North Dakota Adds Tightrope Media’s ZEPLAY for Multi-Channel Instant Replays

The Ralph Engelstad Arena, on the campus of the University of North Dakota, has chosen the ZEPLAY Instant Replay Server by Tightrope Media Systems for slow-motion instant replays and highlights packages presented during the many events held at the arena.

The North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team is playing its 10th season in the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

ZEPLAY is a 4 in/4 out instant replay server that records four 100Mbps HD-SDI streams while simultaneously playing out any or all of the streams. It is designed so that a single operator can manage all four angles and all eight streams and also includes a sequence editor for on-the-fly highlights package creation, clip store, melts, transport controls, and frame blending in both slow motion and fast motion for super smooth replays.

The Ralph Engelstad Arena hosts a number of sporting events aside from Fighting Sioux hockey, including motocross, mixed martial arts, and basketball.

“We chose ZEPLAY because it was the only instant replay server that provided four outputs along with four inputs”, said Chad Hopman, the arena’s video producer. “With ZEPLAY you have instant access to all four independently recorded streams. We can play out one angle while we are cuing up any of the other three angles, and all the while ZEPLAY is continuously recording.”

A feature of ZEPLAY regularly used in producing Fighting Sioux hockey is the sequence editor for putting together highlight packages.

“During each period we use ZEPLAY’s software to mark key plays and the best angles for the highlight sequence”, explained Hopman. “ZEPLAY’s sequence editor is built right into the User Interface, so at the same time we are airing replays, we can also drag and drop these highlights into the sequence we air at the intermission. The highlight editor allows us to play back clips at different speeds, and it even offers split edits that enable us to show the same key play from different angles and at different speeds within the highlight sequence.”