FEATURE
Broadcast TECH
Premier League: 3D trucks are owned by Sky and operated by Telegenic
PREMIER LEAGUE OPENING
WEEKEND TELEGENIC FOR SKY 3D
Units used T18 & T21 Cameras 18
How did Telegenic get involved OB? Robin Broomfield, Sky 3D development manager In 2009, we went through the tender process with UK OB companies to look at who was going to partner us, look after the trucks and manage our 3D facilities. We needed to get a company on board as soon as possible so we could start testing and get some experience covering live football. A lot rode on that, as getting football right was key to whether the project would continue or not. Time was short too, as we had a deadline of getting the truck ready and the 3D rigs built and deliv- ered in time for our launch date, which was the beginning of April 2010. We chose Telegenic, and the 3D trucks – which we own and Telegenic operates – were based on the latest designs of its HD fleet, which was felt to be a format that would work equally well for 3D.
What do they supply to make it all happen? RB We use two trucks, T18 and T21, which
24 | Broadcast TECH | September/October 2012
covered the two opening weekend matches for us: Wigan vs Chelsea and Everton vs Manchester United. We have a total of 18 3D rigs, and our standard set-up is to run a com- plement of four mirror rigs and two side-by- side at each game.
The rule of thumb is that for anything that has a closest image greater than 15-20m we use a side-by-side, and we put mirror rigs on the low-angle cameras that are near the field of play on the touchline. We also go in with an RF camera. We’ve been testing the new Sony TD300 integrated camcorder and getting some good results with it. The standard crew size is about 50 people.
We’re still running one convergence operator per camera, but hope to reduce that number once we’ve tested 3ality’s auto-convergence software on more live sport
Any stand-out features, such as speciality cameras? RB Well, they’re all speciality cameras really. The rig technology hasn’t developed very much in the past couple of years. The lenses continue to improve, but it’s the handheld, integrated units that are seeing the biggest progress. Railcams work well, but unfortu- nately there isn’t often the space at football grounds to use them. We’ve used some 3D mini cameras, supplied by ACS, for the goal
‘They’re all speciality cameras really. The handheld units are
seeing most progress’ Robin Broomfield
cam, and a replay facility we were lacking before, and they’ve both worked well.
Is there one bit of kit you would single out without which the project would fall apart? RB Key to the quality is the 3ality Stereo Image Processor, an analysis piece of hard- ware that is very good. The quality of the 3ality systems on the whole is superior to everything that we’ve worked with so far.
What challenges did you have to overcome to ensure all went without a hitch? RB We’re two years in and in some ways we’re still working out what we can do with 3D, but the challenges now are more for pro- duction and about how they can tell the sto- ries in 3D. We do want to get more cameras in there – seven cameras a match isn’t enough for a director to cover all the angles so we have to use some 2D shots. It will be nice to get to the point where everything is native 3D.
www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils
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