Live From the US Open: ESPN's Successfully Serves Up Immersive AR on the Domestic Front, HDR for the World By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, September 9, 2024 - 9:57 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2024 US Open concluded yesterday afternoon with Italy's Jannik Sinner defeating American Taylor Fritz in the mens final and it also wrapped up a championship that saw ESPN's US Open coverage enhance its on-air graphics look with both Hawkeye virtual graphics as well as more dramatic AR graphics powered by Girraphic who also provided AR graphics for the Australian Open tennis tournament which kicks off the Slam season every January.
(l-to-r) ESPN's Brett Jackson, Isabel Bristol, and Joe Durante outside the ESPN production center at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
While Girraphic has worked with ESPN on other sports and platforms this is the first they have lent their expertise, their skill, their vision of what they can do to the tennis atmosphere, says ESPN Tennis Executive Producer Jamie Reynolds. They're already working with TA in Australia, so we've seen this integration before and now we're taking advantage of that relationship and experience and figuring out how to use it here in New York. And that was a benefit because they've already been embedded with our coverage going back to the Australian Open courtesy of Tennis Australia.
Reynolds says that a big difference between the Tennis Australia philosophy and ESPN's is that Tennis Australia was looking to use AR graphics to shape how they wanted the Australian Open's brand to be looked like for a world-wide audience.
But for us we already have this sort of AR functionality in primetime for football, basketball, and baseball and for tennis we are using it to give a demonstrative, larger brand feel that also gives a little bit of sparkle and primetime appeal, he adds.
Isabel Bristol, Manager Animated Graphics Innovation & Production Design, says the creative development began last spring in house, taking inspiration from the current animation package. ESPN then took the design concepts to Girraphic to bring the package to life.
We were looking for a blend of what complemented our current look and identity and in August, we fine-tuned the creative with a nod to some of the design elements the USTA was using in their marketing campaign, she says.
The AR graphics are tied into images captured with the Spidercam and Joe Durante, ESPN, associate director, product engineering, says that from a movement standpoint the Spidercam is the best do those sorts of graphics.
Spidercam is the most stable camera for it, and it was an easy transition for them as they work with our team to create the moves for it, he says. It's been a success and also one of the most talked about pieces of the production.
Brett Jackson, Managing Producer, ESPN Production, credits Charlie Collin, ESPN, motion graphics design, manager, and the ESPN Creative Department with playing a big part in the effort.
They helped bridge the communication [between Girraphic and Spidercam] and design a new look for the US Open, he adds.
Jackson also points to new Hawkeye graphics as another great addition to the production as they have added a new layer of creativity to animations and graphics.
They have been a part of this for multiple years and is constantly amplifying their technology and giving us new options for coverage with different styles of tracking and different information planning, he says. Now Hawkeye is in a cool, virtual setting with it that takes the graphic look to the next level. We first saw it at Wimbledon and now it's here.
ESPN's other big lift this year was working with the USTA to make HDR a reality for the world feed. The HDR production at the US Open used the same BBC-created LUT (look-up-table) that was used at Wimbledon, allowing the production team to get used to that HDR workflow. The HDR coverage included matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, the Grandstand, and then courts 5 and 17 (he outside courts (or ACE courts) were produced in SDR using Simplylive ViBox).
Olsen says one of the challenges was the mix of HDR and SDR sources as while most of the cameras operated in HDR mode there were some POV-style cameras that still had to operate in SDR mode. All graphics and archived material were also in SDR and needed to be converted to HDR.
Some consuderations in the workflow were monitoring it as you can't switch out 500 SDR monitors, he adds. We also had to handle conversion between SDR to HDR and apply the correct LUT to the SDR graphics, so you are maintaining the integrity of the colorimetry of brands and sponsors. The hardest part is handling the archive, post-production, and frame rate conversion involved in the SDR/HDR workflows. We have found a lot of people have compared this like going from SD to HD when there was a lot of learning curves.
Steve Raymond, ESPN, senior technical specialist, adds that it took a lot of work to lay out the ecosystem.
We had to a diagram of all the moving parts and where the conversion was required so we could assign devices to the signals, says Raymond. And we also took a fairly conservative approach to HDR as we've seen some stuff that pops too much.
Olsen says the effort has paid off as the images are much improved over SDR.
Arthur Ashe Stadium is unique in that you have shadows that go from north to south in the morning and then from east to west in the afternoon, he says. It's a double whammy but the HDR images show a huge improvement aside from the colorimetry which also allows you to see how vibrant the subject colors are.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
02/03/2026
NBC Sports selected Imaginary Forces to create the main title sequence for the M...
02/03/2026
The NFL announces the launch of the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a new crowds...
02/03/2026
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has named Skyline Communications' DataMiner SatOps solution as a finalist for the 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year ...
02/03/2026
Ventum Tech announces a strategic partnership with Pixotope, a real-time graphic...
02/03/2026
Victory , a free, ad-supported sports streaming service, announces the launch of...
02/03/2026
Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovi...
02/03/2026
SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek ...
02/03/2026
NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night
Media releases
A Midweek Hub for Blak Sport
Flagship NRL program Over The Black Dot moves to Wednesdays at 9:30pm
...
02/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have reached another pivotal ...
02/03/2026
MELBOURNE, Fla., March 2, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) today announc...
02/03/2026
Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages sure Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...
02/03/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, and Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ, A...
02/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, has appointed Jody Boatwright as Chief Strategy Of...
02/03/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is reinforcing its commitment to simplifying complex AV environments with the continued evolution of its TPN...
02/03/2026
ZEISS Cinema opens its doors to an exclusive screening, filmmakers Q&A and hands-on showcase of the new ZEISS Aatma lens family on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-9:00 ...
02/03/2026
To expand the creative potential of the compact Astera QuikBeam, DoPchoice introduces the SNAPBAG Round. The new light-shaping accessory transforms the powerfu...
02/03/2026
Douglas Dubler
On a rooftop in New York City, veteran photographer Douglas Dubler watched the sun's angle shift across the urban landscape, his internal cl...
02/03/2026
ZEISS is expanding its Otus ML lens family with the introduction of the new ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35. This manual-focus lens is designed for photographers who live ...
02/03/2026
Matthews Studio Equipment now offers the new Dinkum Systems White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit, a compact, highly adaptable setup for mobile content creation...
02/03/2026
Luxembourg, February 26, 2026 - SES and Africa Mobile Network (AMN) have expande...
02/03/2026
02 03 2026 - Media release Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative
Ausfilm and Screen Australia have announced Partner with Australia (...
02/03/2026
Monday 2 March 2026
Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team
L-R: Jonno Johnson; Charlie Skelton; Celya AB; Omar Badawy; Gr inne Maguire; Laura Claxton; ...
02/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for 53 Sundays, the New Film by Cesc Gay
Entertainment
02 March 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Dis...
28/02/2026
With two features seen in Formula 1 coverage, the broadcaster aims to bring view...
28/02/2026
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addresses a crowd of approximately 1,500 L3Harris employees in Camden, Arkansas, as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour....
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Berklee Presents Mambo Mania: Eguie Castrillo and the Berklee All-Stars Big Band...
28/02/2026
Berklee Announces Two New Summer Programs in Los Angeles The Berklee Music Business Program and Electronic Music Production and Sound Design Workshop bring imme...
28/02/2026
AI-RAN is moving from lab to field, showing that a software-defined approach is ...
28/02/2026
Autonomous networks - intelligent, self-managing telecommunications operations -...
28/02/2026
Back to All News
Final Trailer for BEASTARS Final Season Part 2' Roars Tow...
28/02/2026
New way to intentionally discover molecular glues could expand drug discovery Scripps Research scientists and colleagues show how drugs that eliminate certain d...
27/02/2026
The E.W. Scripps Company names Oliver Gray as Vice President, Network Sports and...
27/02/2026
The Gotham Sports App, the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of MSG Networks and the YES Network, is now available for purchase through Prime Video fo...
27/02/2026
ESPN and the Horizon League announce a new multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement, continuing a 38-year collaboration that began with the 1988 Midwes...
27/02/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, NETGEAR will highlight its new switch models and major updates to its Engage Controller software. The company's network d...
27/02/2026
Riedel Communications announces that Fondazione Teatro alla Scala has deployed a...
27/02/2026
Lyuno specializes in media localization, including translation, dubbing, subtitling, and voice-over services for a wide array of entertainment content. The comp...
27/02/2026
Chyron Weather 2.3, the latest edition of Chyron's weather visualization suite for broadcasters and meteorologists, recently launched.
The release includes...
27/02/2026
Telestream, which concentrates in media workflow technologies, announces expanded practical AI enhancements across its Vantage, Vantage Cloud, EDC, Stanza, and ...
Live From the US Open: ESPN's Successfully Serves Up Immersive AR on the Domestic Front, HDR for the World By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
