How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDR

Multi-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operations

The return of the NBA to NBC has resulted in a transformation of NBC Sports’ Stamford, CT, operations. Most notably, it provided a strong incentive to transition the facility to full 1080p HDR. The multi-year (and multi-stage) project offers a number of key advantages.

“We found it didn’t make sense to do 1080p HDR piecemeal,” explains Tim Canary, SVP, engineering, NBC Sports. “A control room would be 1080p HDR for Notre Dame on Saturday and then reverse to 1080i SDR and then back to 1080p HDR. If you multiply that type of switching between interlace and progressive over 12 control rooms, you could forget a piece along the way.”

The NBC Sports Stamford production facility now operates completely in 1080p HDR.

The need to have only one house format became clear during the 2022 Beijing Olympics, for which half the content was produced in HDR and the other half in SDR. “We were doubling up on recording, which made the production bulkier and also confusing,” says Darryl Jefferson, SVP, engineering and technology, NBC Sports & Olympics. “But, in Paris, we went all HDR, and it smoothed things out. It was a huge moment when we realized it was easier to just have one mezzanine format. We begin with the best-quality images and sound, and then it’s easy to downconvert from there.”

The first step in the move to 1080p HDR began in 2019, Canary says, with a new Grass Valley IP ST 2110 routing infrastructure capable of handling 1080p HDR signals. Today, the router has 8,700 inputs, 17,400 outputs, and a flow capacity of 26,000 signals and is complemented by a growing fleet of Imagine Selenio processors. NBC Sports relies on the GV XIP-3900 to handle all SDR-to-HDR and HDR-to-SDR conversions for incoming and outgoing signals.

“Then you start looking at all the subsystems and make sure that they are 1080p HDR–capable,” he says. “The last piece was storage, and we went with the Avid Nexis F5 systems for three workgroups. We also have the F2 series in use on one workgroup.”

Notes Jefferson, “Every edge device, everything that’s transferring files, every input and output has the ability to operate in HDR color space. That took five or six years to accomplish.”

The Sony XVS-9000 production switcher was a big help in the transition to 1080p HDR production at NBC Sports.

One important move was the leap to Sony XVS-9000 production switchers. The units provide the input and IP headroom required to grow with the move to 1080p HDR, instead of locking the production teams and engineering in a corner.

The last pieces of the puzzle were this summer’s installation of Avid storage, expansion of the 2110 routing infrastructure, expansion to EVS Cerebrum Control, additional Dell/Isilon storage, and two new EVS XT-VIA systems.

“A few of the other things we did,” says Canary, “was convert all XT-VIA control panels to the new LSM-VIA, integrate the NBA HSAN into our building, and expand and modernize our RTS Adam intercoms with Odin systems.”

What was happening inside the building in Stamford was only part of the process.

“Parallel to the changes in Stamford,” explains Jefferson, “the field team, led by [NBC Sports EVP, Remote and Studio Operations] Ken Goss and [NBC Sports VP, Remote Tech Operations and Engineering] Craig Bernstein, made sure that every deal for production trucks required them to be 1080p HDR–capable. Slowly, the truck vendors started bringing those facilities online. Everything coalesced, and, eventually, we had the tipping point. That was the 2022 Beijing Games.”

In the days of SDR/HDR, Bernstein notes, there was always the debate of whether cameras should be shaded for HDR or SDR. “We decided that, since 99% of the people are going to watch SDR, protecting the SDR was a priority, and that’s how we approached the engineering plan.”

Today, all monitoring in Stamford is done in HDR, and shading is done in HDR with a predictive downconvert to SDR for reference. Says Canary, “We monitor that carefully to ensure proper colorimetry in SDR.”

One of the challenges now (and facing every production looking to go HDR) is making sure freelancers and crew are well-versed in the workflows and how HDR impacts the way they work. “It’s easy to find someone for Sunday Night Football,” says Bernstein, “but, if you’re doing 250 college basketball games, your list of locals who know the latest and greatest needs to align in order to produce the show.”

Adds Jefferson, “The same issue applies to [Dolby] Atmos, which is not universally everywhere. Finding A1s and A2s who have had exposure to it [is challenging].”