CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada Goes 3D with Chyron Graphics

Two Chyron HyperX³ on-air graphics systems were used in Canada’s first 3D hockey broadcast on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada last weekend. During the Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs game at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Dec. 11, the Chyron systems deployed a dynamic 3D score bug and other graphics with 3D objects and animation for the broadcast.

“CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada has led hockey coverage in Canada for close to six decades,” says Trevor Pilling, executive producer of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. “We were the first to introduce hockey in HD in 2003, and we’ve continued that spirit of innovation with Canada’s first 3D hockey broadcast. Working with Chyron systems, we were able to package our hockey graphics for the 3D environment and successfully integrate them into our broadcast workflow to provide a visually striking 3D viewing experience.”

HyperX³ features seamless creation-to-playout capability and real-time 2D-to-3D animation. The system is scalable to two independent channels and the 3D stereoscopic capability is a standard feature with the Lyric PRO 8 creation and playout package. The power of HyperX³ and Lyric PRO 8 allowed CBC Sports to adapt some of its 2D images the 3D broadcast.

The HyperX³ and its integrated Lyric PRO 8 software also facilitated CBC’s use of a new 3D score bug. During the game, the new score-generation system provided the game clock, penalties, and out-of-town scores.

“Being a former CBC Sports employee who used to use Chyron graphics for hockey games, I can greatly appreciate the work put into the production of such a prestigious Canadian event,” says Phil Carmichael, VP, product marketing at Chyron. “It was a real honor for Chyron to be involved in this history-making hockey telecast.”