Newsletter from 18/05/2018
Olympic Games in Virtual Reality
For the first time, the Olympics were available in virtual reality. The BBC was streaming 100 hours of 360-degree video through a new app. By strapping on VR headsets that can hold a phone (Google Cardboard or the Samsung Gear VR, for example) users were able to watch the games in a completely new way. it was the first time the BBC has broadcast live sport in VR and it says the app is experimental. Sport fans were able to watch everything from beach volleyball to athletics using the app.
In the US, NBC was showing 100 hours of virtual reality and 360 video programming using its new Sports app. Using the Samsung Gear and a Samsung phone users in the US were able to watch VR programming the day after the event took place.
However Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos might have been overly optimistic when he said, “VR technology carries incredible potential for the sport broadcast industry, offering a truly immersive Olympic Games experience for hundreds of millions of people around the world.” It requires a couple of megs to stream HD content (including 360 like the Rio games) or YouTube/Facebook videos. 4K is four times the resolution of 1080p HD video. Add HDR and you add 2X the content to be streamed. VR produces about 10X that volume of content. The best digital video codecs (code-decode) like H.265 do a good job compressing/decompressing video so it can be streamed smoothly over the internet, but the recommended minimum download speed is still 25mbps for 4K. And that assumes you’re the only one connected to the Internet with your device.
Finally - The Olympic streams weren't VR, but they are paving the way.
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Olympic Games in Rio
Review: Events at the Rio Olympic Venues
With 306 events played across 42 disciplines in 37 venues around Brazil, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games ended after 16 days on Sunday night with a preview to the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has produced feeds of all live competitions from every venue with a staff of more than 7,000 technicians, editors, cameramen and administration people. Within Rio de Janeiro, four Olympic Zones have been designated to host the majority of events: Barra Olympic Park, Deodoro, Maracanã, and Copacabana. Only football was played outside the city limits: in Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus, Salvador, and São Paulo.
XD motion at the Olympics in Rio 2016
The Deodoro Olympic Whitewater Stadium was constructed to host the canoeing and kayaking slalom events for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The stadium is part of the 'X-Park' sport complex (which includes Rugby, Modern Pentathlon, BMX and Mountain Bike). XD motion had installed the X-Track first at the canoe and Kayak competitions and then on the Modern Petathlon competition. In partnership with AR Plus, XD motion installed a new Robotic Arm motion control for France TV Sport in their studios in the aquatics center the swimming competitions and in the Olympic stadium for the Athletics competitions. This was a first worldwide, the AR CAM allows to make many automatic movements and positions in a very restricted area where cranes or other grip equipment cannot fit in.
Worldwide TOP Partner Toyota becomes Founding Partner of Olympic Channel
The Olympic Channel is a new, groundbreaking digital platform, where fans can experience the power of sport and the Olympic Movement all year round, which will launch worldwide on Sunday 21 August following the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The Founding Partner agreement has a four-year term extending through to the end of 2020. Through the Olympic Channel Founding Partner relationship, Toyota will receive exclusive advertising opportunities and will work with the Olympic Channel team to co-develop inspiring and exciting content. Toyota joins fellow Founding Partner Bridgestone in supporting the development of the Olympic Channel to put content into the hands of fans anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
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SHOW EVENTS
UNITE Takes the Tomorrowland EDM Experience Global with ATEM Production Switchers
The UNITE electronic dance event in Germany was built around a multi camera live production PPU solution featuring the ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K, ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Panel and MultiView 16. In addition to the event in Germany, several UNITE festivals took place simultaneously in Mexico, India, Japan, Colombia, South Africa and Israel alongside the Tomorrowland EDM festival in Belgium. A live video connection was established between the Tomorrowland main stage in Belgium and live DJ sets on the UNITE stages around the world. UNITE in Germany attracted more than 35,000 people and relied upon VPS Media to handle all aspects of the festival's live production.
Robe Makes Hyperjump at MIRA Festival
Robe lighting was delighted to be a technical partner in the 2016 MIRA digital arts festival, staged for the first time in Berlin. The event focuses on the intersection between electronic music and live visuals and presents a selection of invigorating collaborations, special projects and the opportunity for artists working in all areas of music and visual arts to imaginer works that can be enjoyed and appreciated by all. Lighting designers Alexandr Letcius and Alexandr Sinitsa from the Russian based Tundra Collective utilised 34 x Pointes and 10 x Robe Strobes for their large scale sound and lighting sculpture, “Hyperjump” presented in Recording Hall 2 of the Kultursaal Funkhaus which hosted the 2016 MIRA event.
500 BMFLs for Singapore National Day Parade
LD Mac Chan was part of the team led by creative director Beatrice Chia who made every Singaporean burst with pride on their 2016 National Day Parade (NDP) and this year, for the first time, the event was staged at the new National Stadium. With a live audience of 50,000, a TV audience of around 5 million plus a few more million tuning in to the live internet stream … there was plenty of pressure on everyone to deliver. Mac needed to fill the vast space of the National Stadium with light and chose 500 of Robe’s powerful and versatile BMFL luminaires as the main moving lights – 400 BMFL Blades and 100 BMFL Spots - all rigged on trusses flown in the stadium roof and supplied by leading Singapore rental company, Showtec Communications Pte. Ltd.
GLP X4 Bars Bring Versatility to Bruno Poet’s Sigur Rós Set
With a work roster ranging from pure theatre to lighting the dreamy, ethereal post-rock music of Icelandic cult band Sigur Rós, Bruno Poet’s skill-set embraces many disciplines. And in GLP’s award-winning impression X4 Bars he has found an LED batten with a versatility for all occasions that gives him far more than a conventional light curtain. Introduced to the Bars by White Light’s Dave Isherwood he was instantly impressed. “I have always loved the DHA digital light curtains but they are impractical for concert touring. The GLP Bars felt like the first products I had seen that produce a similar effect, since others I had tried did not deliver the dense curtain of light that I wanted.”
PURE LIVE will be published on 28 August prior to IBC!
PURE LIVE 2016 covers:
Detailed descriptions of 24 new 4K/UHD OBVans from all around the world: Australia, China, Canada, Europe, United States, in particular AMP VISUAL TV, Arena, Clark Media, Croatel, Dome Productions, Euromedia, Gearhouse, Hunan TV, JSBC, Mediapro, NEP, Telecenic, Timeline\TV, TopVision, TV Skyline, TVN, Videohouse.
Portraits of international system integrators, rental facilities and production houses .
Case studies and reports highlighting our areas of focus: video, audio and lighting as well as the latest developments in sports and entertainment live-production: UEFA EURO - Adele - Le Mans - Royal Opera Stockholm - Formula E - Montreux Jazz - Trotting - PAC-12, to only name a few of the Highlights.
PRODUCTS
Seventeen Days to IBC
As of today we feature 53 companies and their approach at IBC2016. This list is continously updated until IBC opens on September 8th in Amsterdam.
2wcom - Adder - Artel - AviWest - Axon - BB&S - Belden - BFE - Bluebell - Calrec - Canare - ChyronHego - Clear-Com - Custom Consoles - Dejero - DNF - EBU - Elemental - EVS - Gearhouse - Grass Valley - Guntermann & Drunck - Harmonic - Hitachi - I-MOVIX - IHSE - Ikegami - Imagine Communications - Jünger - Leader - Media Links - Megahertz - MSE - Neunann - Nevion - NOA - Octopus - Omnitek - Polecam - Rohde & Schwarz - Ross Video - SAM - Sennheiser - Sixty - Sonnet - SSL - Tektonix - Telestream - Timecode Systems - Video Devices - Vimond - Vizrt - Wisycom
The link "IBC2016" will always show you the featured companies in alphabetical order