Sochi: Servers in Sport

The OBS Media Server in Sochi is composed of XT3 servers for ingest, production and playout, and a central XStoreSAN.

SOCHI The speed, workflow and networking aspects of server-based ingest and production at big sport events have allowed broadcasters to keep up with rapidly expanding, complex content needs.

In Sochi, host broadcaster OBS deployed 17 EVS XT3 servers and an XStore SAN in its International Broadcast Centre (IBC), with many more EVS servers at venues throughout the city and at the alpine venues. More than 200 servers in total were used.

While a Winter Games will never be as large as a Summer, the ability to record and make available every minute of every event, every medal ceremony, every OBS interview with athletes and coaches, and more, is still a massive task. Content that can be rapidly searched and accessed is a core, established benefit of the server infrastructure that continues to be refined.

In Sochi, all of this content was available to rightsholding broadcasters (RHBs) throughout the two-plus weeks of the broadcast. A Browse Service option allowed RHBs to look at low-res browse copies of content using an EVS IPDirector module station (IPBrowse), before picking only needed content for HD delivery to an XT3 in their facility.

NEW MULTIPLATFORM SERVICE

Over the years, OBS has used the fundamental file-based nature of its server-based production to offer additional services to RHBs, and these continue to be refined. New this year was a service to help RHBs get compelling content to smart phones, pad devices and computers.

An app from EVS called iXT allowed producers at a venue's interview zone to tag video and create clips directly in the central server, with metadata.

At the last Winter Games in Vancouver, the iPad was still two months from its debut. Here in Sochi, the idea of filling a second or third screen with good content had become so popular that 95 countries used the host broadcaster's new multiplatform service, called the Olympic Video Player.

Within the large entry hall of the broadcast centre in Sochi, OBS had a demo area of its OVP Service, with several phones and tablets displaying live and clip-based content. Behind glass were the technical areas where transcoding and such was done.

The service offers a-la-carte and turnkey services including on-demand HD video with full commentary; broadcaster commentary audio added to live video; pre-roll videos and commercials; live streaming, including broadcaster channels; a ticker, including broadcaster content promotion; full customisations including language, broadcaster logo etc. One possible feature moving forward is the provision of extra live content to the viewer with unique and unseen camera angles. Finnish broadcaster YLE had big success using the service, as we profile here.

ESTABLISHED SERVICES

OBS' thoughtful deployment of a server infrastructure continues to provide real benefits to RHBs hungry for compelling content. Services include:

OBS loggers added additional metadata to the content using the IP Log module of EVS' IP Director.

The ONC, a ready-to-air news channel broadcasting 24 hours per day for the entire length of the Games. Content includes sports highlights, athlete interviews and other features and is played out using EVS XT3 servers controlled by IPDirector. The workflow relied on a server infrastructure, and an iPad app from EVS called iXT allowed producers at a venue's interview zone to tag video and create clips directly in the central media server with metadata related to the content.

One service that has seen real expansion since its Vancouver launch was the Multichannel Distribution Service (MDS), which provided six ready-to-air channels of competition plus the ONC via satellite. OBS used the rapid turnaround inherent in the massive server system to populate the MDS with a mix of live and recorded content. Twenty-some broadcasters of all sizes used the MDS service in Vancouver; in London, more than 90 broadcasters saw its value as a tool to broaden the content they could offer their viewers. More than 100 broadcasters used the service in Sochi. One new technical feature was the addition of automation software to track all the playout.

OBS also made available a new service called IPBrowseWeb, which may well be the next big thing in big event international broadcasting. IPBrowseWeb allows producers and production personnel located offsite to browse content, create clips and even retrieve content with minimal delay over standard Internet connections, which means more bodies can stay at home so transportation and housing costs will be less. In Sochi Finnish broadcaster YLE was the marquee customer. See the YLE profile.

LINK:	http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0110/sochi-servers-in-sport/223816...
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