 | | |
|
Back to Recent News |
|
|
Sep 12th, 2009
|
US Open 2009: Bexel Broadcast Services Delivers an Overhead Smash
|
|
|
|
|
Two of the country’s largest and most important networks have entrusted Bexel with the capture of the most complex tennis tournament on American soil.
|
|
Flushing Meadows, NY
A key component of the 2009 US Open broadcast coverage was the serious presence of Bexel Broadcast Services as the primary production equipment vendor and technical resource on site - some have said that, within the TV compound, it looked like “broadcast domination” by the brand.
Two of the country’s largest and most important networks have entrusted Bexel with the capture of the most complex tennis tournament on American soil. The decisions to use Bexel were made independently by CBS and ESPN at different times and under very different circumstances - both organizations realizing that a complicated broadcast such as this could only be presented in a picture perfect broadcast with the help of the US rental giant.
For many years, Bexel Broadcast Services, the US leader in the provision of world-class television production equipment rentals and technical support, has been the primary US Open broadcast supplier for CBS Sports and the USA Network. The production spec and amount of energy required by Bexel engineering to build out these major US Open broadcast facilities is deep - it's always a challenging task and has secured the brand’s first call status as Number One in sports production. The 2009 event was no different - for CBS, anyway. Lee Estroff and the BBS tech team pulled together the usual production specification that included the following:
- Two fully HD Control Rooms for domestic and international “round the clock” coverage of the Court 1 and Court 2 high profile match-ups
- HD Control Rooms features include: Sony 8000G and Thomson Kayak Switcher, Pesa 128x256 HD Video/Audio Router, Monitor Walls consisting of (6) 42” HD LCD panels that are powered by Evertz MVP Multiviewers, fully networked 6 channel HD EVS XT[2]’s
- A wide assortment of other production support tools for the two-week broadcast include: Sony 3300 HD Slo-Mo systems with 6 channel HD EVS XT[2]’s, various HD lenses and HD monitoring, EVS Xfile’s, Lite Panels ENG lighting packages and an extensive Telecast Fiber Audio/Video Announce Booth package
Generally, that would be a sizeable enough order and one that only a well established service brand could fulfill, provide and maintain - typical Bexel business-as-usual. But this year was really different. This year, ESPN decided to be there with their usual top-notch coverage and, they called Bexel to help get them there with a very unusual spec - a unique set-up that required a lightning fast turn-around.
From SVG News: "The arrival of ESPN at the U.S. Open is the big story in these early days of the tournament. The ESPN presence has transformed the broadcast compound with massive changes and will also transforming the viewing experience for DirecTV subscribers as ESPN and DirecTV are delivering a six screen mosaic of multiple-court coverage."
That said, what does it really mean in terms of Bexel's powerful performance at this year's Open? First, take a look at what ESPN has been doing with cutting edge, multi-platform, multi-delivery technical set-ups that have been been utilized over the last six Grand Slam Majors. As a result of ESPN's decision to do the Open using a similar approach, Bexel was called upon to take it to the next step, namely, use the operational and engineering plan developed by ESPN Operations Manager Terri Hermann and ESPN Technical Manager Jeff Court as a foundation and then, add some of its own perspective and engineering prowess to achieve a real [technical] "overhead smash" at game time.
“The Media Manager position is critical to our infrastructure and Bexel has provided this group the ultimate combination of technology and environment to succeed”.
Bexel’s quick comprehension of what ESPN historical production workflow had been, and what ESPN expected for their inaugural coverage of the US Open, did not come without its own set of unique challenges. “We had three weeks to digest their needs, put an engineering plan on paper and deliver the equipment to the Tennis Center” commented Bexel Engineer in Charge, John Steinmetz.
“With any show this size the dynamics of the operation are fluid. Bexel has adjusted at every turn and has done whatever is needed to meet the requirements of this years show… their engineers are reactionary, thorough and a pleasure to work with…”
ESPN’s production backbone was housed in five second-story interconnected trailers adjacent to the Billie King Tennis Center. In addition, ESPN shared F&F GTX15 with CBS as their production mobile unit. “When you look at the entire plant, there are roughly 3.5 mobile units worth of production emanating from the second floor” commented Bexel engineer Lane Robbins.
Additionally, Genesis Networks delivered 27 unique feeds from the US Open to their various clients around the world and 22 of the feeds were for ESPN and are quality controlled by Bexel Broadcast Services engineering staff.
In addition to ESPN’s broadcast of the tournament, ESPN International is focusing on the international tennis culture by calling daily matches live from Flushing Meadows as well as producing individual segments tailored to each of their international broadcast centers and affiliates. ESPNews has the ability to produce and feed independent of any other on-site entity giving them the flexibility to react to the immediacy of the daily storylines. ESPN Interactive also produces their mosaic feed for DirecTV. The Mosaic service is put together via five Ross production switchers (one dedicated to each channel), and staffers have access to six channels of EVS servers (three channels in and three channels out) and even Vizrt graphics. A combination of ESPN and world feeds supply the action from the courts. “Bexel has done a nice job, and the seating and mounting layout here makes things more efficient,” says Don Colantonio, ESPN Senior Director, Original Entertainment-Media Packaging. He adds, “We will make some tweaks as we’re doing this for the first time, but it’s an efficient workflow, and there is enough creative power available.”
The core of the project was putting together an EVS server system that includes 14 XT[2] servers with Turbo functionality (and 3 TB of storage each) to handle HD material and three EVS XL[2] servers to handle low-res proxies of the HD material. The servers are located on the second floor of the large broadcast cabin and is used by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN 360, and ESPN Interactive TV. Avid editing systems and a 32TB Avid Unity, VizRT graphics, and a wealth of Evertz gear is also on hand and all of the systems also are tied into 22 outgoing transmission paths that connect the US Open ESPN compound with Bristol, CT.
The low-res network and servers are in place to move content easily over the facility’s Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure. EVS IP Director systems allow personnel to browse for clips using a Windows-based GUI. Bexel Broadcast Services Systems Engineer Lane Robbins played a key role in the effort alongside Bexel Engineer in Charge John Steinmetz. “We never had the entire facility built until it got here [to the USTA],” says Steinmetz. “The [rental company] that is most available and most flexible will win the day.”
Bexel EVS equipment is housed and maintained in Dallas, making the Bexel Dallas office an important hub in the US Open project. Racks for project were sent in to New York from Bexel facilities all across the U.S. where they met up with the incoming EVS units and other equipment.
"This year, with the addition of ESPN and a very quick ramp up schedule, Bexel’s US Open effort became an all-hands-on deck experience …every branch office pitched in and we have racks here from every single office in our US network,” says Joe Wire, VP/Bexel Broadcast Services. “Two racks of DA equipment were pre-wired but we basically came in here knowing what feeds we had to have and what needed to be sent out,” adds Lane Robbins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|