April 2014
www.tvbeurope.com
The issue os further complicated by the initial launch of 4K services delivered over the internet
TVBEurope 15
Beyond HD: 4K Challenges
Gearhouse deploys 22 5K mini-cams for tennis
By Adrian Pennington
THE FREED sports analysis system featured as part of ATP Media’s coverage of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March used 22 mini-5K cameras. Gearhouse Broadcast
Gauntlett: “We need to find a way to make a UHD logo signify a different experience, not a low threshold one”
gives a noticeably better picture on screens of any size. We see UHD as being a step change in picture quality no matter the screen size.”
UHD ready?
The issue is further complicated by the initial launch of 4K services delivered over the internet to select smart TV brands, such as Samsung. Netflix will launch around
May this year with services from Amazon and M-Go to follow. They will rely on adaptive streaming, which will vary the quality of the video depending on bitrate into the home. “Homes with high-speed
broadband will be capable of showing 4K resolution but those with less bandwidth won’t see the full benefit of UHD,” says Gauntlett. “In which case is it
better to stream with higher colour and higher brightness at the expense of the highest resolution? The picture quality will remain high even though resolution is lost. “‘HD-ready’ was not a great success in terms of explaining to consumers how to get HD,” he admits. “We need to find a way to make a UHD logo signify a different experience, not a low threshold one.” The DTG runs the UK UHD
Forum to thrash out such issues for stakeholders. Gauntlett added that they are considering whether they can retrofit higher dynamic range and greater colour to the HD specifications and to HD TV sets. “This won’t necessarily impact
sales of UHD TVs since oversampling in the 4K displays will make HD content look better,” he says.
Each JAI Sp20000 camera offers full frame 20 megapixel resolution at 30fps
deployed the system, devised by Israel’s Replay Technologies, for the first time at a tennis event. The centre court at Indian
Wells was ringed with 22 locked- off SP20000 cameras made by Danish firm JAI. The cameras, in JAI’s Spark series, are more commonly used in security, industrial and traffic monitoring environments. Built around a 41mm diagonal CMOS sensor with global shutter, each camera offers full frame 20megapixel resolution (5120x3840 pixels) at 30fps. A built-in high dynamic range (HDR) mode (monochrome
only) lets users define two knee points to expand the dynamic range of the camera in high contrast situations. Dual Mini Camera Link connectors in a two-cable ‘full’ configuration provide the bandwidth necessary for high- speed, high-resolution output. At Indian Wells, four 3G signals per camera – some 88 signals in total – were fed by Thinklogical fibre extenders into 16 Access Tech servers at the media control room where FreeD software rendered a 360º matrix. FreeD operators, in conjunction with the director, can decide on pre-set moves based on pivotal positions, such as the baseline server, from which to zoom in and pan around, start or stop or freeze the action or show slow motion.
The centre court at Indian Wells was ringed with 22 locked-off cameras
Completed clips are ingested via HD-SDI into EVS machines ready for selection by the director (or editors compiling match highlights) at the end of a game or set. The latency of each clip is about 15 seconds. Gearhouse, which provides all the facilities and crew to ATP Media for the production of the ATP Masters 1000 Series and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, says it is talking with broadcasters about including the system as part of the picture package at future Grand Slam tennis events. The system may make an
appearance at the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London in November.
www.gearhousebroadcast.com www.replay-technologies.com
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