Grass Valley Live Production Technology Punches March Madness

2012 NCAA Men’s Final Four Weekend with F&F and Grass Valley Video Production Center Switchers

As it has for the past several years, live sports production company F&F Productions, based in Clearwater, Fla. will send two of its most advanced high-definition (HD) production trucks outfitted with Grass Valley™ equipment, to cover the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Final Four Weekend Tournament (March 31-April 1) and National Championship Game (April 2) for CBS Sports, with a third production truck dedicated to ESPN in order to supply the live international feed.

All of F&F's trucks that will help televise the games from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans carry Grass Valley Video Production Center switchers, including both the Kayenne™ and Kalypso™ HD switchers.

On-site in New Orleans, F&F will have its GTX-16 and GTX-15 rigs, as well as the GTX-12 HD truck and several “B” support trucks. The main CBS Sports game feed will be handled by GXT-16, while GTX-15 will handle pre- and post-game, as well as halftime activities for the network.

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GTX-16 has a 4.5 M/E Kayenne Video Production Center switcher with 96 inputs and 48 outputs and an integrated K2 Summit™ server for clip playback and storage (ClipStore). GTX-15 features a Kalypso HD Video Production Center switcher and Grass Valley Jupiter™ software controlling a Concerto™ Series compact routing system.

ESPN will use F&F’s GTX-12 truck for the international feed. GTX-12 has a Kalypso Video Production Center switcher on-board with 90 inputs and 48 outputs. Also on-board is a Trinix™ NXT 256×256 HD/SD video routing switcher.

The 2012 NCAA Women’s Division I Final Four Weekend Tournament, on April 1-3 at the Pepsi Centre in Denver, Colo., will also be covered with a variety of Grass Valley cameras, HD video production switchers, and video and audio routers.

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