Sports Video Group | NBA All-Star Weekend Coverage

All-Star Cuss Box Raises Money for Needy

The tension of big game productions can often lead to some unsavory talk. So some of the freelancers for Turner Sports who operate the robotic cameras decided to get some good out of bad language. For the second straight year they set up a small box calling for those who curse and swear to donate money. Last year they raised money to help the homeless in New Orleans by setting up a donation box for those who curse and swear a little too much, The cuss box didn’t do quite as well as we had last year, according to Andy Ransom (left) but it did pull in $80 We would up with right at $80 this year and all proceeds will go to Ransom’s church benevolent fund. “We had intended to give it to a battered women’s shelter; however, as is usually the case, my schedule got in the way, and I had to leave Phoenix before it could be done,” says Ransom. “Next year in Dallas, we’ll make proir arraingements to have the money get to a local charity ahead of time. These last two years have been spur of the moment ideas, but the cuss box seems to be popular.”

Total RF gets groove on for All-Star Weekend

Inside the CP Communications EVS/graphics trailer at the NBA Block Party.

TNT broadcast a new event on Saturday afternoon from NBA All-Star Weekend: a HORSE competition (renamed GEICO, after the event’s sponsor) that was held at the NBA Block Party, across the street from the U.S. Airways Center. CP Communications and Total RF played an important role in the production, providing an RF HD camera for TNT (the company also provided a camera for game coverage inside the arena).
“For the block party we have a 2 gig Link Research RF HD system with a Thomson Grass Valley LDK600 Worldcam,” says says Kurt Heitmann, Total RF Productions president. Two CP B Unit trailers were also provided for the weekend’s activities. “The trailer at the game is outfitted as a complete sub mix trailer using a Midas 480 Verona series console,” says Heitmann. “Because the show keeps growing, and the trailer is built to spec, we made sure we worked closely with Peter Saltans, the effects sub mixer, to make sure he had exactly the right amount of in/out patching capabilities in the trailer.”
The second trailer was a graphics/EVS trailer for the block party.
“For the inside game coverage we have a 7 Gbps Link Research L1500  four-channel system complete with Sony HDC1500 camera and Fujinon lens,” says Heitmann. “We chose the 7 gig system because of the 2 gig saturation in and around Phoenix.”
The system gives TNT coverage from the locker room hallways out to the entire arena floor and seating areas.  All signal flows, HD video, data for paint control, audio and COMMS come back to the main Turner TV truck via 1 strand of fiber using a Opticomm/TRF modified fiber interface.
“We are also supplying the same exact system for NBA Entertainment at the game,” says Heitmann.
The company also provided two Telecast Fiber Lightviper fiber optic booth kits for the broadcast and pre game shows. “These custom-built booth kits provide all Comms, audio, video and IFB’s over 6 strands of fiber,” says Heitmann. “The kits consist of a Lightviper 32 x 8 audio fiber transport, two Studio Technologies M46 4 wire to 2 wire PL frames, one Studio Technology M41 4 channel IFB frame and bi-directional analog video monitoring.”

3D NBA production a hit from coast to coast

Steve Hellmuth (left), Jeffrey Zachary (center), and Andy Rosenberg, who oversaw the 3D NBA production, outside the Pace 3D trailer.

Last night’s NBA All-Star Saturday Night in 3D made for an exciting night at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix as the production crew turned in what many involved called a flawless effort. But it was the reaction around the country that had executives from Cinedigm, Pace, TNT, and the NBA buzzing afterwards.
Jonathan Dern, Cinedigm president, said the Mann Chinese Theater in Los Angeles ran out of 3D glasses as movie goers from other theaters came into the 3D theater to see what all the fuss was about. Enthusiastic crowds were cheering more loudly than the fans at the actual event.
And the efforts of Steve Hellmuth, EVP, technology and operations for the NBA to get the game distributed to Toronto paid off as reports said the theater was standing room only.
Additional theaters presented the 3D event in second theaters to handle overflow crowds.
After the event Hellmuth said the NBA teams did a great job promoting the event to season ticket holders. And it makes sense as the biggest challenge can simply be getting fans to leave their home and go to the theaters. And there are no fans more comfortable with leaving home to experience NBA hoops than season ticket holders who do it dozens of times during the season.
Once again the 3D experience has proven itself on the big screen. Bud Mayo, chairman and CEO, Cinedigm, says the company will continue to help fund productions of more sporting events and he hopes to offer up six or seven more events this year.
Up next? Getting marketers on board for 3D advertising. “The images are more immersive and attention getting,” says Vince Pace, CEO of Pace who produced the event. “From a marketing standpoint it will be a shift away from looking to get more eyeballs to getting the eyeballs to pay more attention to an ad.”

Pace 3D trailer enters next dimension

Vince Pace of Pace outside his 3D production pride and joy.

Tonight’s 3D production will be a team affair between the NBA, TNT, Cinedigm, and Pace but it will be Vince Pace, CEO of Pace, whose 3D philosophy will be front and center during the production. Key to the production will be a 3D production trailer that Pace built for Hannah Montana’s 3D concert film, a move that makes it much easier to control the 3D production environment and not have to worry about shipping up to 70 hybrid flypacks of gear.
Evertz gear plays an important role in the truck’s infrastructure with routers and other gear while For-A built a 3D-capable production switcher for the unit. Sony F950 HD camera with a mix of Canon and Fujinon lenses, EVS replay, and Chyron graphics also are crucial to the production environment (audio gear was provided by Bexel).
“Chyron did an amazing job with the graphics for tonight,” says Pace. “The challenge for graphics is balance. The knee-jerk response for graphics was to make them a forward object but Chyron has found the right framing balance. It doesn’t contaminate the 3D presentation.”

Touchpanel the way of the future for NBA?

Chris Lee, manager, special projects for TheMarketingArm (left) and Steve Hellmuth of the NBA (right) with the HP panel with Touchsmart technology.

Fans visiting the NBA All-Star Jam Session will be able to play with a new 22-inch flatpanel from HP that could be a mainstay in NBA suites, concourses, and even restaurants and bars. With a built-in computer processor and touchscreen control the screen will get rid of a major stumbling block in bringing next-generation networking and distribution technologies into places like luxury suites: keyboards. “Keyboards are work,” says Steve Hellmuth, NBA EVP, Operations and Technology. “But a touchscreen interface overcomes those problems.”

The All-Star Jam Session application allows fans to take a quiz that inludes video clips and more. But for a suite application Hellmuth envisions it as a control center that allows fans to do everything from order food to watching clips. It also could become a platform for delivering NBA League Pass Broadband to bars and restaurants across the country. “You can set this up and fans can watch any of the games from around the league,” says Hellmuth.

The panel currently is priced at about $1,800.

NewTek 3Play Offers D-League Better Replays

NewTek’s Tricaster system is getting a big shot in the arm from 3Play, a new addition to the NewTek lineup that improves the system’s ability to integrate slow-motion and instant replays. The Tricaster switcher is a key component of the production of NBA Development League (D-League) games and coupled with 3Play the entire system will improve operations and the quality of production.

Shawn Smith, NBA D-League, VP, sales and marketing and CMO, says, “3Play will make instant replay that much more accessible to the operator and create a better experience for the viewer. It will also keep the quality of the stream and file consistent because right now we lose two frames prior to and after the replay clip. This will eliminate that.”

Philip Nelson, NewTek, SVP of Strategic Development, says 3Play can record three HD or SD camera signals for either instant replay or slow-motion replay. Recording modes include 4:3 or 16:9 and 1080i or 720p. The $21,000 unit can also sync record the three cameras.

Happy 10th Birthday to NBA Tech Summit!

One of the highlights of NBA All-Star Weekend for techy geeks is the Tech Summit, held on the Friday morning prior to the game. Each year the event wrangles up NBA team owners like Mark Cuban, Jimmy Dolan alongside players like Steve Nash and Magic Johnson plus representatives from NBA sponsor partners like HP, Coca-Cola, and T-Mobile to discuss how technology is impacting the league. It’s all off the record so I can’t report on the specifics of what was said but a theme this year was how the league and its partners need to continue to serve content to fans no matter where they are.

I did get to catch up with Mike Mendenhall, chief marketing officer and SVP for HP, following his panel appearance where he mentioned a future where cloud computing plays a central role in media distribution. The cloud computing concept involves content being stored in a central location and then served out to whatever device the consumer is using. “We don’t think consumers are going to become one-device centric,” he explains. “They’ll want to use multiple devices and multiple platforms.”

Of course, many are doing that today, watching ESPN clips on cellphones, iPods, online, and, of course, on TV. So how can life become easier for consumers? “The transfer of content from device to device becomes cumbersome so when you think of cloud computing think of serving content smartly to a device that you use. The server is owned by the cable company or another enterprise provider and moves the content not from the cloud to the device.”

So who will win? Content producers, as consumption will climb because it’s easier for consumers to get engaged with the content. Another winner? Technology companies, like HP and Cisco (and others), who will help build out the bandwidth, switchers, routers, and capacaity to stream content to multiple devices.

Prototype Player Mic Offers Remote Control

The NBA continues to push the boundaries of wireless player mics with the help of Quantum. This year’s NBA All-Star weekend will make use of more than 20 wireless microphone systems that will be worn by the players in jerseys that have a pocket under the arms so the mic can be worn without contacting the player’s skin.
And Quantum isn’t done with the innovation. The company demonstrated a prototype system that brings a new level of functionality to the microphones via remote control. The new units, currently dubbed the QTR1000 Remote, are the same size and weight as the current non-remote units but offer the ability for a remote operator to change the frequency, gain, check the battery power (a typical charge lasts for an hour), and even mute the mic and turn it on or off without having to manually handle the unit.
The Quantum is the only microphone system allowed to be put on NBA players and the current version is priced at about $2,000 each.

Twitter-style video hits All-Star Weekend Coverage

One of the cool new technology developments at NBA All-Star Weekend is NBA.com All-Star Access. Topping the list? A number of Turner Sports production personnel and even some NBA celebrities and others will be armed with handheld devices that can record video and will use TMobile cellular service to get the content back to Turner Sports and out to the viewing public.

Michael Adamson, Turner Sports VP, products and services, says its all part of getting fans more involved and closer to the action. “How do we get the fans to see the in-between moments and capture an event without having to produce something,” he says.

Think of it as video twitter, the text social networking site that allows people to share their thoughts in 160 characters or less.

Three devices, the Nokia N95, the Samsung Behold, and the Mino Flip HD cameras will be used to capture the action. The former two will use cellular bandwidth to get content back to the production site while the Mino’s will require a manual download.

And don’t worry about any Janet Jackson moments. “We have somebody’s eyes on every piece of content before it goes out to the public,” says Adamson. Clips should run from about 15 seconds to upwards of two minutes.

Only time will tell what will make for compelling content. “When it comes to this kind of content it’s 50% skill and 50% timing,” says Adamson who points to the recent video of the U.S. Airways flight landing on the Hudson as a perfect example of the luck vs. skill relationship.

NewTek Debuts New HD Replay System at All-Star Weekend

I’ll have more details once I have a chance to see it in action but NewTek willl roll out a brand new system at the NBA All-Star Game Weekend. It’s 3PLAY multi-channel, HD instant replay and slow-motion system will be used during a practice session of the NBA Development League. We had a sneak peak at the system a few weeks back here in New York City and it can handle either 720p or 1080o slow-mo playback and can hook up to a TriCaster. NewTek’s TriCaster has become a staple at D-League games, allowing the league to produce the games much, much more cost effectively than if they had to rely on a “traditional” broadcast production infrastructure. The TriCaster will also have a role in Phoenix, delivering segments from the NBA All-Star Jam Session from Feb. 12-16 to www.nba.com/allstarscene.com. The segments intersperse fan play-by-play with commentary from NBA TV network personalities.