Kurt
Heitmann and the good people at CP Communications have established a
memorial trust fund in honor of ESPN and sports industry audio
legend Ron Scalise that will be used for the college education of his
three children: Rosario, 16, RJ, 11, and his daughter Brenna, 10. At
the request of the family this will be the only fund established to
limit confusion. For more information on donating to the fund please
click on this story.
All donations should be made out to the fund and should be sent to:
Kurt G. Heitmann
CP Communications, Inc.
200 Clearbrook Road
Elmsford, NY 10523
Third Annual Sports & Technology Research Study
The Sports Video Group and the Consumer Electronics Association has released the
third-annual “Sports & Technology Research Survey, highlighting the power
that sports content has as both a driver of HD set sales as well as other new
technologies. The survey includes our exclusive 2008 Super Bowl Briefing as
well as new data about consumer online sports viewing behavior.
The Wimbledon tennis championships are underway and once again
broadcast technology is making itself felt not just on the television
coverage but also the decisions made by match officials. New to the
BBC's domestic and host transmissions this year is the Hi-Motion
camera, which produces ultra-slow pictures for closer analysis by
commentators and viewers.
This is also the first year that the
outside broadcast facilities are provided by SIS OBs, the new name for
BBC OBs under the ownership of Satellite Information Service (SIS). The
Hi-Motion camera, developed by NAC Image Technology, has been hired by
SIS OBs from exclusive European agent ARRI Media. It plays back at
speeds six times slower than standard pictures for giving greater
detail.
More UK viewers have the opportunity to see the tennis
action on Centre Court and Number 1 Court in high definition because the
BBC's HD channel is available on Freesat, cable and satellite. Audio is
being mixed in 5.1 for the two main courts to accompany the HD pictures
but is stereo on all others, with SD video.
On site are SIS OBs'
CMCCR (Colour Mobile Central Control Room) as the central production
area for the BBC's domestic coverage, supported by two video trucks,
VT2 and VT6, with Unit 2 covering Number 1 Court. Because the bulk of
SIS OB's HD fleet has already set off for China to provide facilities
to host broadcaster Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, Arena Television's
Unit 8 has been hired in to work on Centre Court.
A total of 67
cameras is being used around Wimbledon, consisting of 33 Sony SD cameras, 20 Sony HD units, plus five three-times-speed slo-mos, and
four Thomson Grass Valley LDK 23s super-motion cameras.
SIS OBs'
lead engineer manager for Wimbledon, Adrian Kingston, has worked on
every Wimbledon since 1985, although he did miss 1990, when he was at
the World Cup. He says the "overall shape of the technical operation at
Wimbledon" is constantly developing as new technologies become
available.
In addition to the Hi-Motion camera EVS X-File drives
are being used for the All England Club archive. An innovation from
last year is the use of the EVS IP Director, which works in conjunction
with the main XT server system.
Editing for the BBC's domestic
output still has two tape-based systems but there are also three Avid
Adrenalins connected to an Unity media server, plus an ingest position.
The
Hawk-Eye multi-camera tracking system is again being used for on-court
appeals as well as television analysis. Players are allowed three
challenges to umpiring decisions per set, with an additional appeal for
tie-breaks. Centre Court and Number 1 Court each has a data generation
system for Hawk-Eye, with one set of cameras for multiple outputs,
including for official Wimbledon use and BBC unilateral feeds.
