Live from The Open Championship: NBC Sports, Golf Channel Collaborate on Remote Studio Production; Rely on 2110 IP Transport NEWBERT Flypacks allow studio production team to cut shows from Orlando By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Saturday, July 21, 2018 - 10:58 am
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It's year three for NBC Sports and The Golf Channel at The Open Championship and the production teams continue to refine the production as well as its relationships. Topping the list this year is the reliance on NBC's own NEWBERT remote flypack to allow for the Golf Channel studio production team to cut the shows remotely from its home facility in Orlando, FL.
Allison McAllister and Ryan Soucy oversee operations for NBC Sports at The Open Championship.
NEWBERT has been great, says Ryan Soucy, NBC Sports, VP, golf operations. It has reduced costs and the number of people on site and it is a big test for us, but it is going well. And we have a lot of support from the team back in Orlando as they have a hard job because they are working overnight. But production here is talking to the producers back and forth like they are in the building and communications have been good.
NEWBERT has been used this year for tournaments like the Hawaii Tournament of Champions, the Travelers, and the Senior PGA Championship but this weekend it made its debut at a major.
This is the biggest show NEWBERT has done, says Marc Caputo, Golf Channel, senior director, remote technical operations.
Craig Bernstein, NBC Sports, senior director, technical operations and engineering, says that what's new compared to the other tournaments it has been used on is that it is tied to an IP-based transmission system and actually contains more equipment than a typical NEWBERT flypack. It's the result of a joint venture between the Golf Channel and NBC Sports as they both provided the hardware.
It's a state-of-the-art workflow that uses 2110 [for multicasts] between Scotland and Orlando, says Bernstein. Previously when the Golf Channel used NEWBERT signals were transmitted as ASI via either satellite or fiber. The move to 2110 removes the need to send signals via an ASI multiplex as three Evertz IP encoders are on site at The Open while 10 Evertz IP decoders are in Orlando.
(l-to-r) Craig Bernstein, Marc Caputo, Dominic Torchia, Chris Connelly, and Mike Peloso have been working hard to oversee the use of a NEWBERT flypack at The Open Championship.
Dominic Torchia, NBC Sports, manager, remote technical operations and engineering, says that Orlando has integrated tally and router control, a move that removes the need for an additional operator to be on site. The team at home includes the typical front-bench production team, Chyron Hego and Vizrt graphics operators, the A1 audio mixer, and EVS operators have access to 16 feeds.
They have a multiview of the sources and can decide what goes down the paths, he says. This is the maiden voyage for the IP transmission kit and we are hoping to transfer more routing and control functionality to the transmission side so the NEWBERT kit can do the production.
Two muxes are also in place for redundancy and the studio shows are relying on five cameras provided by NBC and 11 additional cameras that are rented from CTV OB. A Lawo audio frame is also part of the package as it helps create a local mix while DNF Controls provides GPI transport between The Open and Orlando. In addition, the system allows for frame conversion of 50 fps signals to 59.94 fps to take place in Orlando, meaning less equipment needs to be rented for the coverage.
The Live from' show has 16 cameras and up to 20 sources and we have 14 transmission paths [over a 1 Gbps circuit] and a remote Evertz panel in Orlando where the TOC can route the transmission paths from Orlando, says Caputo. It's worked out really well.
Two producers are on hand at The Open to work with talent during breaks and camera people are also on site along with camera shaders and an A2 audio mixer.
There are three operators with NEWBERT, two engineers and then an engineer with transmission, adds Bernstein. The complete system is comprised of 26 rack units of equipment.
The system is expected to be used again at the Ryder Cup that will be held outside of Paris at the end of September. It is anticipated that the system will take another step forward and no longer need to use a CTV production unit as a distribution point between the stage and Orlando.
The transmission kit is brand new and everyone in the NEWBERT team, NBC transmission, and the Golf Channel engineering team did a great job of testing and getting it to work, says Caputo.
Adds Bernstein: If we can take five or 10 people off of the road for the international events it means considerable savings, and the technology allows it to happen.
The system will continue to evolve as Torchia says lessons from NASCAR have already resulted in a system that is lighter and easier to move around thanks to 2110 and the move to fiber.
There is no coax at all and we have been 150 and 200 signals via fiber, he says.
The front bench of the NBC Sports control room at The Open Championship.
Soucy says the third year of NBC's involvement at The Open once again sees the relationship between the core entities involved, NBC, Sky Sports, European Tour Productions, and CTV OB, getting better and better. ETP handles the creation of a World Feed which is used by both NBC Sports and Sky Sports as the backbone of the golf coverage.
[World Feed Director] Jim Storey and his people have done an unbelievable job and the quality of the world feed is tremendous, says Soucy.
All involved worked hard to lessen the amount of production personnel on the course and Virtual Eye technology, provided by ARL Sports Graphics, continues to play a bigger role in
