Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Spin Shot: How Infront Productions is Producing Coverage of the Women's European Handball Federation Euro 2024

11/12/2024

Spin shot: How Infront Productions is producing coverage of the Women's European Handball Federation Euro 2024 By Heather McLean

Friday, November 29, 2024 - 13:41

Print This Story

With the help of host broadcast HBS, the EHF js making this Women's Euro bigger and better than ever before [Source:EHF/kolektiff]

The Women's European Handball Federation (EHF) Euro 2024 started on Thursday 28 November, with 24 teams taking part for the first time, up from 16 previously. The preliminary round of the competition will be concluded in the three host countries, Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, on 3 December, with the main round and the knockout phase seeing a winner crowned on 15 December.

With the help of Infront Productions, which selected Host Broadcast Services (HBS) to run the project, the EHF is making this Women's Euro bigger and better than ever before. When it comes to planning and strategy, the Women's EHF Euro will for the second time be as big in terms of production as the Men's EHF Euro 2024, which took place in January 2024.

Innovations introduced in Germany for the men, such as the change in format from interlaced to progressive (1080p 50), as well as the use of a cine-style camera for the final weekend, are being carried over to the Women's EHF Euro. Additionally, the final weekend itself will be captured by 21 cameras.

The Women's EHF Euro 2024 will be produced in progressive this year, as the men's was in January [Source:EHF/kolektiff]

Equal production

SVG Europe spoke to Thomas Sch neich, EHF director of media and communications, and Lou Oppenheim, production manager at Infront Productions and the person responsible for the Women's EHF Euro host broadcast, about how the two weeks of the Women's Euro were going to be produced.

Comments Sch neich on the move to equalise the men's and women's productions in 2022: We made the deliberate decision that both the men's Euro and the women's Euro would be treated equally; we wanted to give it the same exposure. We don't want to reduce cameras if we're talking camera planning from one event to the other. Back then when we started, we said that both events should enjoy our defined gold standard of TV production.

The women's event will be produced in progressive this year, as the men's was in January. Comments Oppenheim: Now more and more broadcasters are using progressive rather than interlaced and because as well on big events we do progressive, we just want the EHF to follow that path because it's a big production, a lot of cameras and now [produced to a] high standard.

For the technical side of the production, using progressive has meant a few tweaks have had to be made, says Oppenheim. In Hungary, Infront Productions works with technical services provider Antenna, while in Innsbruck and Vienna in Austria and Basel, Switzerland, it works with Media Luso from Portugal.

She comments on the men's Euro in January: Actually in Germany, we had a couple of challenges, just because we needed to adapt all the equipment coming from the broadcasters, even for everything replay related, for example, that all machines have to be able to work with the progressive format, which with some technical providers is not the case with all the machines. So we had to adapt a bit. It all went fine.

The bandwidth required for the production when using progressive is also increased, she notes: It just uses more bandwidth and capacity. And all of that has an impact on the organising committee (OC) for internet lines, for example; as soon as you start pushing progressive, it takes much more [capacity], especially if you want the turnaround to be as quick as possible and then it's money on OC's and all of that. But in the end it worked all fine and as Thomas said, we want the same thing on the woman's, and it's all agreed with the OC and technical providers, so it should be fine and for the best.

Camera plan for the final of the Women's EHF Euro 2024 (click on the image to see a larger version)

Cine cam magic

Infront Productions is using the Sony FX6 cine cam for the EHF women's final. It is being used to capture off-court images, explains Oppenheim. We are using it before, at halftime, and after [the matches] to provide more beautiful pictures, or cinematic pictures. So it'll be from players in the dressing room if they allow us to enter with this one, otherwise we'll be waiting to enter the court, lining up during the anthem, on the bench, and then at the end, some emotions on the court. Just to tell the story a bit more. And our friends from digital have asked us to film the last player of each team when they enter the court, that we follow them from the back; that will be used on different platforms.

Sch neich explains why the EHF found it necessary to introduce cine cameras. Obviously it's always our goal to enhance the viewing experience. I'm not going to say we were late to the party, but obviously back in January, cine style cameras had become much wider used in world feed productions, at least from my point of view. And this is the next step that we wanted to take as well, from a European Handball Federation and innovation point of view. It was an on top' investment, so to say that we deliberately made [it in addition] to the existing camera plan.

There's always financial thoughts that come into these discussions and we looked at the feasibility, of when can we use it? Sch neich goes on. The final weekend is kind of a given because it's obviously the highlight matches of the tournament. In Germany [at the men's Euros], we had the particular situation that the opening game was a world record-breaking game in terms of audience, because we played in a football stadium in front of 53,000
LINK: https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/spin-shot-how-hbs-is-producin...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

08/09/2026

Comcast Technology Solutions Signs Multi-Year VOD Distribution Agreement with A+E Global Media

Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...

08/09/2026

Spectra Logic Introduces Media Insight for Faster Discovery, Preview, and Retrieval of Archived Media

Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...

08/09/2026

Rogers and Quebecor Announce 12-Year French-Language NHL Sublicensing Deal

Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies to Demonstrate Automated Broadcast Workflows

Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: Boland Communications Makes European Debut of 4K55HDR7SNB

Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...

08/09/2026

Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions Announce Collaboration for Live Video Delivery

Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: Haivision Joins IBC Accelerator Programme on 5G Network Control for Live Production

Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...

08/09/2026

Blackmagic Design Cuts Prices on PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K

Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: AI-Media to Showcase Multilingual AI Captioning and Translation Platform

AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...

08/09/2026

Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform Deploy SGAI Solution for Belgian Broadcaster RTBF

Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: Grass Valley to Demonstrate Story-Centric Newsroom Workflows

Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...

08/09/2026

M2A Media and Ateme Partner to Scale Live Sports Video Delivery

M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026: Ikegami to Introduce New UNICAM XE Cameras and Viewfinders

Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...

08/09/2026

Caretta Research Shares Top Trends to Watch at IBC 2026

Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...

08/09/2026

SENSHI and DAZN Announce Global Broadcast Partnership

SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...

08/09/2026

ESPN, ESPN2 Begin 4K HDR Rollout in the U.S. with New IP-Based Distribution Pipeline

New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...

08/09/2026

Sauceware Audio release Scorch 2

Built for rap producers, by rap producers Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...

08/09/2026

Warm Audio unveil the Jude preamps

Classic Sound Techniques design revived Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...

08/09/2026

XILS Lab introduce MemoryTone

Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...

08/09/2026

The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026

The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026 8 September, 2026 Media releases 1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date Best...

08/09/2026

IBC2026: Haivision Integrates Chyron LIVE into its Workflow

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/09/2026

Mo-Sys completes reorganisation strengthens management te...

Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...

08/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems power monitoring and multivie...

New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...

08/09/2026

Asharq migrates extended channel line-up to Pebble playou...

Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform. Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...

08/09/2026

Techex Extends its Lead in Software Defined Live Video at...

Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...

08/09/2026

Grass Valley Advances Story-Centric Media Workflows for U...

Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...

08/09/2026

BCNEXXT Showcases Latest Vipe Innovations at IBC2026 Rais...

BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...

08/09/2026

Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform Power First Active Dep...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...

08/09/2026

Brainstorm unveils major enhancements to its Suite 7 envi...

Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...

08/09/2026

Big Blue Marble Collaborates with TDF as Technology Partn...

Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...

08/09/2026

nxtedition takes agentic AI from newswire to gallery at I...

Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...

08/09/2026

Ceeblue and Layercake Expand Strategic Integration to Lau...

Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...

08/09/2026

Brainstorm launches Engram a dedicated asset management t...

Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...

08/09/2026

IBC 2026 - The new Synamedia - solving the business of vi...

A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...

08/09/2026

Accedo Selected by PlayOn Sports to Enhance NFHS Network...

Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...

08/09/2026

AP brings new connectivity and workflow tech to global ne...

LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...

08/09/2026

Mediagenix Personalization Curates Sports Content Around...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...

08/09/2026

Appear X5 to enable flyaway contribution for DP World Tou...

Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...

08/09/2026

Zixi and Kiloview Partner to Deliver Broadcast-Grade IP V...

Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...

08/09/2026

Quortex and NetActuate announce global agreement

Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning Quortex today announce...

08/09/2026

Orlando Magic, Gray Media Ink Full-Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/09/2026

Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnership

Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...

08/09/2026

Jnger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026

J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026 Search Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...

08/09/2026

Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers

Tuesday 8 September 2026 Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...

08/09/2026

Trailer released for The Wargame, launching on Sky from 21 September

Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026 Trailer releas...

08/09/2026

Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset Platform

Wuppertal September 8, 2026 Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...