NAB 2018 in Review: Sports-Venue Industry Plots Future of IP Production, Finds Plenty To Excite in Vegas

NAB 2018 in Review: Sports-Venue Industry Plots Future of IP Production, Finds Plenty To Excite in Vegas Support for SMPTE ST 2110 standard was evident around the show By Karen Hogan Ketchum, Senior Editor

Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 3:48 pm

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As the sports-venue industry booms, broadcast-technology vendors continue to get in on the action by positioning their offerings for broadcast and venue video-control rooms alike. And, although this has been the case for the past several NAB Shows, the recent publishing of the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards for IP production further strengthened this connection between broadcast and venue technology at NAB 2018.

Although SMPTE ST 2110 and IP were frequently discussed on the show floor, their impact on the sports-venue industry remains a work in progress. Leading systems integrators Diversified and BeckTV - both of which had a presence at the show - described some of the challenges that early adopters faced as well as what teams looking to go IP in the future can expect.

Diversified, responsible for the video-control rooms at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Little Caesars Arena, listed IP and HDR among the top requests it is currently hearing from customers.

It is all trending toward IP, but it is still a cost analysis for many teams, explained Diversified SVP Duane Yoslov. They're still trying to evaluate, if I spend this much more for an IP solution that will take me in the future, what does that really do for my fanbase? If I do this as an SDI system today and it lasts me another seven to 10 years, will that get me through the transition where we're solidly in an IP world after that?

The BeckTV team, which counts University of Notre Dame's Campus Crossroads among its most high-profile IP projects, explained that the prospect of IP is exciting for anyone seeking increased router capacity and 4K production but the process remains complicated for all involved.

It's going to take a new type of engineer that's really savvy with IT but also understands TV, noted Brendan Cline, system engineer and project manager, BeckTV. To this point, it's been, I'm an IT guy or I'm a broadcast guy. As the integrator, probably the biggest thing that we've learned was how we close these two sides.

Elsewhere on the show floor, there was plenty of interest for the sports-venue industry. Read on for the latest sports-venue video-production offerings for Ross Video, Sony, Grass Valley, and many other companies.

Ross Video

The sports-venue industry continues to be a key focus for Ross Video, and, at NAB 2018, the company unveiled the latest addition to its sports-venue-production portfolio. Carbonite Mosaic, its first multiscreen image processor, is designed to work in tandem with its XPression Tessera to drive the massive displays found throughout North American sports venues. Ross has moved workflow forward in major venues, not just driving the main display - which are bigger and higher-resolution every year - but also driving LED ribbon boards, water fountains, audio systems, mechanical devices, light systems, said Ross Video EVP/CMO Jeff Moore. We can drive an entire stadium with one button push.

Sony

Sony took the wraps off some additional products, including the HDCU-3100 camera-control unit, which adds SMPTE ST 2110 support for the HDC and HSC families of studio cameras, and the world's first 4K three-chip camcorder with -in. Exmor R CMOS sensors. According to Deon LeCointe, marketing manager, production switchers, Sony Electronics, the move to the SMPTE ST 2110 standards is a major focus for Sony, with the company working with standards bodies on finalizing standards around features like device discovery (identifying what model or type of equipment is being connected via IP) and connection management for things like redundant failover.

Grass Valley

Grass Valley's NAB 2018 press conference served as a coming-out party for the company's acquisition of SAM (Snell Advanced Media). With SAM's product lines now under its umbrella, Grass Valley revealed what this newly integrated product portfolio will look like, including several new-product announcements. Chiefly, Grass Valley has no plan to discontinue any products from either company immediately. There won't be discontinuation of any products, and we will let products go through their natural life cycle, said VP of Global Marketing Neil Maycock. The message is, we are not going to cut anybody off. If you're invested in a product, we will continue supplying and supporting it.

Canon

Canon announced several lens introductions, including a UHD-DIGISUPER 66X box lens, a second tier of UHD portable zoom lenses, and the UHDgc line, designed to be a solid fit for 2/3-in. UHD lower-cost cameras that increasingly deliver UHD images. With 4K cameras at a remarkably low cost, we wanted a second tier in 2/3-in. UHD portable lenses and similar to what we did when we launched the HDgc line of HD lenses [during that transition], explained Larry Thorpe, senior fellow, ITCG Professional Engineering and Solutions Business Planning Division, Canon U.S.A.

Quantum

Quantum highlighted its new Xcellis Scale-out NAS, which delivers high levels of storage performance and scalability in a cost-effective, Ethernet-based appliance. Powered by Quantum's StorNext shared-storage and data-management platform, the multiprotocol, multiclient Xcellis appliance unites robust media and metadata management with scalability to support content creators' most demanding collaborative workflows and ease their transition to IP-based infrastructure.

Panasonic

One of the exciting developments worth checking out at the Panasonic booth, according to Senior Product Manager Steve Cooperman, was the support of ProRes RAW, which brings

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2018/04/19/nab-2018-in-review-sports-venue...
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