Newsletter from 14/05/2019
eSports to break through $1bn barrier in 2020 as it moves from niche to mainstream
The last few years have been good for Esports fans. The enterprise just can’t seem to stop growing and the last five years in particular has seen the online gaming world hit unprecedented heights. Viewership has tripled, prize pools are now in hundreds of millions and Esports is now receiving more media and broadcasting attention than ever.
There were more than 4,000 eSports tournaments globally in 2018, a number that will rise this year thanks to a total prize pool of some US $200m, comparing favourably with the $135m for ATP Tour tennis. This makes it a major draw for competitors – the highest paid eSports star is estimated to earn about $6m per year.
It also had a global online and TV audience of 410m last year, with more than 165m enthusiast viewers (each consuming more than five hours per week). There are also large crowds going to live events, such as the 173,000 that attended the Intel Extreme Masters in Poland over one weekend.
Despite Esports' growth and success in recent years, it doesn’t seem to be letting up as it keeps breaking streaming records while making wholesale changes to the sports and entertainment industries. The Esports infographic made by NJgames shows that the continued growth in popularity and media attention has seen Esports get global interest and is set to be rewarded with Olympics recognition.
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Find five more eSports stories in the below section SPORT EVENTS
MOBILE PRODUCTION
Live X Debuts 4k Mobile Unit for 10th Annual Webcast of Times Square New Year's Eve
For this time around the sun we designed and built a 4k mobile unit. This was a very important maiden voyage and our team rose to the occasion. Until now, this show had been produced in a full broadcast truck. Being able to keep quality the same but using the tools that best fit the job was important to us. This 24ft trailer is ready to use with a 20-input switcher, full playback, recording, live graphics, captioning and encoding. It comes equipped with Ursa Broadcast and Ursa Mini Broadcast cameras, ATEM CCU and Fujinon and Canon lens kits. The audio setup is helmed by a Soundcraft Vi1000 with 163 I/O, with AES, Dante, and MADI. The Moblie Unit also houses a ClearCom Eclipse HX PiCo for expansive production communication.
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Al Kamel Systems takes motor fan experience to next level by deploying TVU Remote Production System (RPS) and TVU NANO Video transmitter
TVU Networks, a global technology and innovation leader in live IP video solutions, today announces that Al Kamel Systems, a leading motor sports live stats broadcast production specialists, has deployed TVU Remote Production System (RPS). By including TVU RPS as a key production tool, Al Kamel Systems looks to save valuable production time and reduce production costs on several events by allowing production staff to add race graphics remotely instead of traveling onsite. Al Kamel Systems’ production team can remain at their headquarter production facility near Barcelona and run the graphics in synchronization with the live event. TVU RPS allows them to produce remotely using a public internet connection with a delay between the live feed and graphics playout of less than one second. TVU RPS can bi-directionally transport up to 6 HDSDI HEVC enhanced signals with a sub-second latency and IP data tunnel for additional remote control.
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Capturing Haute Couture
As the fashion world returned to the French capital for the most prestigious of the 'Big Four’ fashion weeks, historical venues such as the Carrousel du Louvre and the Grand Palais played host to famous emblematic brands such as Chanel, Valentino, Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney, showcasing their autumn/winter 2019 collections. The services of live production company, and fashion show specialist, Freecaster were in high demand, delivering live streams for Chloé, Isabel Marant, Tommy Hilfiger, Givenchy and more. The team employed a 12-camera PPU solution based around the Ursa Mini to produce live coverage of the runway action.
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Technology Launches AO Drones ‘Light Experiences’
Architectural and entertainment lighting visionary AO Technology has launched AO Drones, a brand-new division in its portfolio of innovative visual design services, heralding ‘a new dimension in creative visual design’. AO Drones’ mission – to enhance all types and sizes of events and performances with spectacularly choreographed, volumetric images in the sky. Utilising advanced technology, developed specifically for entertainment applications, AO Drones’ software facilitates flexible, fast show creation for both indoor and outdoor environments. “We’re thrilled to bring AO Drones to the market,” says AO producer, Marco Niedermeier. “Over the last couple of years we’ve merged 25 years of experience in visual design and entertainment technology development with this innovative new drone technology, to enable live visual design to achieve a whole new level of spectacular.”
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STUDIO PRODUCTION
Studio 100 Chooses Panasonic Varicam for "40-45" Musical
40-45’ is a musical-drama by Studio 100 which has been playing in Puurs since October 2018. Set during the Second World War, it tells the emotional story of the Segers family and follows the historical events of the German occupation of Belgium during WW2. The musical has been a great success and has subsequently been extended several times. Currently, performances are scheduled until the 1st December 2019, but will continue as long as the demand for tickets remains, Studio 100 has since decided to record the musical, using the Panasonic VariCam LT. “The decision to record the musical was taken quickly and set us a number of challenges,” explains Pieter Germeys, project leader at DB Video and in charge of many Studio 100 video productions. “
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Radio Bremen Finds Flexibility with Ross Robotics & Graphics
While Radio Bremen may have started life in 1945 as a modest radio channel serving the city-state of Bremen in Northern Germany, the company – a founder member of ARD, the consortium of German public broadcasting organizations – soon diversified into television and today broadcasts across the entire region with a staff of three hundred employees. With four radio networks and a varied schedule of news, current affairs and entertainment content that is broadcast regionally as well as on the main national public TV channel Das Erste, Radio Bremen plays an important part in the daily life of Germans everywhere.
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LiveU to Power TNW TV studio at TNW2019, in Partnership with Stream My Event
The program will be a mix of live interviews with keynote speakers in the studio, live coverage of the keynote presentations themselves, and ad-hoc conversations with festival visitors, conducted by TNW’s team of roaming reporters using LiveU Solo wireless video encoders around the conference. Some of the interviews will even be held high up on a Ferris wheel, set up in the venue grounds. The live production will be managed by Stream My Event at its studio control room in The Netherlands using LiveU’s wireless at-home production solution.
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SPORT EVENTS
Broadcast Solutions Designed Virtual Reality Solution for Telia Esports League
Telco provider Telia started a new esports league in Finland at the end of April. “Telia Esports Series” uses studios and virtual reality solutions provided by Broadcast Solutions. The Telia Esports Series is not only designed for the players but for the viewers also as the weekly league is broadcasted on the Finnish national television and internationally through the Twitch channel. Telia will run the Telia Esports Series together with company Assembly, and the starting tournament featured the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive computer game and the Arena of Valor mobile game. The total prize money is € 50,000, and the top esports teams in Finland will compete in the series.
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Sound Adventures Makes UK Debut at Top eSports Event
After supporting various Esports Championship Series (ECS) shows at Wembley’s SSE Arena over the last few years, Sibar Production & Design, along with Capital Sound (and their Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array), moved to the ICC Auditorium at ExCeL for the FACEIT Global Summit: PUBG Classic. FACEIT is the leading competitive gaming platform and organisers of some of the largest esports events in Europe and North America including ECS, Universal Open and the FACEIT London CS:GO Major.
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How League of Legends rose to the top of professional esports
Riot Games’ multiplayer online battle arena title has moved to the core of the world’s leading professional video game contests since its release in late 2009. National and regional competitions feed into one of the most eye-catching and prestigious tournaments around: the League of Legends World Championships. According to Riot, the 2018 edition of the Worlds attracted 99.6 million unique viewers online as 24 teams played for total prize money of US$6.45 million. Winners Invictus Gaming took home just over US$2.4 million after beating Fnatic at the 50,000-seater Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea.
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IHSE has key role in e-sports event
PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) is a computer game where up to 100 people parachute from an airplane to an island or desert. Players search for weapons and equipment to defend themselves or to attack other players. A deadly electric field drives the players together and at the end of the game one player (or team) is the winner. At PGI, that meant a chance to win a share of the $2,000,000 prize pool. At PGI there was room for 20 squads (teams) of 4 gamers from all over the world who had won the preliminary rounds. 20 game desks were placed on a round stage in the middle of the arena. Gamers’ webcams could be viewed on screens in front of the desks and the current game was presented on large screens above the stage. Spectators were able to follow the game just like a normal sports game. For the grand opening a 27.5 meter diameter cylinder was placed around the stage onto which a film was projected.
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Elation Lights for one of World’s Biggest Esports Events
Fans from across the globe turned the Polish city of Katowice into the epicenter of esports in late February for the Intel Extreme Masters tournament. Included in the large lighting and video package used by Warsaw-based technical event production company ARAM were full color SixBar 1000™ and white light DTW Bar 1000™ battens along with Fuze Par Z60™ luminaires, all from Elation Professional. Intel Extreme Masters is one of the biggest esports events in the world with a modern multimedia Champions Stage designed especially for the tournament. Held February 28 - March 3 at Spodek Arena in Katowice, players and teams from around the world competed in a variety of games for a prize pool of $2.5 million.
SHOW EVENTS
Robe Properly POPS at Popland Event
Spanish lighting designer Eduardo Valverde of Pixelmap Studios utilised the dynamic multi-functionality of Robe’s MegaPointe moving lights together with Robe LEDWash 800s and other fixtures to help create some amazing vibes and atmosphere for “Popland” a musical journey staged at the WiZink Center in Madrid. The show was a diverse electronic and symphonic fusion illustrating some of the most iconic pop, rock and dance music ‘moments’ from the last fifty years, presented by one of Spain’s most influential mix-masters, DJ Nano, in conjunction with Catalan experimental theatre company La Fura dels Baus and the Darevitam! Orchestra conducted by Bruno Axel.
Come From Away
The Sankoff/Hein musical Come from Away is a multi-threaded story focussing on the residents of Gander, Newfoundland, and some of the 70,000 passengers from 38 flights diverted to that small Canadian town in the week after the 9/11 attacks. Since the show’s first record-breaking runs in San Diego and Seattle in 2015, it has gone on to successes at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway and at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End. Most recently the musical scored four wins at the 2019 Olivier Awards for Best New Musical, Best Theatre Choreographer, Best Music, and Best Sound Design. The Sound Design award went to an established star of the art, Gareth Owen, and was his third Olivier since 2014.
Djembe! The Show makes U.S. debut beneath all Elation lighting rig
Djembe! The Show is an energy-filled, theatrical concert experience that mixes traditional West African beats with modern takes on contemporary music that has toured Europe and even been featured on Ted Talks and Oprah’s Super Soul Sessions. It made its limited U.S. debut at the Apollo Theater in Chicago with lighting design by Zach Blane (@zachblane), who used an all Elation LED lighting rig to accentuate the unique production. Support was provided by Elation dealer ILC. Djembe!, which opened April 10th and ran through May 12th, is a celebration of African culture with drumming and musical performances by a cast composed mostly of West African musicians. Wonderfully interactive, guests of the show were handed a drum – a djembe – and invited to play along.
PRODUCTS
Calrec’s Brio and Summa serve up sports programming for French TV channel L’Equipe
Alexis Bougault, Audio Technical Manager at systems’ integrator EUROMEDIA oversaw the design and implementation of the project. He said, “We wanted to offer our client something that was modular and that was therefore easily expandable; L’Equipe is continually growing so this was important. The consoles benefit from an excellent price/performance ratio and work without complex ongoing configuration with the addition of other interfaces easy to achieve.” Both control rooms, commentary booths and intercom system and consoles are connected via a Dante network. The two consoles are additionally connected via a Calrec Hydra 2 network with a modular rack. The Summa has two Dante cards with one for the Brio, with Hydra 2 allowing shared console resources with up to 512 channels per link.
Production Sound Mixer Adam P. Lawrence Improves His Workflow With Wisycom
Production Sound Mixer Adam P. Lawrence has had a lifelong love for audio/visual storytelling. For the last decade, Lawrence has turned that passion into a career, mixing audio on countless film and television productions. As with any field production, RF interruptions rank highly on the list of worst-case scenarios among audio professionals. In order to improve his workflow, Lawrence implemented an arsenal of Wisycom’s wireless RF equipment for his shoots. His gear includes the Wisycom MCR42S Dual True Diversity UHF Miniature Camera Receiver, which he uses along with the MTP30 Professional Bodypack Transmitter and MTP40S Wideband Bodypack Transmitter.
Nixer’s Smart PD Dante Gives a Big Hand to Audio Network Troubleshooters and Operators
PD Dante, which is exclusively distributed in the UK by Aspen Media, provides engineers with an effective tool for managing live or production systems. Its compact design and functionality makes it exceptionally valuable as an operational monitoring device. PD Dante presents up to 64 channels of audio for instant monitoring via the built-in speakers, headphones or external monitors; either individually, as a stereo pair or contributing to a mix of selected sources. Each touchscreen selector includes a guide bargraph meter to assist in selecting the right signal with the option of routing that signal to the left, right or both monitoring outputs.
4K / 8K ARISING
Study: Just half of 4K TV owners have watched 4K content
“With 4K TV sets, we see the classic case of capability leading content, similar to what was seen with high definition and 3D sets,” said David Tice, co-author of the study. “With 8K TV sets and ‘Next Gen TV’ broadcast TV sets soon to debut, manufacturers must be careful that their technological ambitions don’t outstrip the ability of content creators and distributors to serve new platforms – otherwise consumers will tune innovation out.” “It’s really interesting to see the importance of the retail channel, even as consumers are buying more of everything online,” said Jon Giegengack, one of the co-authors. “People still want to see and touch before they buy, even though they often don’t intend to use new features. This suggests retail partnerships, like the one between Amazon and Best Buy on TV sets, might be a real opportunity for content providers to drive adoption and content.”
THE HDR of UHD
As Michael Zink, VP of Technology at Warner Bros. Technology, a SMPTE Fellow, and Chairman of the UHD Alliance points out, the consumer electronics manufacturers are incentivized to launch new and differentiated products to satisfy retail demand and consumer interests. Most new consumer electronics can be launched independently, with functional and experiential enhancements, without coordination with all sectors of the ecosystem. “For example, an 8K panel delivering 8K resolution can be sold at retail in a market where 8K content is not yet available.” This is part of the reason why, at every Consumer Electronics Show (CES), manufacturers routinely bring new features and technologies to the show. As Zink notes, once such technology is introduced, industry press and others can sometimes prematurely equate the more advanced technology’s availability with prospects for widespread adoption in the near term.
Kick-Off event at IRT: Official launch of the 5G TODAY Broadcasting field trial
The 5G TODAY project officially launched its unique field trial for 5G Broadcasting. The project partners Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (Bayerischer Rundfunk, BR), the Broadcast Technology Institute IRT, Kathrein, Rohde & Schwarz as well as Telefónica Germany are jointly testing broadcasting options for future 5G technology. The new large-area 5G field trial in the Bavarian alpine region is covered by two high-performance transmitters located in Ismaning and on the top of the Wendelstein mountain. Both operate with 100 kilowatts effective output power (technically: ERP). With the help of the high transmission towers and the high power of the transmitters (High-Power-High-Tower-Concept, HPHT), the large-area broadcasting of TV programs can be tested based on the new broadcast mode FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service). The FeMBMS broadcast mode allows far-reaching and inexpensive distribution of popular content across large coverage areas with a radius of up to 60 kilometres.