Crawford TES Delivers for 3D BCS

Crawford’s Transportable Earth Station division joined 3ality Digital for a live 3D high-definition broadcast of the FedEx BCS National Championship between the University of Florida and University of Oklahoma on Jan. 8.

Along with Crawford’s support, 3ality Digital partnered with Fox Sports, Sony, and Cinedigm Digital Cinema to bring this game to more than 80 theaters across 35 states. Crawford’s TES engineers have been working with 3ality Digital to provide satellite transmission and HD encoding for 3D HD productions.

Crawford transmitted 3ality Digital’s first 3D HD football game for the NFL: Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers on Dec. 4 from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Broadcast live, this event was experienced by hundreds in three Real D-enabled theaters in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City.

“On a show of this scale with new technology, collaboration is key for us to deliver pixel-perfect digital-3D entertainment,” says Ted Kenney, producer for 3ality Digital. “Crawford is well-known to major networks and especially for their experience in sports broadcasting. Their senior management and technical staff are committed to our productions and are a part of our team. Crawford’s end-to-end solutions help us achieve our goals.”

Crawford’s HD-capable satellite-uplink trucks with a 2D infrastructure combine seamlessly with 3ality Digital’s stereoscopic 3D image-capture and -processing technology. “This groundbreaking technology will forever change how we view sports,” says Jim Schuster, president of Satellite Services for Crawford. “Working on these large projects with our client has allowed us to be a vital part of this futuristic move in the industry.”