With more than 15 years of experience, CP Communications provides high-quality, sophisticated wireless and wired communications systems to the broadcast, theatrical, live event, film, corporate, and other entertainment industries. Visit CP Communications online at www.cpcomms.com.

Globecast operates a secure global satellite and fiber network to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and other rich media each year, providing ingest, aggregation, transmission, and repurposing of content for delivery to direct-to-home satellite platforms; cable, IPTV, mobile and broadband headends; as well as corporate and digital signage networks. GlobeCast’s fleet of SNG trucks is deployed globally to support coverage of the biggest news and sporting events each year in SD and HDTV formats. Visit Globecast online at www.globecast.com.

The HPA Tech Retreat continues to be one of the top think-tank events in the industry covering literally hundreds of topics over five days (Schubin’s complete over view will be available next week at the Schubin Cafe). The event in New York City was the second in a series of “Schubin Cafe” presentations that are open to SVG members, sponsors, and invited guests.

Highlights of this year’s event include the introduction of the Arri Alexa camera, the first broadcast grade camera from Arri. “It looks like a digital cinema camera but it’s shoulder mounted and has an operator control screen,” says Schubin. Resolution is 3.5K and it also has resolution overscan of 10% outside the frame.

Other demo highlights included the Imartis AG “Swissrig” beam splitter 3D rig with the vertical camera below the beam splitter. “They claim that has faster adjustment for convergence,” adds Schubin.

Also related to 3D was a prototype of Panasonic’s integrated 3D camcorder and Dolby 3D delivered in a 7.5 Mbps stream, and a demonstration by Miranda of why 3D graphics need to be in front of everything else on the screen. Adobe also wowed attendees with a demonstration of a 3D image stabilization process.

“It delivered super-smooth moves and was spectacular,” says Schubin. “It looked like it was shot on a dolly.”

In non-3D demos Dolby LCD reference monitors proved memorable. “The blacks were so black you had to ask if it was on,” says Schubin.

In terms of topics one of the more interesting was micro stereopsis in which single lens optics (but two camera imagers) are used to capture 3D images with very little disparity between the two images. The advantage is there is no need for a convergence operator or a stereographer. Schubin said Sony demonstrated such a system and while it doesn’t offer the dramatic 3D effect possible with dual lens systems it does deliver the sensation of 3D.

The hottest discussions, however, centered around presentations by UC Berkley Professor Marty Banks. He dove into the issue of convergence accommodation issues which is where the muscles in the eye that focus on a TV or movie screen converge with the muscles that the stereographer is telling your eyes to focus on as a 3D object of interest. How those two muscles interact can mean the difference between an enjoyable 3D experience and a painful one.

“People come to HPA because they want to get exposure to new issues and learn,” adds Schubin.

The question now is, what’s in store for HPA Tech Retreat in 2011?

The numerous HD productions trucks will televise a series of regional tournaments leading up to the Final Four weekend tournament. Games will be produced in either the 1080i or 720p HD formats (depending upon the broadcast network) with full 5.1 surround sound audio.

“What we continue to see year after year is an industry-wide acceptance of Grass Valley switching technology for the most high-profile sports broadcasts, including college basketball’s main event,” says Jeff Rosica, SVP of Grass Valley. “No other company can offer the high-quality performance and reliability of Grass Valley gear, that’s why they are used so often and by so many different networks and sports organizations.”

Crosscreek Television Productions sent its Voyager 8 with a Grass Valley Kalypso HD Video Production Center and Voyager 9 HD truck, which features a new Grass Valley Kayenne Video Production Center, to cover the SEC men’s and women’s tournaments earlier this month.

F&F Productions will cover the Final Four and National Championship game on Monday in Indianapolis for CBS Sports with its GXT-15 HD truck (this same truck was used for the broadcast last year), which is built around a Kalypso HD switcher, and several “B” support trucks.

Game Creek Video handled the ACC tournament for ESPN, live from Greensboro, N.C. with its “Patriot” truck, which carries a Kalypso HD. The company also sent its “Northstar” truck, also housing a Kalypso HD switcher, to cover the ACC men’s and women’s regional tournaments for Fox Sports. Game Creek’s newest mobile unit “Liberty” which has a Kayenne on board will cover some of the NIT tournaments as well as portions of the Woman’s NCAA games.

New Century Productions will send its NCP 8 53-foot expanding truck to handle the pre- and post- Final Four shows in Indianapolis. The truck features a Kalypso HD switcher and numerous Grass Valley GeckoFlex signal processing modules—frame syncs, cross converters, etc.—and fiber-optic transmission products on board to handle the numerous cameras located throughout the Lucas Oil Stadium arena.

NEP Supershooters will handle a number of Women’s Final Four and NIT tournaments with its SS9 HD truck, which is built around a Kalypso HD switcher. The company will also cover Women’s March Madness, with its SS23 truck, which also features a Kalypso HD switcher, LDK 6000 WorldCam HD cameras, and Trinix and Concerto Series routers for video and audio signal distribution. Its SS25 truck carries a Kalypso with more than a dozen LDK 8000 Elite WorldCam HD cameras, a Trinix and Concerto Series routers.

“We have been a longtime user of Grass Valley technology because we know we can rely on it when a major production is on the line,” says George Hoover, Chief Technology Officer at NEP Supershooters. “Our clients expect high-quality results every time out so we have to give them the best tools to achieve their goals. That’s why we continue to use Grass Valley production technology and systems on our trucks.”

NEP will also use the SS9 truck, in tandem with Pace Fusion 3D stereoscopic technology, to deliver the Men’s Final Four semifinal and national championship games live in 3D to 100 Cinedigm Certified Digital Cinemas across the country. The complex 3D live production will be handled on site in Indianapolis with a Grass Valley Kalypso HD switcher.

“We use a great deal of Grass Valley’s signal processing and distribution modules because of their flexibility of application and ironclad reliability,” says Mike Mundt, Director of Engineering at NCP. “That’s most important in our business.”

The nation’s first historically Black University, Lincoln U currently sports an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students and has during its 156-year history educated a remarkable number of luminaries, a short list of whom includes Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall,

“Dr. Ivory Nelson (the university’s president) was committed to creating production studios where students could work with equipment on a par with that used by leading-edge television stations,” says Jim Ritz, Visual Sound’s Chief Engineer on the project. “Lincoln U. is within an hour of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Wilmington, and its video suites would be the envy of broadcasters in any of those cities and beyond.”

The campus’ Ware Center for the Fine Arts, which showcases the work of the university’s music, visual arts, and theater students, has a 135-seat auditorium that is equipped with three AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorders in studio configuration, plus two AK-HC1500G cameras with two AW-PH405 pan tilts and an AW-RP400 controller, along with an HS400A HD/SD switcher in the control room.  The Ware Center system also includes three AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobile HD recorder/players.

“Dr. Nelson envisions a national reputation for our mass communications discipline, and wants our students to be able to develop the latest practical skills as well as amass academic knowledge,” says Ashley Sims, Media Director for Lincoln U.’s Media Center, located in the Student Union Building. “The upgrades in the Ware Center turn that space in a laboratory for our broadcast students as well.”

Sims explained that production studios A and B, located in the Media Center, are each equipped with two HC3500 studio cameras. The HC3500, Panasonic’s most advanced studio camera, incorporates exclusive image processing and color reproduction functions for high quality 1080/59.94i and 1080/50i image acquisition.

All the cameras are outfitted with studio lenses, AK-HVF931A color viewfinders, and HD-SDI cards for 1080i output. The studios are used for classroom studies and productions, and to produce content for the university’s closed circuit television network. Studio A contains an interview set, and is also used for weather reports and green screen work. Studio B is a conventional news set. Most material is pre-recorded for later airing on the campus network.

Each studio is assigned two HPG20 P2 Portables used as dedicated recorders for the HC3500 cameras and two HPM110 P2 Mobiles. In each space, one P2 Mobile is used to record the output of the switcher with effects; the second P2 Mobile is used to record a clean feed from the switcher for subsequent post-production.

The studios share a control room, with the HS400A assigned to Studio A and HS450N assigned to Studio B. The control room is essentially split down the middle, providing common assets but complete autonomy to the studios as well.

“The studios can operate as discrete production spaces, or we can combine the recording assets of both rooms under the control of the HS450N switcher,” Sims says.

The production studios have been up and running since the beginning of the year, while the installation of Panasonic gear in the Ware Center was completed prior to the start of the 2009-10 school year. There, HPX500 P2 HD camcorders are utilized to record theatrical and musical performances by students, guest artists, panel debates, and other campus presentations. The material is alternatively broadcast on the campus TV network, stored in the university archives, and made available to alumni on DVD.

The HPX500s are used with studio-style lenses, AK-HVF931A color viewfinders and AJ-RC10G remote control units. Sims has personal experience with the Ware Center set-up, having begun to shoot a documentary about Lincoln alumni there.

“The HPX500 image quality is excellent, and it’s very easy for our students to shoot and learn on the camcorders,” she says. “The Panasonic equipment throughout the campus is already meeting our objectives of being eminently ‘teachable’ and easy to grasp. The career preparation for our broadcast students is invaluable and, courtesy of their work with the Panasonic gear, they will have reels of the highest quality to show prospective employers.”

Sims added that the production studios will also be deployed for university business, to shoot commercials, PSAs, and recruitment videos, for example. She said that university alumni will also have access to the studios for business use.

“The fact that Lincoln can combine all of its recording capabilities is our value-added contribution,” says Visual Sound’s Ritz. “The university is wired with two-way fiber optics, and capable of tapping disparate assets to cover larger, campus-wide activities. The large control room in the production studios can draw HD video from the Ware Center, even from the university’s boardroom, and ultimately will be able to rout video from the campus’ International Cultural Center and athletic stadium, both of which are scheduled for AV upgrades. We made every effort to future-proof the Lincoln installation, and Panasonic made that easy for us.

XOS will provide the actual replay system as well as any fiber-infrastructure installation needed at SEC stadiums. Currently, XOS is conducting audits of each school’s facilities and expects to carry out installations throughout the summer.

“We’ve done phase 1 of the audits, and now we’re going to start with the phone interviews,” says Bryan Bedford, director of business development, XOS Integrated Solutions Group, at XOS Digital. “I would assume we would be done with those in the next couple of weeks. We’re hoping to be on these campuses sometime in May to start.”

The XOS system promises to provide replay officials with the cleanest HD video possible. The uncompressed HD feed is taken directly from the TV broadcasters’ truck and sent up to the replay booth via a fiber pathway.

“We take the line feed from the truck. We can use whatever flavor of HD that the truck gives us. Whether it be 1080i, 720p, it doesn’t matter,” says Bedford. “Our uncompressed HD coming off the truck is as clean as it could possibly be. There is zero compression. You’re talking about roughly 25 times more information than a Blu-ray player and almost 100 times better quality than what the viewer at home is getting.”

When a questionable call occurs on the field, the replay booth pages the on-field officials to stop the game. The review of the play is then sent up to the replay booth and XOS HD Replay. A three-person crew — a primary replay official, a communicator, and a technician — have at their disposal two video monitors providing several different angles of each play. As each camera angle comes in from the truck (varying from a minimum of four to more than 20, depending on the game’s importance), the technician uses a touchscreen to create and label a thumbnail of each angle for the replay official to review. The primary replay official then views these angles, discusses them with the communicator, and makes the final decision, which is then radioed down to the official on the field.

In addition, the system allows the SEC to export this video and game data to its media-delivery platforms for further analysis by conference officials.

“Instead of waiting until Sunday or Monday, video can be transported to the conference office almost immediately,” says Bedford. “If they have to make a public comment during the week, they need all that replay information. There may be a commissioner or associate commissioner that was at a different game that week and he needs to see that replay in order to make a public comment.”

Currently, there are no plans to extend the XOS HD replay system for use in other SEC sports.

“This is a big initiative unto itself,” says Bedford. “The way replay is done in basketball and other sports is a bit different. Football is the focus now.”

He describes the installation of the XOS system as having two separate parts: the actual system and the transmission pathway to support it. The system itself — which comprises two monitors, a touchscreen, and the primary server — is essentially wheeled in ready to go. It is the fiber infrastructure needed for transmission that represents the bulk of the installation.

“We haven’t been to all 12 replay booths yet, so it will be difficult to know what every installation will look like,” says Bedford. “But the short and skinny of it is, there will need to be a fiber pathway, obviously power to the booth, and then we’ll just need to make sure that we have any other transmission equipment on each side of the fiber.”

The fact that every SEC game is televised makes XOS’s job much easier, as much of the fiber pathway is already present. However, as is the case with all conferences, some SEC facilities are much farther ahead than others in terms of HD capabilities.

“It would be a bit premature to say that [all SEC stadiums are HD-ready],” says Bedford. “There are varying degrees of investment and infrastructure that need to happen, and that would be the case with any other conference in the country as well. There are schools that have made the commitment and are way out front, and others that haven’t.”

Testing, Testing, Side by Side
Five years ago, the production crew was forced to jump from mat to mat, attempting to predict where the most compelling match would take place. Beginning in 2007, however, a side-by-side production was tested for the semifinal round, and the quarterfinals followed suit the next year.

“When you do full-size video, you’re always making half the crowd happy and half the crowd miserable,” explains John Vasallo, senior coordinating producer. “The side-by-side diminishes the video size for the viewer but gives the viewer the choice of which match to watch. We’ve had great success with it.”

Fitting the HD video into two on-screen boxes requires coordination among several groups at ESPN. The creative services group developed the two-box graphic as a graphic source. The graphics operator in the production truck can then choose to display the two boxes either stacked or staggered.

Once a display format is chosen, the miniboard (clock and score) shrinks and lines up alongside the corresponding video box, so that each match has accompanying scoring data. On set day, the technical director aligns each match’s cameras with the corresponding box, then cuts the video into the appropriate place during the broadcast.

“We have just one director, and he allots a certain number of cameras on one box and a certain number on the other,” Vasallo says. “He works with his TD to cut each match within the two boxes, and they handle it beautifully.”

The HD-SD Grapple
This year, ESPN is using a new version of the two-box graphic that maximizes the viewing area for the HD viewer while remaining safe for SD.

“That’s something we’ve been experimenting with on college football and NBA,” Vasallo says. “How do you show a two-box layout that’s picture-safe for somebody in SD but, if you’re watching in HD, also maximizes the box room on the left and right side of the screen? That’s a tweak that we made for this year, a redesign of those boxes to elongate them a bit horizontally. That way, if you are watching any of our shows in HD, the experience is maximized for you.”

Relying on Broadband
Because ESPN must protect the 4:3 viewer, going to a four-box setup for the quarterfinals would be tough. “That’s why our colleagues at 360 are involved in the quarterfinals,” Vasallo says, “so they can bring viewers to any of the four quarterfinal matches. We’ll pick two that we preselect to put in the dual imagery.”

ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband network, will simulcast ESPNU’s presentation of the quarterfinals on Friday.

Going Roving
This year, the production team will have seven cameras to work with for both the semifinals and championship match, including an RF handheld that is new for this year’s production. The Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, NE, is slightly smaller than other arenas that have hosted this event in recent years, so adding an RF camera will add some additional color to the broadcast.

“We try to add a wrinkle each year,” Vasallo says. “The last three years, we went to wireless audio, and, this year, we’re using the RF camera. The floor itself is a little smaller than in past years. You can still get all eight mats together, but the area around the perimeter of those mats is a little bit tighter, so the fact that we have an RF handheld is going to allow us to get around a little more nimbly.”

The NCAA wrestling committee, he points out, is more forward-thinking than most, which makes ESPN’s requests for add-ons, like miking the officials and using an RF camera to rove around the mat, far more palatable.

“They’re a great group to work with on a lot of these little initiatives because they really want to see the sport grow,” Vasallo says. “When you as a broadcaster say, can we experiment with this, they’re almost always supportive. That’s made it a lot easier to take chances.”

ESPN will air the entire championship tournament in HD. The quarterfinals is slated for Friday March 19 at 10:30 a.m. ET and the semifinals at 7 p.m. on ESPNU HD. The finals will take place on Saturday March 20 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN HD.

“We were looking for an HDTV lens-camera system that would give us the biggest bang for our buck,” says J. Stern, assistant athletic director of Ole Miss Sports Productions. “We are a small outfit, but the compact and cost-effective ⅓-in. camera, coupled with the handy size of the Canon compact HDTV studio lenses, are a benefit to us because one person can carry everything. It makes our production process better, easier, and less costly for us from top to bottom.”

Marrying the ⅔-in. lens to the ⅓-in. camera makes the images appear visually more telephoto by a factor of 1.83 (the ratio of the two image-format diagonals, or 11mm/6mm = 1.83). The equivalent focal range becomes 13.4mm to 295mm (up to 590mm if the 2x extender is deployed). This makes a flexible HD imaging system for many sporting events.

The Canon XJ22 on a JVC GY-HD250 camera helps Ole Miss produce top-quality content.

“It’s amazing how close you can get with the Canon compact HD studio lens,” Stern says. “Our most distant camera in baseball is in left-center field. From there, we can zoom in tight enough to see the catcher’s fingers as he is making the signals. With the Canon 2.0x built-in extender, you could see a tear in the catcher’s eye. That’s a whole lot of lens for the size.”

The ⅔-in. lens is coupled to the camera via a Canon LCV-42T mount converter, which merges the mechanical mounts of the lens and camera, while inserting a single glass element that compensates for the different optical-path length of the ⅓-in. optical block. No transformations are made to the image size projected into the camera, ensuring that the three smaller CCD imagers are imaging the central sweet spot of the lens. This ensures the highest Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) under all conditions and minimizes optical aberrations.

About a third the weight of standard studio lenses (13.4 lbs.), the XJ22×7.3BIE-D lens closely matches the combined weight of Ole Miss Productions’ ⅓-in. HD camera (approximately 8 lbs.) and its studio adapter. The lens is a high-end optical system based on classic studio-lens design principles but reduced in size for direct mounting on portable HD cameras configured for field or studio productions.

“Our director loves the ‘big-lens feel’ of these Canon compact HD studio lenses,” Stern says. “In sports, there’s nothing like going in and getting a shot of the quarterback’s eyes, or the head coach in the dugout making signals. Even if it’s a less-than-two-second shot, it still tells a story, and these lenses help us do that.”

The XJ22×7.3BIE-D provides higher contrast and resolution compared with portable HD lenses while reducing focus breathing to a zero level. Canon’s eDrive system provides lens-status information on an easy-to-read display that delivers accuracy for such settings as f-stop, focal length, focusing distance, and other critical lens parameters.

“For the size, they’re a lot sturdier and more durable than I imagined,” Stern says. “I thought that, after two or three years, I would be buying new lenses just because of the price, but they’re still just like new, and we’re halfway through our second year with them.”

Ole Miss Sports Productions streams its footage online as well as providing it to local cable-television systems.

“With these Canon XJ22×7.3BIE-D compact studio lenses married to our ⅓-in. cameras, we capture sports in absolute broadcast HDTV quality,” Stern says. “We feel like we do a phenomenal job covering Ole Miss sports, but we couldn’t do it without these quality lenses from Canon.”

The MIRA Mobile M-9HD was stationed at Whistler Creekside for coverage of all the Alpine events, including downhill, combined, super-G, and slalom.

“We heard reports from TOC, IBC and various rights holders that our pictures taken with the Fujinon lenses were some of the best of the 2010 Winter Games,” says Bill Duncan, Director of Engineering at MIRA Mobile Television. “We had no problem with moisture condensation in the changes of sunny weather and the snow during the three weeks on the mountain.”

Installed on Sony HDC-1550 HD cameras, the Fujinon lenses were primarily used on cameras that covered the middle part of the Alpine race course. Another company covered the first five cameras at the start gate. As soon as the athlete came out of the gate, MIRA took over and then handed off to the finish truck halfway down the slope.

While golf may not seem the most obvious sport to showcase the potential of 3D to the masses, ESPN believes that it lends itself to 3D, especially on the greens, and that Augusta is the perfect venue to demonstrate this.

“I think there is probably no better venue to show off a course’s assets in 3D than Augusta,” says ESPN VP of Production Mike McQuade. “So much of the Masters is the golf course itself. The golf course is as much a star as the players playing. It is something that viewers have come to know. They know every hole by heart, which lends it so much more to 3D. So many people will never have the opportunity to go to Augusta, and 3D gets you as close as I’ve seen without actually being there.”

Testing the 3D Waters
Augusta’s decision to proceed with a 3D production at this year’s Masters came following a series of tests conducted at Augusta in February using amateur golfers, Sony 3D cameras and switchers, and an ESPN production team.

“We shot six of the nine holes on [Augusta’s Par 3 Course], so we tested quite a bit of angles and spots and jib placements,” says McQuade. “Then, on the following day, we did most of the back nine [on the main course] in some way, shape, or form, with the exception of two or three holes.”

After viewing the impressive results of those tests, both Augusta and ESPN agreed that it was time to take the next step. McQuade says that ESPN will use the tests as a guide for the live 3D production of the tournament in April but there is still much to learn about shooting golf in 3D.

“What we’re all going to learn together is how to shoot beyond the golf,” he says. “I think we’ve got a pretty good sense of what the golf is going to look like in 3D from the tests. But what we don’t know is what happens when there are crowds, when the flowers are in bloom, when there’s more of an event atmosphere going on. Each and every day, we’ll learn a little more because, obviously, it’s tough to re-create that in a test.”

Which Cameras for Which Holes?
Augusta National and ESPN have said they will provide at least two hours of live 3D coverage each day from the Par 3 Contest on April 7 through the four days of the actual tournament, April 8-11.

While ESPN has yet to officially decide which holes will be shot in 3D, McQuade guarantees at least three holes per day as well as “full coverage” on the 18th green. As for additional holes beyond that, Amen Corner (holes 11, 12, and 13) is the most likely target, but coverage looks to vary from day to day.

“There are days when you’ll see four holes, and there are days when you may see a combination of five. Plus, we’ll have full coverage of the 18th hole, so, obviously, we’re excited about that,” says McQuade. “Some stuff that will already be on tape from earlier in the day is possible. We’re still discussing that. Our big concern is the setup and the managing of those cameras. Because of the nature of the technology and its being so new, we will have to be extremely patient.”

Sony has said that the Masters 3D production would be a 12-camera shoot, but McQuade speculates that it could use “upwards of 12 cameras” over a variety of holes at Augusta.

One tool that ESPN is sure to rely heavily on is the jib camera, which McQuade considers his greatest weapon in terms of 3D:  “We believe the jib gives us the best 3D looks. It worked very well during the tests, and we’re going to use it for the tournament.”

Lucky 14
According to McQuade, the most fertile 3D opportunity looks to be the 14th hole, which boasts a sweeping green with significant undulations that gives players fits when putting.

“The one we are most excited about is on the 14th green using the jib arm,” he says. “With the contours and the slopes of that green, where we positioned the camera I think will give us some of the best 3D images yet. It was quite breathtaking [in the 3D tests].”

The exclusive studio agreement extends the company’s reach into small and medium-sized markets for single item sales.  The deal also boosts Harris’ ability to package complete studio systems for broadcasters in markets of all sizes, including consoles, furniture, and studio accessories.

“SCMS has been serving the radio broadcast industry for 35 years, and its nationwide presence of nine field offices and a corporate center of operations greatly expand the Harris sales force for studio and transmission products,” says Richard Redmond, director of strategic marketing, Harris Broadcast Communications.  “The relationship gives Harris an exclusive, high-profile dealer that owns a large part of the radio broadcast resale market, improving our ability to reach more customers and deliver complete solutions.”

“Harris is a strong brand and company with state-of-the-art technology, and we believe that working with SCMS will give them the strongest possible presentation for studio and transmission systems available in the U.S. radio broadcast industry,” says Bob Cauthen, president and owner of SCMS.  “Despite the tough economy, there are a large number of radio stations and broadcasters that are growing and in need of new facilities.  SCMS will put more people on the street that are exclusively focused on selling new Harris products into these stations.”