A Brief Review of Recent Sports and Show Events

The Golden Podium Awards 2011

This year the Golden Podium Awards were presided by Patrick Tambay, F1 Consultant with Nicolas Batum, Professional Basket Player - French Team Player, Portland Trailblazers, and SLUC Nancy, Sonia Bompastor, Capitain Olympic Lyonnais, Philippe Monnet, Sailor, Alexandre Vinokourov, Professional Cyclist. The jury members of the Best Sports-Related Advertising Film Award were Alain Cayzac (President), Senior Advisor Goetzpartners Corporate Finance, Lucie Décosse, 2010 & 2011 Judo World Champion, Edouard de Pouzilhac, Co-Founder of 5ème Gauche Agency, Simon Gillham, Executive Vice President Communications, Vivendi, Sophie Kamoun, Swimming Champion, Valérie Nicolas, World Champion Handball, Victoria Ravva, Captain of the RC Cannes Volley Ball and Darren Tulett, TV Sports Presenter, Canal +.

Get the complete listing of this years winners

Vizrt and LiberoVision to Demo Fastest Sports Analysis Tool

Analyze the action as the game unfolds: Depending upon setup, in-game analysis can go live, on-air in as little as 30 seconds. LiberoVision’s powerful 3D annotations work in the same way as Libero Highlight, seamlessly combining live camera feeds. All major annotations are included, such as arrows, areas, player marks, etc. ”Instead of a typical replay, Libero Playbook provides its users with the option of telling the viewer at home exactly why a player’s movement disrupted his team’s entire offensive – or why a tiny movement of the ball prevented his defense from conceeding,”  said Stephan Würmling Stadler, CEO at LiberoVision. “The product is our direct response to a huge demand in the market. We feel confident that both new and existing customers will appreciate the extra dimension it adds to in-game analysis.”

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Grass Valley Heads to SPORTELMonaco 2011 with New File-Based, 3D Workflow Demonstrations

With the Grass Valley K2 Dyno PA application, operations personnel can create metadata categories off-line in advance of an event to tag critical information, such as names and relevant event action types. This content-based metadata can be easily distributed and imported as XML data on a USB drive to all Grass Valley K2 Dyno systems. Clips can be given text names, while metadata can be added during the event along with ratings and searchable key words. In addition, all metadata created can be saved along with the content and re-used for different purposes. Content stored on a network can be viewed and aggregated into different bin types and sent to removable storage or network destinations using K2 Dyno PA’s automated transfer rules.

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GlobeCast at SPORTELMonaco to Promote 2012 Sports Offering

A subsidiary of France Telecom/Orange, GlobeCast is a leading provider of media management and global content delivery services for broadcasters and content creators. With a secure fiber and satellite network connected to dozens of teleports, technical operations centers, and points-of-presence worldwide, GlobeCast manages and transports millions of hours of video and other rich media each year. An integrator of audiovisual technology and a full-service provider, GlobeCast works with all the actors in the audiovisual chain from production companies to broadcasters, retail organizations, cinema chains, and more. The company provides on-site service from major news and sporting events for coverage in SD, HD, or even 3D. Present in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia, GlobeCast is also an expert in international television markets, and works with new and established broadcasters to reach and secure distribution with leading pay-TV operators around the world.

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EBU Goes for Gold with Ericsson at London 2012

Ericsson is bringing the 2012 London Games to a global audience of almost 5 billion after supplying the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with solutions for the delivery of coverage of the event, and other future sporting occasions, to broadcasters around the world. This premium global sports content will be distributed to EBU members and other rights holders across the globe over both satellite and fibre networks in MPEG-2 Standard Definition (SD) or MPEG-4 AVC 4:2:2 High Definition (HD) using nearly 1000 Ericsson RX8200 professional receivers, part of the company’s market-leading contribution and distribution portfolio. This extends the relationship between the EBU and the Ericsson team, which has previously provided the EBU with solutions for major sporting occasions including the 2008 Games in Beijing, Tour De France, Wimbledon and European football.

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Dew Tour Portland Invitational Rides With JBL Line Arrays and Soundcraft Si Consoles

The skateboard competition area included a Soundcraft Si Compact 16 digital console, which was used with two columns of five JBL VERTEC VT4887A compact line array elements each and one VT4881A compact arrayable subwoofer each, powered by a Crown I-Tech HD 12000 amplifier. The BMX dirt track had a similar setup, with an Si Compact 16 and two columns of six VT4888 midsize line array elements each, powered by a Crown I-Tech HD 12000 amplifier. At the indoor BMX and skate arena, a Soundcraft Si Compact 16 was used as well to plug into the in-house system. For the concert stage outside of the Rose Quarter venue, two columns of six VT4889 fullsize line array elements each were accompanied by a total of five VT4880A fullsize arrayable subwoofers, which were powered by a Crown’s I-Tech HD 12000 amplifier using VERTEC V5 DSP settings. System configuration was performed using Harman HiQnet System Architect™ software.

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Baltimore Ravens Score Big with Nucomm

In order to satisfy the specific needs of the Ravens, while providing complete coverage on the field, the RF system needed to transmit live video feeds from within the player’s  tunnel, which is where the players emerge during pregame introductions - without any break up − something the Ravens had not previously been able to accomplish. “I’ve never seen an RF system that worked flawlessly, so I was very skeptical,” says Howard Rothouse, a consultant with VPC, Inc. and the Baltimore Raven’s game day engineer.  “But we knew that Nucomm has an outstanding reputation and that helped with the decision process. They were so confident in their product’s performance that they were willing to refund our money for the entire installation if it didn't perform as advertised.”

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Norway's OB-Team now with new 3D HD OBVan

OB-Team now has a fleet of eight HD vehicles and commands an impressive 90% share of the market in its home territory, with an average of 170 production days each year. The new vehicle, which was delivered and went into operation in July, is aimed at large and mid-sized productions and has been designed with 3D in mind so that OB-Team can offer this service should customers request it. The new vehicle is equipped with 19 camera chains comprising a combination of Sony HDC-1500’s, HDC-P1’s (3 x 3D rigs), 3 x slo-mo and 3 x Link research wireless RF camera systems. As well as being a 3D production vehicle, the system also boasts a new Miranda Hybrid NV8500 series router that is capable of routing 200 3G video inputs to 256 outputs with 16 channels of embedded audio on each input and output and 6 channels of MADI audio (64ch each). This means that the router is capable of routing in excess of 6900 channels of audio!

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ABC Production SA Selects AXON to Supply Glue for HD OBVan

ABC Production SA is a leading supplier of television program production services and specializes in the live sports outside broadcast in Greece. The company provides a big range of technological equipment for rental, including OB Vans with or without personnel, stand alone cameras, state of the art Audio and Video production units and experienced personnel that can meet any customer’s production needs. Its customer list includes many of Greece’s leading TV channels  ( ERT ,NOVA, OTE, MEGA CHANNEL, ANTENNA TV etc  ) as well as leading international production companies such as  SPORTFIVE , TWI , Canal+ , MEDIAPRO and  TF1.

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Sound Image and JBL Loudspeakers Rock the Boston House of Blues

Boston’s House of Blues is committed to great sound for great music, and its HARMAN JBL loudspeaker system is designed to let concertgoers hear their favorite bands and artists at their best. Operated by concert producer Live Nation, the Boston House of Blues can hold more than 2,000 people and needed a sound system to meet the demands of its expansive layout. The main audio system includes 20 JBL VERTEC® VT4888DP powered midsize line array enclosures with DrivePack® technology, six ASB6128 subwoofers, and JBL AC26 loudspeakers for under-balcony fill. The stage monitor system is comprised of 12 JBL SRX712M stage monitors and four VRX915M stage monitors.

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Miss Universe Crowns Clear-Com as Queen of the Scene

Savana Comunicações, Clear-Com’s exclusive distributor in Brazil, advised and provided the Clear-Com intercom systems for Broadcasting Televisão Ltda. Its state-of-the-art communications platform, comprising two Eclipse-Median digital matrix intercom, two IVC-32 high-density IP connection cards and 25 IP-enabled V-Series user control panels, offered flexible connections for seamless collaboration between the production team, directors, audio engineers and camera operators. Miss Universe is not just a global beauty contest aired on television, but it is one of the most-watched live television specials in the world. Because of the versatility, robust capabilities and clarity of Clear-Com’s intercom systems, the broadcast team were able to deliver an optimal pageant viewing experience to over hundreds of millions of people.

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Emilie Autumn Puts DPA 4088 Headworn Mic Through its Paces

Theatrical performer and musician Emilie Autumn, backed by her all-female band the Bloody Crumpets, doesn’t stinton the entertainment. Apart from singing, violin-playing and vaudevillianchit-chat between performers, Autumn’s act includes aerial flying, burlesque fan dancing, stilt-walking, fire eating and multiple costume changes. She finds the only headworn mic to keep pace with her flamboyant performances is the DPA4088 cardioid headset.

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EAW / SSE Help Chili Peppers Launch New Album with Simulcast Concert from Cologne

In order to generate high-octane promotion of their new album I’m With You, Red Hot Chili Peppers recently simulcast a live concert from Cologne to cinemas throughout the States.With their long-serving FOH engineer, Dave Rat, piloting the house mix, the band performed all songs off the album plus many other selected hits — largely through an EAW sound system. The European promo run immediately preceded the South American leg of the band’s stadium-sized world tour, and according to Rat, the concert at Cologne’s 2,200-capacity E-WERK was a huge success — largely due to the presence of the compact EAW KF730 house system and combination of MicroSubs and MicroWedge floor monitors.

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Broadcast Solutions and LGZ Broadcasting Tech Sign Distribution Agreement

Stefan Breder, CEO of Broadcast Solutions points out: "For our product sales the "just.REPLAY" server is a good addition to the products of ProSat Solutions and Ericsson. Until now our focus was the strength in the product range of SatCom distribution, with the "just.REPLAY" servers we now have a product with which we can serve an even wider market." Demo systems of the "just.REPLAY“ server are now available for field trials, just make an appointment with the Broadcast Solutions sales team: [email protected] or call +49 6721 4008-301.

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FOR-A's Super Slow Motion Camera Wins TVBEurope's Best of IBC Award

“We’re tremendously proud to be acknowledged for our super slow motion camera, which we created to make it easy for anyone to capture the rich detail of action video in uncompressed HD,” said Hiro Tanoue, General Manager, Americas/Europe Group, Overseas Sales and Marketing Division, FOR-A Company Limited. “FOR-A is thrilled that the VFC-7000 has been recognized as a stand-out, innovative product with this award, at one of the largest and most significant tradeshows in the media technology industry.” Since its introduction into the market, the VFC-7000 has been recognized for its technical excellence on multiple occasions. It received a Government Video Salute at last year’s Government Video Expo and was also distinguished as a recipient of TV Technology’s STAR Award at NAB earlier this year.

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3Play 425 at SPORTELMonaco 2011

3Play 425 includes over-the-network integration with NewTek TriCaster™, appearing as a network input and providing a complete integrated solution for live sports production with a small footprint. Additionally, 3Play 425 can be connected to any switcher, providing additional capabilities for any existing production infrastructure. The system includes an intuitive control surface, giving replay operators hands-on control of every input.3Play 425 gives sports broadcasters, leagues, teams, schools and venues an affordable option to deliver instant replay and slow motion for broadcast, webcast, arena scoreboard displays, and more. The four-input, two-output 3Play 425 offers revolutionary price-performance value that makes high definition multi-channel instant replay accessible to almost everyone.

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ACS debuts 3D Flown Railcam

SKY Sports coverage of the Super League Grand Final from Old Trafford had a new rig this weekend in the form of a 3D flown railcam system. In previous years, ACS has successfully provided a 100m flown system for Sky Sports’ 2D coverage of the Grand Final using a HD Cineflex V14 stabilised camera mount to provide a unique and dynamic view of the action below. This year, Sky Sports upped the challenge by requesting ACS provide the same view but in 3D. ACS has made a significant investment in the development and delivery of 3D specialist camera systems and has provided facilities for the 3D coverage of Horseracing, Rugby, Premiership football and live music events amongst others.

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Binocle Tests the Phantom Flex 3D 2500 fps at Alga Panavision France

Installed in one of the studios of Alga Panavision France, located in the outskirts of Paris, the Binocle team spent the open house day engaged in demonstrations of high-speed stereoscopic shooting.  Alga Panavision made available two Phantom Flex cameras in order to assess the viability and performance for this type of usage.  Both cameras were equipped with optical Master premium Zeiss 25 mm and were mounted on a Binocle Brigger III stereoscopic rig.  The resulting two video streams were managed by Binocle’s visualization software Disparity Tagger, and were fed to two 46  inch TV screens.  An Astro 3D tilt complemented everything. Vision Research’s in-house software for Phantom on the PC was then handling the triggering of cameras, and allowed users to choose specific sequences amongst the different saved rushes for playback.

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T-VIPS Selected by TV2 to Add Extra Dimension to Norway’s First 3D TV Football Coverage

T-VIPS, a global leader in professional video contribution and distribution solutions, today announced that its TVG450 JPEG2000 Gateway solution was chosen by TV2, Norway’s largest commercial television station, to provide transport of video for Norway’s first live 3D broadcast coverage of Tuesday night’s Norway v Cyprus football match from the national football stadium Ullevaal in Oslo. The TV2 owned OB Team recently took delivery of a 3D-ready Outside Broadcast truck, the only one of its kind in Scandinavia, which was used to produce the broadcast. Five 3D cameras were set up within the stadium to provide true 3D images. The first national 3D broadcast took place yesterday, 11 October 2011, during a qualifying match for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship between the Norwegian and Cypriot national football teams. The 3D video was available to both satellite and cable customers of Canal Digital.

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