more guesswork during the Australian Open: just turn your TV on when you get home at 7 o’clock, and we’ll be there live, night after night. Tennis fans are the big winners here, as has been the case ever since Tennis Channel and ESPN started working together.”
See the original post here: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2011/06/02/at-center-court-espn-plans-3d-for-wimbledon-french-australian-opens-extend-u-s-deals/