Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

GhostFrame Tech Proves Powerful for Regional Feeds, Shoots Without Reblocking, and More

16/05/2023

GhostFrame Tech Proves Powerful for Regional Feeds, Shoots Without Reblocking, and More Single LED wall can be used to create multiple simultaneous outputs By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 9:19 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

In recent years, the capabilities of virtual studios, green-screen studios, and LED walls have expanded exponentially, thanks to increasingly powerful graphics engines, better graphics tools, and improved tracking. Such developments are also spurring production personnel to look for new ways to derive as much as possible from those elements, and that is one reason a relatively new production toolkit from GhostFrame is beginning to resonate with U.S. broadcasters, Fox Sports among them.

It's a toolkit that enables you to hide video content in an LED wall, which is invisible to the naked eye but visible through a camera, says Peter Angell, CEO, AGS AG, a GhostFrame partner. Each frame is sliced into a number of subframes. Those subframes include the frames that are supposed to be visible on each of the feeds as well as other frames that are used to visually delete the frames not relevant to each output.

We do that by showing the inverse image, he continues. The simplest way to explain that is with a green screen. We want you to see the green-screen frame on camera, but then we insert a frame that is magenta, the opposite of green, and they are played back so quickly your eye doesn't see either green or magenta. Instead, you see gray.

GhostFrame allows each of four feeds to have a separate background behind a presenter or talent.

The trick is in orchestrating the subframes in such a way that the overall light cycle of the frame appears to be one-60th of a second, eliminating flicker or motion disruption.

The end result is a system that allows a single LED wall to be used to create multiple simultaneous outputs. For example, a single presenter can stand in front of an LED wall announcing sports scores, and a single camera and the single LED wall can output feeds that have a different look or branding, making it much easier to embrace a future that is increasingly going to require personalized content. Even the studio audience could have a different experience.

They could see something completely different from what those watching the broadcast or stream see, Angell notes. A sports studio show could be regionalized or have a different feed for the home and visiting teams.

GhostFrame can make it easier to create regional feeds or to produce content with less need for reblocking.

GhostFrame's secret sauce is not hardware but firmware sent to the LED wall (currently, it is compatible with LED walls only from Roe Visual LED Display Solutions) and LED-wall-control systems from Megapixel. The firmware is licensed, either on a yearly basis or for a shorter period.

We do provide initial support as it can be quite hard to set up, adds Angell.

At the core, he adds, the system is all about the mathematics of camera frame rates and the refresh rate of the LED wall. The LED wall on show at NAB 2023, for example, refreshes around 14,000 times a second while the camera records at 240 fps.

If we are using a camera with global shutter, says Angell, we can sync the camera to the wall, run it at exactly the same rate, and then carve out the individual frames. If we are running at 240 fps, we can get really clean definition for all the frames because all four of the outputs will be 60 fps.

Other applications can help reduce the time required for resetting a scene or allow the LED wall or floor to display blocking instructions and even scripts to those in the studio while viewers at home see graphics or video elements (think footsteps visible only to talent so they can know where to walk). Camera tracking patterns can also be hidden, allowing the system to be used in a fully enclosed volumetric studio without the need for physical markers.

We can put the marker invisibly onto the wall, Angell explains. Wherever you point the camera, there are markers and physical points that are integrated with TrackMan. When you add it all up, you can do four things at the same time because the LED wall can have four realities.

The most interesting aspect of the demo at NAB 2023 involved shooting a daytime and nighttime scene at the same time. Three lighting panels around the small set were set up to light a daylight scene; three others lit a nighttime version. With the light panels controlled via the same controller as the LED panel, the subframes for the day scene were synchronized with the daylight panels, the subframes for the night scene with the nighttime panels. The result was one output that looked as if the subject was in daylight and one where the subject seemed to be outside at dusk.

This is crucial, says Angell, because you can light all your realities simultaneously and don't need to reblock or reshoot or reset the lighting. That's a real production benefit because you can do three or four things at once without changing anything.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/05/16/ghostframe-tech-proves-powerful...
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 ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

07/07/2026

Disagreements Abound Over the Adequacy of C-Band Replacements

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Cameras Become More Connected to Production Workflows

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

NFL on TV: Time to Move the Regulatory Goal Posts?

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Building a Future-Ready Facility for Tomorrow's Broadcasters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Rewriting the Control Room: How Broadcasters Are Going Remote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Fincons Group appoints Andrea Fravega as Global BU Media...

The appointment will drive growth and innovation across the Media Business Unit Fincons Group, a leading IT business consultancy and systems integrator company...

07/07/2026

Big Blue Marble debuts next-gen ultra low latency MoQ str...

International broadcast and streaming expert Big Blue Marble has announced a multi-month Proof of Concept (PoC) for Media over QUIC (MoQ) during a major interna...

07/07/2026

Leader provides Test and Measurement for global broadcast...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, is proud to announce that two of its leading products, the PHABRIX Qx rasterizer and LeaderPhabrix L...

07/07/2026

Clear-Com Powers Ross Production Services Mobile Producti...

Clear-Com announced that Ross Production Services (RPS), a leading provider of mobile production solutions for live events and broadcasts, has standardized on ...

07/07/2026

Q Era Innovations Take Center Stage for LiveU at IBC2026

LiveU redefined live newsgathering with the invention of cellular bonding. At IBC2026, Stand 7.C24, the company will show how that foundation is evolving into t...

07/07/2026

Camera to Cloud Meets Camera to Timeline LucidLink Unifi...

LucidLink, a leader in cloud-based file services for content creators, today announced an enhanced workflow integration between LucidLink and Adobe Frame.io tha...

07/07/2026

Comcast's Sky to Acquire ITV Media and Entertainment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems Details ATSC 3.0 EAS Capabilities to FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

New appointments to Screen Australia board

New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026 The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board. Dr Tania Chamber...

07/07/2026

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck to their creative guns.

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...

07/07/2026

July 06, 2026

Scripps Research scientists train the immune system to make antibodies against numerous HIV strains Preclinical findings mark progress toward a long-sought vacc...

06/07/2026

Inside OneSoccer's FIFA World Cup Ops: Canada's Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNT's Historic Moment

Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Acquires Imagine Communications, Continues To Build Portfolio of Media Businesses

The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...

06/07/2026

SVG All-Stars: Stuart Mitchell, Senior Coordinating Producer, Spectrum SportsNet LA

This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...

06/07/2026

Case Study: How IMS Productions and FOX Sports Scaled Coverage of the 109th Indianapolis 500

IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Completes Acquisition of Synamedias Video Network Business

Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...

06/07/2026

NASCAR and Motorsport Network Announce Content and Commercial Partnership

NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...

06/07/2026

Versant To Acquire Full Swing for Approximately $530 Million

Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...

06/07/2026

DAZN Secures Global Rights to 3ICE Hockey

DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...

06/07/2026

Synth Anthology 5 From UVI

Bundle gains 100 new synths & more Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...

06/07/2026

MOTU 16A, 848 & 10pre gain Milan certification

Available now via free firmware update MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...

06/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Communications System

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...

06/07/2026

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the quality of packaged goods in real time

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...

06/07/2026

INVITATION FOR SOUTH AFRICAN FILMMAKERS TO SUBMIT FILMS FOR THE 99TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS (OSCARS) INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

06/07/2026

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice President, Operations

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...

06/07/2026

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development Brie Clayton July 6, 2026 0 Comments The strategic new appointment supports...

06/07/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve Michael Cioni July 6, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...

06/07/2026

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro Colin Smith July 6, 2026 0 Comments Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...

06/07/2026

Flavor's FirstEver Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Executive Producer Kate Smith Rises to Lead the Studio

Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...

06/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...

06/07/2026

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with the first drop

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...

06/07/2026

NVIDIA and Hugging Face Bring New Models and Frameworks to LeRobot for the Open Robotics Community

Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...

06/07/2026

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy intellisphereinsyght2026 6 July Written By Suzanne Costello Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...

06/07/2026

Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a commercial streaming champion for the UK

Monday 6 July 2026 Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...

06/07/2026

Pico Lopes joins RT's FIFA World Cup 2026 Live panel

Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...

06/07/2026

How Nations Are Deploying AI for Strategic Priorities

Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...

06/07/2026

How Open Models Are Driving AI Research

Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work. This year's ...

06/07/2026

New RT documentary The Girl in the Water follows one family's search for answers following the death of their 23-year-old daughter

A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained What happened to Ke...

05/07/2026

Fox Sports AR/XR Studio Graphics Team Shows Power of Next-Generation Operations

We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...

05/07/2026

Free Behringer Synth Editor

Browser-based and desktop apps available Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...

04/07/2026

Inside OneSoccers FIFA World Cup Ops: Canadas Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNTs Historic Moment

When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...