Broadcast Pix Enhances Sports Coverage

Timo TinderbeckSTOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Onside TV Production, the production arm of the Allsvenskan Swedish Football League here, will soon rely on Broadcast Pix Slate integrated production systems to produce daily high-definition news conferences for each of our 16 teams. We are in the process of installing small, unmanned HD studios in stadiums across the country that will be monitored and managed through our centralized control room in here in Stockholm.

SPORTS COVERAGE FROM ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY

The project is designed to increase news exposure of Sweden's premier league and its players and coaches by providing daily video footage from each club, which can be distributed to media outlets. When the project is completed, we will have a total of 17 Broadcast Pix Slate G 1000 integrated production systems in place. We are anticipating they'll see a lot of use in the upcoming football season.

Maintaining production crews at each venue was simply too expensive, so we needed to be able to remotely control everything from a central point. The main reason Broadcast Pix was selected was its fundamental and unique ability to be controlled via IP. Of course, we knew quite a bit about the Broadcast Pix Slate switcher, as we have been using one in our existing Stockholm facility for some time. We did a lot of testing and were convinced that the stability of the Broadcast Pix IP capability could handle our requirements.

Each on-site studio is being equipped with Sony BRC-Z700 robotic cameras, LED lighting and an audio board that can be also be controlled remotely through the Slate. Someone will have to turn on the power locally, but the rest of the production is being handled by our off-site staff. We'll even have a reporter in Stockholm to field questions to team personnel.

MULTIVIEWER, CG, AND CLIP STORE ADD VALUE

Onside is taking advantage of the Slate's built-in Inscriber CG and internal clip store, as well as the multiviewer for monitoring the remote productions. The single integrated view of all the local sources, including program and preview output and program audio, is being returned to the control center via IP.

We don't plan to broadcast press conferences live, but our personnel in Stockholm will be able to monitor them in real time over the Internet. Plans are to record footage on site with remotely controlled Apple Mac Pros equipped with Final Cut Pro. This footage will then be transferred via FTP to a Final Cut Pro edit station in the Stockholm control room for editing. Footage will also be tagged with metadata and then stored within our content management system.

This is a really groundbreaking solution from a technological standpoint, and it's a cost effective solution from a business standpoint. With Broadcast Pix, we can provide better access to Swedish Football League team personnel for our fans and the media by utilizing inexpensive HD studios that don't require local crews.

Timo Tinderbeck is a technical director for Onside TV Production and is based in Stockholm. He has been working with Onside TV Production for eight years and has been working in the video industry since 1996. Timo may be contacted attimo.tinderbeck@onside.se

For additional information, contact Broadcast Pix at 978-600-1100 or visitwww.broadcastpix.com.