SAUDI SPORTS COMMISSION COVERS SUPER BOWL FOR LOCAL MARKET

KEEPING THE STAKES HIGH

When Saudi Sports Company (SSC) wanted an innovative production and broadcast solution to take some of its less exposed events to air, it turned to a cloud-based set-up. In cooperation with Audio Video Consulting LLC Dubai (AVC), helmed by CEO Peter Van Dam, it created a full cloud-based production workflow based on Grass Valley’s Agile Media Processing Platform (GV AMPP)

SSC is a young but powerful entity founded in 2021 as part of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, and is the exclusive owner of the TV rights for events including the Saudi Professional League, King’s Cup and Saudi Super Cup. Its main aim is to create multiple sports channels across all available entertainment platforms in KSA. Besides the most popular Saudi football leagues, SSC also focuses on other sport in the Kingdom and international leagues such as the AFC, F1, Formula E, the NFL and Extreme E.

With SSC keen on creating tier-2 and tier-3 sports productions, COO Christian Peer was scouting for costeffective, easy-to-deploy broadcast solutions that also ensured high-quality productions. Van Dam, who has been running his own consultancy and service company since 2018, was called in to offer recommendations.

A broadcast veteran – most recently CTO at Al Alamiya, a major Saudi production house primarily in live events – Van Dam was previously in the UAE, where he tested cloud playout in Abu Dhabi Media a few years ago and a cloud-based archive solution last year, in addition to some other cloud projects. He had already navigated some of the typical challenges of working in a cloud environment and was ready for a new challenge.

For what SSC mandated, Van Dam recommended a cloudbased solution because these “[offer] remarkable flexibility, enable fast deployment and allow for cost savings”. He also knew a typical 30-camera set-up with several outside broadcast (OB) vehicles was not commercially viable for producing lowexposure sports such as basketball, volleyball and handball.

The solution was to use a combination of AI, robotic and shoulder-mounted cameras to create costeffective but dynamic coverage. He turned to Grass Valley’s AMPP cloud solution to control and produce these productions, and within the same platform distribution and playout were also made possible.

“In the market, there are several all-in-one solutions. This works for some productions, where for instance a person is making a YouTube channel,” Van Dam says. “But it does not work if there are other complexities. Communication, latency and responsiveness are crucial when starting to work with multiple persons in one production.”

“So when you are creating multiple channels that involve graphics, audio, playout, commentary and so on, you want a platform that provides you with maximum flexibility in cloud productions, and that’s what the Grass Valley AMPP did. It gives a new dimension to cloud productions with all options available, including video and audio mixer, graphics, clip player and replay, remote commentary, ingest, MAM and playout, as well as distribution.”

The typical production set-up for basketball, volleyball and handball on-site is pretty limited. A team uses an iQ producer camera from Mobile Viewpoint that gives four feeds out – one AI and three fixed feeds positioned in advance by the director.

“We use two robotic cameras and two shoulder-mounted cameras. For a production like this, they typically have two tech people and two cameramen on-site. Each of these individual elements are connected to the cloud.”

To bring signals into the production environment, GV AMPP Edge, SRT and NDI standards are used. All processing and signal flows are handled in the cloud. GV AMPP via HTML 5 also ensures the remote control of all production elements such as the video and audio mixer, clip and slomo player, graphics engine, router panels and virtual intercom panels. A combination of touchscreens, video and audio remote panels makes it possible for the production team to easily adapt to the new type of production services.

On behalf of SSC, AVC provided all the technical services in LA for the Super Bowl. Top right: AVC Senior Support Engineer Hans Deschacht with Peter Van Dam, CEO of AVC.

Within GV AMPP, a remote commentary function is available, in addition to standard programme and commentary panel functions. The team also now has a secondary monitor for any available signals from incoming feeds to studio cameras or graphics. All of this takes place using the same HTML 5 connection. The team maximises the potential of the cloud-based solution, which enables distribution to various streaming sites through Wildmoka, including YouTube and other platforms such as MBC, adds Van Dam.

SSC also secured the rights to Super Bowl 56. The AVC team was in Los Angeles on behalf of SSC to complete the Arabic production of the games. Essentially, AVC Media cloud and GV AMPP served as the core of the full cloud set-up, along with LiveU. GV AMPP Edge and LiveU were used to deliver on-site signals to AMPP. To broadcast the games, SRT streams from Eurovision were taken and transferred to GV AMPP. This included all pre-shows, standups, edits and distribution on-site in Los Angeles.

“We produced for SSC a daily, multi-camera live segment for the programme on SSC 1, and on the day of the Super Bowl we produced three programmes of 25 minutes and the fourhour game included on-site commentary from reporters. The live broadcast was produced from the commentary booth inside the LA Sofi Stadium. Two on-site SSC commentators with live interventions from fan zone using LiveU were added,” explains Van Dam.

“We had a world feed, two dedicated ISO feeds and a commentary camera on-site through the GV AMPP Edge. Back-up world and ISO feeds were provided by Eurovision over SRT. The full live feed, video and audio mixing, clip and promo inserts, music and graphics

GV AMPP Edge and LiveU were used to deliver on-site signals to AMPP. were provided through AVC Media Cloud and the GV AMPP cloud platform. The final programme was distributed to MBC, SSC archives and Wildmoka via SRT. As NFL Super Bowl is the biggest sports event in the US, we were so proud to be the only Middle East company on-site, working on behalf of SSC.”

He points out that the main differences between the GV AMPP and alternative solutions are “responsiveness, low latency, high flexibility and scalability, as well as cost efficiency”.

“This is the only cloudbased platform in my opinion that currently offers the capability to create broadcast production workflows similar to what is used on-prem.”

Although the set-up is currently supported by AWS Ireland, Van Dam is confident that in the near future the platform will be hosted in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “With GV AMPP, SSC can now create high-quality content and provide the required exposure to several sports and events in the Kingdom that thus far have had limited coverage due to budget restrictions or the lack of technical resources.”

An added advantage has been the presence of a local media fibre network. “In Saudi Arabia, we have a 3GB internet capacity within

the SSC MPLS media network.”

Van Dam and SSC worked with Yousef H. Mugharbil of Dawiyat Telecommunication Company during the Covid-19 lockdown to create the Media Network, “a redundant 10G MPLS network that gives connectivity to the SSC’s main broadcast and distribution hubs and high-bandwidth internet”. This is the foundation for contribution, remote production, cloud services, production and distribution, successfully supporting SSC’s broadcasts to multiple platforms simultaneously.

“Today, up to 29 of the main sports venues have been connected via this 10G MPLS network. It is the backbone of this expansion strategy and serves the end viewer with a wide range of local and international content while we can control all productions and operations remotely,” Van Dam explains.

Saudi Arabia has been working quickly to secure the rights of national and international sports events, with the 2030 “This is the only cloudbased platform in my opinion that currently offers the capability to create broadcast production workflows similar to what is used on-prem”

Peter Van Dam, CEO, Audio Video Consulting LLC Dubai (AVC)

vision and future events centred around sports and culture.

“Stakeholders are exploring alternative ways of content production, and cloudbased solutions seem ideal to scale up or scale down services on the fly. In this case, the Grass Valley AMPP cloud-based playout platform supports this objective most favourably and is ideal for creating scalable services.”

In time, Van Dam hopes to create three feeds for some games – a national feed and one for each team – each with its own commentary, ads and YouTube channel.

“The next phase would be to give the clubs the possibility to do the playout for each of their channels, so each have their own YouTube channels with reruns and live matches if the team plays home or away.”

With GV AMPP, AVC not only serves SSC but also provides remote commentary services for the Olympic channel and the International Jumping Federation, among others. “There are several events taking place worldwide with realtime remote multi-language translations. A multi-camera set-up with remote control operations minimises the on-site space required for a technical set-up. Typically, such services that provide a cloud archive, media management services and distribution were limited to major broadcast houses. But cloud is a great leveller, bringing media archive and management within reach of companies that have media content and want to secure this, and make it available for distribution and commercial use,” concludes Van Dam. PRO

GV AMPP via HTML 5 ensures the remote control of all production elements such as the video and audio mixer, clip and slomo player, graphics engine, router panels and virtual intercom panels.

Delkin Devices boosts memory with 8K lineup

Delkin Devices has added CFexpress Type A memory cards that support UHD 8K recording to its line-up of memory-based products.

The latest high-speed memory card format, they boast recording speeds reaching 790MB/s for cinema-quality video capture, including UHD 8K at 30fps (400Mbps) in the Sony a1 camera. They also support RAW continuousburst shooting without delay.

The cards can offload data at up to 880MB/s, enabling quick data transfer from card to computer for immediate file access and sooner postproduction start time. Each card has undergone testing to ensure full functionality and performance in today’s highend cinematic hosts, including the Sony a1, a7S III, a7 IV, FX3 and FX6, Delkin reported.

www.delkin.com

Vislink leads AI-powered sports with Stellar Cam

Vislink has launched the Mobile Viewpoint Stellar Cam, an AI-powered camera for live sports production.

Designed for automatic coverage of demanding sports, the new weatherproofed camera offers ultra-high resolution, high frame rates and zooming capabilities to capture the action in real time on the field of play. It is available at a price point close to the original surveillance camera, but with more features and enhanced quality, including support for 50/60 frames per second for live event broadcast.

Mickey Miller, CEO of Vislink, said: “Stellar Cam, brought to market by our Mobile Viewpoint brand, is a key component of IQ Sports Producer, our platform for capturing live sporting events without the need for on-site staff.”

A single panoramic camera captures the whole pitch, arena or track in high resolution. AI is used to create a virtual camera that tracks the action of the ball and the players, creating a software cut-out of the action from the panoramic view.

www.vislink.com

AJA launches Io X3 Thunderbolt 3 video I/O device

AJA Video Systems has launched Io X3, a Thunderbolt 3-connected professional video and audio I/O device that offers HDR or SDR 2K/HD capture and output via 3G-SDI and HDMI. It streamlines highquality HDR I/O up to 2K/HD 60p on compatible Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac or PC hosts running professional video and audio applications.

Designed for remote, on-set and studio operations, Io X3 provides a mobile solution for single-, dual- and multichannel SDI workflows, offering pristine 2K/HD/SD I/O with HDR directly from any modern laptop or computer. It is an output device for a range of production environments, including high-end colour grading, audio mixing, on-set monitoring or playback, and remote editorial and VFX. With four independent inputs for workflows with OBS and Wirecast, together with simultaneous MultiView monitoring for each source, Io X3 claims to be a suitable fit for streaming workflows.

Io X3 features eight switchable analogue audio ports, allowing users to shift between eight channels in or out, or split connectivity between four inputs and four outputs, in addition to a 3.5 analogue audio connection to plug in headphones directly. Up to 16-channel audio is included on each SDI port, and eight channels on HDMI. Compact and rackmountable, Io X3 devices can be placed side by side in a rack for studio, mobile truck or video assist needs, allowing users to benefit from up to eight channels of up to 2K/HD/SD I/O in a 1RU.

www.aja.com

Sports broadcast gets a boost with Ross XPression Tessera One

Ross Video has released XPression Tessera One, a new all-in-one solution that provides over 6m broadcast-quality pixels to drive engaging content to venue LED displays and video walls in news studios.

Building on the success of XPression Tessera, it is a complete LED content management system that features customisable XPression graphic templates and dashboard control panels with a simple and intuitive control interface that anyone can use.

For sporting events, customers can either choose to create their own graphics or take advantage of Tessera One’s library of pre-built, customisable graphics templates for baseball, basketball, American football, ice hockey and soccer. Either way, Tessera One helps customers produce dynamic, data-driven content that will engage fans and generate new revenue through enhanced sponsorship opportunities.

Tessera One is a simple, compact, affordable and powerful system. Its slimline 1RU chassis delivers up to three 1080P HD outputs, which can be mapped to fill over 6m LED pixels. It also uses lowlatency video input processing of three frames latency. This means a video input signal passed through Tessera One with graphics composited over it will not distract the fans in the stands. What they see on-screen will appear at the same time as it does on the playing surface or stage.

From showing live event video with scoring, to driving ribbon boards, to additional fan engagement auxiliary displays, Tessera One delivers the same feature set as a traditional Tessera system in an all-inone cost-effective solution.

www.rossvideo.com

Dream Chip focuses on AtomOne Mini Zoom

The new AtomOne Mini Zoom miniature camera from Dream Chip supports resolutions up to 1080p60. With dimensions of 60x80mm and a weight of only 267g, it works on a rolling shutter basis with a 1/2.5” sensor.

With zoom functionality, the camera can be more effective when shooting in unusual locations or capturing a creative shot. The base aperture stands at F1.6 - 2.9mm, providing for a wide-angle 130° shot and allowing the frame to be reduced to a 66° angle shot at 9mm. Its size makes it well-suited for shooting from locations where a larger camera might be intrusive or interfere with a shot, the company said.

Production teams can maintain full creative control over all elements of the shot, as the AtomOne Mini Zoom maintains full iris control on a remote basis and can be colourmatched with other cameras in the production set-up using multi-matrix colour support.

The new camera’s housing is robust and removes points of connection, to reduce the risk of connection fatigue or failure – an important design feature since the size of the camera makes it well-suited for challenging conditions where there is a risk of impact or vibration.

According to Dream Chip, the decision to add a zoom functionality product to the already extensive AtomOne range, which includes superslow motion and underwater models, comes from the success of the original product and recognition that enhancements will further extend its range of applications. It has partnered with Bradley Remote to add the potential for pan-tilt functionality, making the AtomOne Mini Zoom one of the smallest PTZ cameras on the market.

www.dreamchip.de