NEP Australia and BT Partner in World-First Live 4K Cricket Broadcasts

April 14, 2015 (Sydney)

Broadcasting and international cricket history were made at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 29 March with the culmination of the world's first live cricket broadcasts in 4K ultra high definition.

NEP Australia, Australia's largest and most experienced outside broadcast solutions provider, and BT Media and Broadcast teamed up to deliver seven key live-to-air 4K matches in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup for host broadcaster Star Sports India and its direct-to-home (DTH) partners.

The series spanned February 8 - March 29 from Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne and comprised two warm-up events; India's four pool matches (including the opener against Pakistan); one quarter final; one semi final; and the final.

NEP undertook all facilitation, production and direction services for the seven live 4K broadcasts.

BT provided its international fibre services to deliver the HD world feed for international distribution as well as the 4K fibre circuits between the Australian venues and India.

NEP and BT devised a hybrid 4K-HD technical and production solution, which allowed the Star India network to offer its world feed to direct-to-home subscribers in both high definition and 4K.

The tandem 4K-HD production meant material captured by 4K cameras could be integrated with the world feed production, eliminating the need for additional cameras.

NEP, BT and Star Sports India undertook thorough proof of concept testing prior to the events, culminating with a live run at the Australia v England One Day International in January.

NEP Australia Project Director Andrew Quinn said: When three companies with the experience and calibre of Star Sports, BT and NEP come together with the goal of being the first to deliver live 4K TV coverage of cricket into people's homes in India, each and every person on the project was committed to it being a success. I would like to thank the teams at Star and BT who embraced this first-time concept and made it fly. With the NEP worldwide network's ongoing investment in 4K this style of 4K production and delivery can be offered to all of NEP's clients.

Sanjay Bhat, Head of Sales, Asia Pac, BT Media & Broadcast, said: It's been great to work with NEP and Star TV to provide this service. Broadcasting the cricket live in ultra-high definition 4K was a real success and brilliant for all the fans of the sport.

Project specifics:

NEP's HD4K super truck with 3G and 4K options

Sony MVS 8000X 4K switcher with replay transition

9 x Sony F55 4K full sensor cameras with cine lenses operating with full television zoom, focus and iris

I-movix 4K ultra high motion camera

4K steadi-cam

4K EVS workflow for multi-cam record, replay, highlights and archiving

4K Video File Transfer: EVS to edit and back file-based workflow

Alston Elliot 4K graphics

Dolby 5:1 program audio

4K up-conversion: specialised HD camera shots from the world HD feed

Seamless integration of the 4K production and HD host broadcaster feed

UHD standard: 3840 x 2160, p50 4:2:2, 10 bit

37 Australian staff, including nine from NEP Australia and 26 Australian freelance broadcast professionals, plus two from BT Media and Broadcast

Nine events:

Warm up - Adelaide Oval, February 8

Warm up - Adelaide Oval, February 10

Match 1 (India's Pool) - Adelaide Oval, February 15

Match 2 (India's Pool) - MCG, February 22

Match 3 (India's Pool) - WACA, February 28

Match 4 (India's Pool) - WACA, March 6

Match 5, Quarter Final - MCG, March 19

Match 6, Semi Final - SCG - March 26

Match 7, Final - MCG, March 29

The live 4K Cricket World Cup broadcasts follow NEP Australia's delivery of Katy Perry's Sydney concert in 4K in December 2014.

NEP Australia's latest-generation fully-4K super trucks, HD11 and HD12, launch in July and December 2015, respectively.

About NEP

With the world's most advanced equipment, largest fleet of mobile units and global production studios to suit every genre, NEP enables its clients to execute, deliver, and display exceptional productions on any platform around the world. For more than 30 years, NEP has ensured its clients' success by delivering superior service and building lasting relationships with a passion for continuous innovation. NEP's talented staff is committed to acting with integrity and working as a team to deliver comprehensive solutions for remote production, studio production, video display and technical services for host broadcasting that set the global industry standard. For more information, visit www.nepinc.com.

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