16 MANAGEMENT
August 2018
AJA Ki Pro Ultra supports eSports production
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Every week at the Caesars Event Space in Las Vegas , USA , 75 pro gamers gather for a Pro League eSports competition , which pits teams of gamers against one another as they play Daybreak Games ’ battle royale hit H1Z1 .
Hosted by sports reporter Kristine Leahy , the show features a combination of gameplay , player reactions , play-by-play analysis by sportscasters Jason Burns and Rich Campbell , as well as player and team interviews .
With so many elements to capture and integrate into a cohesive programme , GQC , a boutique equipment rental and services shop , led by technical supervisor Marty Meyer , teamed up with Michael Little , COO of design , develop and deployment group
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Artistic Resources Corporation ( ARC ), ahead of the production to architect and implement a broadcast-grade workflow .
Meyer shared : “ Our approach to a Facebook Live stream like this is no different than if we were broadcasting to a major sports network . At the end of the day , we know we ’ ll be firing up an arsenal of broadcast equipment , so a smart crew and reliable tools with great functionality are must-haves .
“ When it comes to hiring a good production crew , they often expect top-of-the-line equipment — from the cameras to the switcher . We knew we ’ d need a bullet-proof recorder like Ki Pro Ultra that professionals respect .”
GQC ’ s workflow includes eight
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Panasonic cameras , which capture footage of the host , commentators and players ; five of the cameras are handheld , one is a front-of-house camera on a platform , and two are mounted on jibs , including one Jimmy Jib .
An AJA Ki Pro Ultra recorder / player , connected to each Panasonic camera , is tapped for ISO records , and used as primary and backup line records . A media server separately records live gameplay from each of the 75 gaming computers in real time , while 76 genlocked point-of-view ( POV ) cameras mounted above each computer monitor capture player reactions .
A multi-channel AJA FS4 synchronises three additional computers as graphics sources . Computer
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AJA ’ s Ki Pro Ultra recorder and player is being used to produce a weekly eSports competition in Las Vegas .
sources are fed to AJA ’ s FS4 frame synchroniser and converter over HD-SDI , and using the region of interest ( ROI ) controls , an extraction of the computer desktops is scaled to baseband video at 1080p with the same frame rate as the rest of the camera sources to switch to as part of the streaming feed .
Each week , each of the Ki Pro Ultra records more than three-anda-half hours of ProRes 422 footage to AJA Pak Media solid-state drives ( SSDs ). The Paks are then passed off to the client ’ s in-house editorial
team , who then cut the videos for a re-broadcast , marketing materials and team use .
Little concluded : “ Looking at an eSports broadcast for Facebook Live versus a traditional sports production , the demands are similar , which is why we went with Ki Pro Ultra .
“ It ’ s the universal go-to for confident recording because it ’ s been heavily vetted and ruggedised , and by that , I mean it ’ s proven to perform consistently , even in rough environments .”
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❝ DAMsmart are a perfect complement to Silver Trak and our services , particularly our Media Room smart media
asset management solution .❞
— Christian Christiansen ,
COO , Silver Trak
Silver Trak Digital gets DAMsmart
Silver Trak Digital has acquired video and film digitisation company DAMsmart , a move the former said will further cement its position as one of Australia ’ s leading broadcast services , digitisation and media asset management ( MAM ) providers .
Christian Christiansen , COO of Silver Trak , elaborated : “ DAM smart is a perfect complement to Silver Trak and our services , particularly our Media Room smart media asset management solution .
“ They are not only video and film digitisation pioneers but also rejuvenation and content recovery specialists , a service that is extremely difficult to perfect .”
As the need for digitisation services continue to grow , particularly in the Asia-Pacific region , the DAMsmart acquisition is also a key part of Silver Trak ’ s strategic move and further expansion into the Asia- Pacific region as it dovetails into the company ’ s digital strategy for QC , online vetting of content , storage and delivery .
Christiansen concluded : “ With this key acquisition , the market now has a single supplier solution for all commercially or culturally significant content that requires digitising , preserving and moving into the future .
“ Any Silver Trak client who still maintains a legacy media archive has access to the best media digitisation service available and the ability to make it available on the widest range of contemporary distribution and consumption platforms via Media Room .”
Qvest Media supports German broadcasters ’ production of World Cup
For the recently concluded FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia , systems architect and rental provider Qvest Media complemented German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF ’ s technical infrastructure with IT , A / V and broadcast technology .
One challenge ARD and ZDF had to overcome was the long dis- tances between the 12 World Cup Stadiums in Russia . The distance from Kaliningrad to Ekaterinburg , for example , is over 3,000km — this prompted ARD and ZDF to expand their National Broadcast Centre ( NBC ) at SWR , a regional public broadcaster in Germany ’ s southwestern town of Baden-Baden , into a central studio for the World Cup .
A stable connection between the SWR site and Russia is ensured by two redundant 10GB lines , which are used for 45 video lines alone , and which allowed production teams from the broadcasters to be deployed locally in Russia .
Qvest Media equipped SWR ’ s mobile electronic newsgathering ( ENG ) crews with Sony PXW-Z450 and PXW-FS7 MK II camcorders and Fujinon lenses , among others . For live interviews , reporters also have at their disposal a pool of various wireless Sennheiser microphones and radio links , directional microphones from RØDE , tripods from Sachtler and other grip equipment from ARRI , Chrosziel , Bebob and Quickpole .
Central ingest , highlight editing , playout and replay were addressed by an installation of EVS components . These consist of IP Director , XTAccess Ultra Performance servers and servers from the XT4K series , which can be flexibly used for ingest and playout .
Editors also accessed raw video and audio material using four Avid Nexis E4 shared storage solutions with a total storage capacity of 480TB . In addition to the eight Avid editing systems already owned by ARD and ZDF , Qvest Media provided 10 extra Avid Media Composer editing workstations based on HP Z8 workstations with the Avid DNxIQ I / O interface . Audio post production was addressed by
The Avid S6 audio console was just one of the many products and solutions that Qvest Media deployed at the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia , in helping German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF produce the tournament .
two Pro Tools Ultimate systems , including Avid S6 consoles .
Other equipment deployed included Evertz ’ s VIP-X multiviewers , which were used for the interaction of displays . An additional keyboard , video and mouse ( KVM ) matrix , including workstation modules from Guntermann & Drunck ( G & D ), was also deployed to provide an efficient system configuration .
Henning Miehe , key account manager , rental solutions and services , Qvest Media , said : “ Since the 2006 World Cup in Germany , ARD and ZDF have relied on our expertise and equipment for support at major sporting events .
“ We are very pleased with this long-standing trust in Qvest Media , but we are aware that this must not be taken for granted and has to been earned anew at every major event .”