Sky Sport Summit Munich: The Beautiful World of Sports, Metadata, and Digital Transformation to the Fore

Sky Sport Summit Munich: The beautiful world of sports, metadata and digital transformation to the fore By Birgit Heidsiek

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - 18:01

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While UHD and HDR are improving the image quality of broadcast production, data management can create additional value for storytelling when graphical data usage such as AR comes into the picture. The potential of metadata management is also a driver for the digital transformation, the technology and the business behind it.

Moderator Gert Zimmerman on left, with Stefan Kramper, Dolby; Dr Remo Ziegler, Vizrt; Thomas Riedel, Riedel Communications; and Alexander Guenther, Sportcast

These were just some of the themes discussed at the Sky Sport Summit, in association with SVG Europe, which took place in Munich on 27 June.

In Germany, one game in the Bundesliga is produced in UHD. In Italy, the football league prefers HDR.

Right holders and producers often have different interests, said Stefan Kramper, director Content & Sports, Dolby. We don't want to produce more but better pixels.

First of all, HDR means better contrast and more colours but there are various HDR formats.

We decided to go for Dolby Vision, which is a dynamic metadata model that has certain advantages for the right holders because it makes sure that the colours which were chosen in the OB van or in the grading suite will be delivered in the best possible way to the customer at home.

Dynamic metadata, which has been standardised by SMPTE ST2094, enables accurate tone mapping from any arbitrary mastering colour volume to any arbitrary consumer device colour volume.

The UHD/HDR discussion is more complex than the one on SD/HD. Now, we just don't take a step towards UHD because there is a variety that can be seen , said Alexander G nther, managing director, Sportcast.

The use of robotic technology is only the beginning. The media production chain can be used in many different ways.

As the provider of the Bundesliga signal, we are very well positioned in the national market. We are at the front of the value chain and we make sure to deliver images that look as natural as possible.

The big challenge is to determine a standard. Together with partners, we are testing innovative projects and new ways of production, G nther pointed out. Therefore, Sportcast has launched the Sports Innovation exhibition in D sseldorf that brings together different players. There, we can set the rules.

For example, a corner flag camera was tested at Bundesliga and the Super Cup which helps to convey emotions. We want to create incentives that also work for other types of sport, stressed G nther.

The use of robotic technology is only the beginning. The media production chain can be used in many different ways. Sportcast also holds a share in Track160. Together with partners from data management, we need to establish an expertise for the graphical data usage and the development of AR.

Thomas Riedel on Mission to the Moon

For Thomas Riedel, managing director, Riedel Communications, 4K resolution doesn't need to be implemented at all costs. If the 4K resolution can't be recognised, it makes sense to stick to a reasonable solution, while colour fidelity is also displayed on a smart phone.

Riedel Communications likes to push limits and solve communication technology problems, even if it comes to rocket science. One of the challenges of the Red Bull Stratos project was to send video and audio signals from the stratosphere to the earth, while dealing with the weight and energy limitations of a space capsule. In the end, everything worked out well.

When Thomas Riedel mentioned in an interview that he would like to be part of a moon mission, he attracted the attention of the Part Time Scientists. They approached him with the request to share his experiences in project management and technology for the Mission to the Moon project. At the initial stage, we committed to build the Mission Control, which includes several issues that are standard in our industry. It is the same kind of communication technology that we use in the control room.

Compared to the broadcast industry, the main difference is that the launch of the project can't be exactly predicted because there is still a lot of research work to be done.

With several years of expertise in scientific research, Remo Ziegler, vice president Sports, Vizrt, sees innovative technologies as a possibility that can deliver information as well as emotions to the audience. There are various tools that help to improve the storytelling. The question is how we want to use AR. Much data is tracked, measured and with AI sub-tracked out of the images.

Instead of presenting the data as a graphic, it can be integrated in the images in a similar way to visual effects in the film industry. We have to create additional value for the story, said Ziegler. In the future, there will be a stronger need to generate content for certain target groups, but we don't want to pay more for it. For this reason, we invested in AI.

In terms of innovation, we are very slow, summed up Riedel, who doesn't blame the producers and right holders but the sports officials. Instead of talking about resolution, we need to tackle themes such as tracking and data collection.

As a great example he cited the America's Cup where the sailing sport and production are intermeshed. We can learn from other types of sport.

User profile: As much data as possible

Samuel Westberg, chief commercial officer, LiveLike, gave an insight into the application which they provide for broadcasters and right holders. Among the biggest events covered by LiveLike was the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

We are coming up with an Audience Engagement Platform that is for broadcasters and right holders, said Westberg. The idea

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