YES Network Enhances Yankee 1080p Coverage with Phantom Slo-Mo; Augmented Reality

YES Network Enhances Yankee 1080p Coverage with Phantom Slo-Mo; Augmented Reality Amazon Prime deal powers new enhancements that make a difference for talent and viewers By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Monday, May 30, 2022 - 4:55 pm

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The YES Network are enjoying some solid play from the New York Yankees, but they are also enjoying some enhancements to the production that were the result of a deal with Amazon Prime which this year is streaming 19 Yankee games, including 19 on Friday nights.

AR graphics are giving a lift to YES Network Yankee broadcasts.

This is a real credit to Amazon because Amazon really wanted to drive their productions in a unique way this year, says Jared Boshnack, YES Network, VP of production. The challenged us and said look, we know you put on one of the best productions and that is a separator. But what be the differentiator?

Those efforts began with some enhancements to Game Creek Video's Yogi truck.

Yogi's still a high end truck in the fleet, even after a few years, says Mike Webb, YES Network, VP, broadcast operations and engineering. But Game Creek went ahead with an investment to upgrade all the cameras on the truck to the new Sony HDC-5500s and we upgraded the EVS network to XT-VIAs. And then Fletcher upgraded our robos, two of which are also super slo-mo, so we're now able to do a full 1080p show which can be seen on Amazon Prime. And while I haven't compared 1080p to 720p side by side I watched it the other night on a Roku on my big TV and noticed the difference.

Phantom cameras are giving YES announcers more insight into the game.

YES also has more RF handheld cameras in use and also expanded the use of Phantom high-speed cameras and Boshnack, says it's already made a difference, and not just for viewers.

Our talent really gets a lot out of it because they're seeing images now which are so much more descriptive and can show things that we weren't really able to truly appreciate before, he says. It's not just a player sliding but the ability to see the torque that goes into throwing a 99 mph fastball. The way the camera slows everything down in such crystal clear images it's really a game changer and makes our broadcast feel really big. And I can see it being used more and more on bigger shows but, for now, it has to be used judiciously and in the right way.

Using those cameras in the right way depends on three things: the cameraperson's skills, making sure the camera is in the best location, and also having an EVS operator who can quickly build the right clips. Given that the camera is used for replays and not live coverage, Boshnack says the best spots for the camera to be positioned are low first or third.

It depends on if you have a right or a lefty pitcher on the mound or how the lineup is loaded, he adds. We've learned that not only do you have to have the technology but then you also need an excellent camera operator and someone who's really adept on the EVS in the truck to turn these images around. A lot of it is about understanding the game to be in the right place at the right time and get shots that have a depth.

The graphics side of things have also gotten a lift with augmented reality bringing a new level of information to viewers at home. Created by third-party graphics house Girapphic.

They really bring depth and value to the broadcast because we can do a nice wide shot and have the graphic seemingly come up from the middle of the field and it looks magnificent and makes the broadcast bigger, says Boshnack. We had the Girapphic team work with Game Creek Video EIC Gavin Hornick and Rick Deutschman who heads up our graphics group and is director of our design group to make sure it was launched successfully.

And like using the Phantom cameras the team is experimenting with different locations for the dedicated camera head and lens that powers the AR graphics.

We had it on a low camera the first couple of games and we had it at tight center yesterday, he says. We're trying to figure out the best angle for introducing these graphics but they are really, really cool.

As for the future, Webb says HDR is in the roadmap but there are still some issues to be worked out, including the ability to have an HDR-capable truck available for both home and away games.

When we started digging in for this year handling media from an HDR truck to an SDR truck and back and forth still seems to be a little much, especially for the production team he adds. But we still wanted to get to an internal 1080p workflow.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/05/30/yes-network-enhances-yankee-108...
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