Calling Billions of Hearts, SMT "virtual audience" debuts in Chinese Football Association Super League

Calling Billions of Hearts, SMT "virtual audience" debuts in Chinese Football Association Super League posted: 27/07/2020

From July to September 2020, 112 games will be played in Suzhou and Dalian in the first stage of the 2020 Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL). Due to the special requirements of epidemic prevention this year, the production of the CSL will be different from the production of traditional competitions. SMT dispatched a total of 40 elite team members, which including S4 broadcast team, B3 broadcast team, and SMT AR Studio, to cooperate with China Sports Media (CSM), the CSL copyright dealer, to provide HD and 4K live production and live feed distribution. Under the high requirements of epidemic prevention, SMT has provided self-developed virtual audience production and virtual sound production services in order to present a special and exciting season for the 2020 CSL.

High-quality virtual technology, fans will never be absent

According to the epidemic prevention requirements, all matches of the 2020 CSL will be played in empty arenas. Fans are the indispensable 12th person in the football field, how can we deal with the absence of fans?

To this end, SMT together with CSM submitted a virtual audience production report to the Chinese Football Association. The virtual audience system independently developed and operated by SMT takes full advantage of the top rendering engine and combines the 6 stadiums in the first stage of the CSL to produce fully-fitted virtual audience animation, team LOGO and TIFO.

High-quality virtual technology, fans will never be absent

High-standard live production, providing integrated event services

The two broadcast systems provided by SMT for the CSL are deployed in the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center and the Suzhou Stadium. Training before the game, the press conference after the game, the arrival of the players, and the appearance of the players, the organizing committee all put forward the need to participate in the production of public feeds. The press conference after the game is divided into blue zone (quarantine zone) and green zone (control zone), according to media and epidemic prevention needs. Compared with the production service of public feeds in traditional events, CSL put forward higher requirements and challenges for SMT event services.

High-standard live production, providing integrated event services

The SMT team has formulated a 10+3 position setting to ensure the record of the whole process. And using brand-new remote control technology to realize the connection among the blue zone VAR (video assistant referee), the press conference hall, the player appearances and the green zone OB vans, and innovatively realize the form of video connection in news conference, which archived the upgrades of epidemic prevention and splendidness.

High-quality visual restoration, establishing a convergent media broadcast ecology

The CSL, which calls billions of hearts, will be broadcast live in all media platforms for free in the 2020 season. The SMT vision team adopted the segmented divisional coloring method and the standard white calibration method to produce HD and 4K public feeds, which will bring audiences an unforgettable viewing experience.

High-quality visual restoration, establishing a convergent media broadcast ecology

At the same time, with the application of 5G technology, data collection, distribution, and live broadcast have also entered the test process. The OB Van will provide four different signal formats of game including HD, 4K HDR, data and live large screen at the same time. It also establishes a new converged media ecology from collection, distribution to transmission. All media and fans can independently and rapidly acquire any information they want.

High-quality visual restoration, establishing a convergent media broadcast ecology

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