Day: May 31, 2019

Follow the ING Night Marathon with the Live Stream from BCE / Freecaster

Posted on by contentntek in News, OTT & Streaming media, Production & Post Production

Broadcasting Center Europe has been selected to ensure the event coverage of the ING Night Marathon 2019 (Luxembourg) on June 1st, 2019.

Additionally, BCE will use its Freecaster solutions to live stream the event on websites and social networks. The player will allow the viewers to follow the production or to select themselves the camera they wish to follow.

Stay tuned and follow the ING Night Marathon online!

On BCE website: http://www.bce.lu/ing-night-marathon/

On RTL Luxembourg website: https://www.rtl.lu/sport/news/a/1352525.html

Finepoint Broadcast sets sights on MPS

Posted on by contentntek in Event, News, Production & Post Production

This year’s event will be supported by around 150 exhibiting companies and is expected to attract over 5,000 visitors.

“MPS has grown impressively both in the number and quality of its exhibitors, with increasing support from major manufacturers one would otherwise only expect to see taking stands at international events,” says Finepoint Broadcast’s Managing Director Giles Bendig. “The Olympia venue is also ideal from a visitor perspective with easy access via road, rail or air. We also like the timing, two months after NAB and three months before IBC.”

 

“The MPS exhibitor base is getting strong with ever passing year,” adds Finepoint Broadcast’s Hire Manager Clive Northen. “Notable supporters for 2019 include Atomos, Avid, Blackmagic, Canon, Dedolight, Evertz, Fujinon, Genelec, Ikegami, JVC, Leader, Newtek, Panasonic, Røde, Sennheiser, Sony, Tiffen and Tyrell. That creates good opportunities for trying out potential additions to our rental product range. The parallel seminars also generate useful opportunities for networking both with presenters and attendees.”

 

“The Media Production Show’s timing is also perfect in relation to the January BSC Expo in Battersea,” confirms Finepoint Broadcast’s Pro-AV Sales Manager Paul MacKenzie. “A key strength of MPS is that it covers a wide spectrum of television production and post rather than limiting its focus to lenses, lights and cameras. Many of our customers will be attending either as exhibitors or visitors with less distraction than they would experience at the international shows.”

Finepoint Broadcast Ltd operates in the UK from its head office in Kingswood, Surrey, and a sales office located at Pinewood Studios. Finepoint has been supplying broadcasters with a wide range of production and OB equipment since its establishment in the 1970s, complemented by a unique blend of exceptional service and extensive product knowledge.

As a leading dry hire service-provider addressing the global marketplace, Finepoint provides 24 hour support backed by a team of in-house engineers checking every piece of equipment in the fleet. Finepoint also has sales divisions dealing with new and used equipment and professional audio-visual sales and installations. When coupled with the hire division, this enables the company to offer a uniquely wide choice of products and services at very aggressive prices.

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Riedel at InfoComm 2019

Posted on by contentntek in Event, News, Products, Radio & Audio

Riedel solutions — including the MediorNet decentralized network, Artist digital matrix intercom system, and Bolero wireless intercom — are used worldwide to handle events ranging from local events to global games.

NEW: Artist-1024 Intercom Node — 1024 Ports in Just 2 RU!
Riedel will showcase the new Artist-1024 node, a powerful new addition to the Artist intercom ecosystem. Artist-1024 features an incredible 1024 ports in just 2 RU and is targeted toward IP installations with its full SMPTE ST 2110-30/31 (AES67) compliance.

Artist-1024 introduces a range of technical innovations centered on software-definable Universal Interface Cards (UIC). This entirely new type of interface card combines networking, mixing, and management, and it can be configured to act either as an AES67 or MADI subscriber card, or as an Artist fiber/router/processor card. Changing the connectivity type is as easy as reconfiguring the UIC with the click of a button in Riedel’s Director configuration software.

The Artist-1024 frame provides ten bays for UICs, with two being reserved solely for routing and networking UICs. The remaining eight bays can be equipped with UICs of various configurations to provide subscriber connectivity. The integral mixer on each subscriber card can be scaled from 8 to 128 ports per card and can access all 1024 ports of the Artist backbone. In addition, four expansion slots are available for various GPIO or synchronization applications.

Multiple redundancy schemes and flexible licensing round out the 1024’s formidable feature set.

NEW: MediorNet Processing App
Riedel’s new MediorNet Processing App provides an advanced suite of powerful, decentralized signal processing capabilities to every MediorNet network. Built on the MicroN 80Gb media distribution hardware, Riedel’s newest app adds up/down/cross-conversion, color correction, and mulitviewers.

MicroN is designed to support 4K and IP workflows, and it uses software apps to extend the device from basic signal transport and distribution to full video router functionality. Standard integrated signal processing, including frame sync/frame store, audio embedding/de-embedding, test pattern generation, and audio/video delay, allows MicroN to simplify signal paths and workflows while eliminating the need for dedicated processing boxes. The decentralized concept of MediorNet allows hardware to be placed exactly where it’s needed, leveraging the network for sources while reducing system complexity and overall cabling requirements.

The new Processing App includes two channels of up/down/cross-conversion, four channels of color correction in the RBG and YCbCr color spaces, and two multiviewer screens.

Bolero Standalone Wireless Intercom System
Riedel will feature its all-new Bolero Standalone Application, a license-enabled upgrade for the company’s category-defining Bolero wireless intercom system that delivers several performance enhancements along with standalone capabilities. With the Bolero Standalone Application, antennas are daisy-chained to each other in a line or a redundant ring via a low-latency, synchronized TDM network.

Bolero is truly plug-and-play, with no IP configuration needed. A new external power supply can power up to five antennas, so power and data redundancies are easily achieved. A new single-RU, half-width external interface box, with six analog 4-wires and three GPIOs, can be directly connected to any antenna and then patched into an existing intercom system. The system is easily configured via a web GUI internal to the antennas. Other new capabilities provided by the Bolero update include individual rotary programming, Bluetooth headset support, and a new beltpack QuickMute feature that allows users to set the volume of all channels to zero easily.

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MEDIAPRO, chosen to as VAR provider to the Super League Greece

Posted on by contentntek in News, Production & Post Production

The final of the Greek Cup will be the first match in the country’s history to use VAR technology.

MEDIAPRO, in collaboration with In Digital, has been awarded the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) service contract for the Super League Greece (football premiere division) and to improve the Greek Football Federation’s (HFF) digital environment for the next five years

The chosen VAR solution is in line with the model MEDIAPRO is providing in Spain and Portugal. The service, which will get underway this coming 2019-2020 league championship season, will be centralized at HFF headquarters in Athens with fibre optic connection to all Super League stadiums. In addition, the contract contemplates the use of mobile VAR units to cover matches being played on the Greek islands.

MEDIAPRO will also provide training and certification for Greek referees and VAR operators during the months of May, June and July 2019. The Greek company In Digital has set up a digital environment based on an App where referees and members of the federation can review and check video arbitration decisions as they take place during the competition.

Greek Cup Final 2019

MEDIAPRO provided its VAR service for the final of the Greek Cup, organized by the HFF last Saturday at the Olympic Stadium in Athens (OAKA) and which saw PAOK teams of Thessaloniki and Athens AEK facing off. The game was the first in the history of Greek football to use VAR, in addition to being the preliminary test for the service that MEDIAPRO will provide to the Greek league from this coming 2019-2020 season.

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During this match, the MEDIAPRO Group used a mobile VAR unit coordinated by a team of six professionals from Medialuso together with members of the Greek crew who regularly work for MEDIAPRO in the Super League Greece football match production.

The MEDIAPRO Group is currently the official provider of VAR technology for official league competitions in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Chile and United Arab Emirates and provides services to CONMENBOL, CAF and FIBA.

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Christian Vision Selects Imagen to Host Global Video Platform

Posted on by contentntek in News, OTT & Streaming media

CV Global initially commissioned the Imagen platform for the internal management of its content amongst the organisation’s 16 teams, based across six continents. However, after receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback, the platform has been deployed as a tool to manage external media distribution in-house, rather than using third-party services – offering a bespoke self-serve interface for users to access and download content. Utilising Imagen’s fully customisable templates, CV Global has been able to maintain its brand identity throughout the user journey.

Powerful tagging functions mean that CV Global’s team can easily tag media according to their own schema, enabling them to maintain data consistency throughout the transition, whilst Imagen’s content onboarding process ensures associated media assets can be uploaded into one file, saving time for both media managers and end users.

With subscribers across the world, Imagen’s powerful audience analytics feature will provide granular insights into CV Global’s content interactions as well as user engagement. With this valuable insight, CV Global can hone its production strategy to create new content to satisfy audience demand trends.

David Parker, CRO, EMEA & APAC of Imagen said, “We are proud of what we have been able to achieve for Christian Vision Global and look forward to working closely with their international teams as the library grows.”

Video editing

Dan Price, Content Manager at CV Global added, “We were initially scoping out two separate systems for internal content management and public access. We are incredibly satisfied with the flexibility of Imagen’s platform, which has allowed us to excel at both.”

 

Discovery Deutschland Adds HGTV to Channel Lineup, Extends Partnership With MX1 and ASTRA

Posted on by contentntek in 30 Seconds News, Satellite & Transmissions

Discovery Deutschland has been relying on MX1 services and capacity on SES’s ASTRA satellites for seven of its German TV channels. For this eighth and brand-new channel, MX1 is delivering fully managed playout, including advanced graphics, uplink, and distribution services. The free-to-air SD channel is distributed via SES’s ASTRA 1KR satellite at the prime orbital position of 19.2 degrees East, which reaches over 118 million homes across Europe.

MX1_logo_Banner

“MX1 is a valued supplier, and the contracting services and ASTRA satellite capacity for the eighth channel underlines the success of our work together on the seven channels MX1 already manages,” said Alberto Horta, deputy general manager of Discovery Deutschland. “Advertisers have complex demands and expect a seamless integration into our broadcast, with which MX1 provides us. MX1’s broad range of media services delivers world-class reliability and exceptional quality, which is essential for maintaining high standards and satisfying our advertising partners.”

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ChyronHego Introduces TRACAB Gen5

Posted on by contentntek in Multimedia, News, OTT & Streaming media

ChyronHego introduced TRACAB Gen5, the newest generation of the company’s Emmy® Award-winning TRACAB optical sports tracking system. TRACAB Gen5 features significant improvements in tracking data quality and accuracy, driven by completely redesigned tracking algorithms, a richer array of camera angles, and powerful new AI features for player, number, and colour recognition.

TRACAB Gen5 uses a distributed system of cameras installed around the field of play and advanced image processing technology to capture and deliver real-time tracking data on the movements of each player, referees, and the ball. As the world’s most widely deployed optical sports tracking system, TRACAB has been installed in over 300 stadia and is currently used to capture live tracking data for more than 4,500 football/soccer and baseball games each year.

“TRACAB has always been the most accurate sports tracking system in the world, but with TRACAB Gen5 we’ve made it exponentially better,” said Rickard Öhrn, president, sports, at ChyronHego. “We’ve overhauled and improved our AI-based image detection tracking algorithms from the ground up to ensure maximum accuracy and the lowest latency. We’re combining these advanced algorithms with multiple high-resolution camera angles, which means we can deliver the highest quality data feed on the market — in real-time — and provide an even greater value for leagues, federations and teams, betting companies, broadcasters, and OTT rights holders producing virtual graphics and enhancements for better fan engagement.”

TRACAB Gen5 includes an all-new distributed camera architecture in which cameras can be deployed on both sides of the field and behind each goal to capture action from four angles. With the flexibility of the system offering multiple camera views, Gen5 is able to track every object on the field at a much higher resolution. By stitching and utilising these camera views within TRACAB’s industry-leading computer vision algorithms, Gen5 is able to deliver the highest accuracy of ball and player tracking data in the global sports market. The accuracy of player identities is further enhanced through TRACAB Gen5’s AI capabilities, which enable the system to recognize and distinguish player numbers and jersey colours from any angle. Where preferred by clients, this capability also allows for the removal of operators from on-site operations.

ChyronHego-TRACABGen5

TRACAB Gen5 has, on request by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), been independently validated by the Technical University of Munich, which used the Vicon 3D motion capture system to measure the ChyronHego system’s tracking and data collection accuracy. This is the industry standard by which tracking solutions are validated in the football market. The testing revealed that TRACAB Gen5 is able to track objects on the field with an average accuracy of 7cm (relative to the centre of mass of a player) and 100% tracking completeness. Coupled with a real-time latency of below 300 milliseconds, these are the highest performance results ever achieved by any sports tracking system in the world.

On the strength of these results, the DFL is currently rolling out TRACAB Gen5 to all 36 of its Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 arenas for the 2019-2020 football season.

ChyronHego-TRACABGen5-SkeletalFeature

The robustness and scalability of this data is key for stakeholders. ChyronHego provides this service through the TRACAB Gateway, an advanced cloud-based, automated delivery engine and database. The TRACAB Gateway provides an open architecture of APIs for real-time and post-match data integration, as well as the querying of data for all stakeholders within leagues, teams, betting clients, and broadcast or OTT media.

Building further on this high level of accuracy and real-time data delivery, ChyronHego is expanding the utility of TRACAB’s deep convolutional neural network algorithms even further to deliver limb or skeletal tracking. This is done by identifying players’ key body parts, such as heads, shoulders, arms, hips, knees, heels, and toes, to enable the creation of three-dimensional skeletal movements of players. The resulting multidimensional data, accurate enough even to define the position of the tip of a striker’s foot, will be fed automatically into VAR (Video Assistant Referee) operations. This will allow offside calling decisions to be powered by instantaneous and automatic identification of situations. Additionally, this unprecedented level of data resolution and quality will be able to power many new stakeholder applications for fan-engagement and professional purposes, placing ChyronHego at the forefront of data innovation in sports.

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