It's another major golf tournament and another significant step forward in 4K production for CBS Sports. In partnership with DirecTV, CBS is producing five-camera 4K coverage of Baltusrol Golf Club's signature par-three hole 4 at this weekend's PGA Championship, airing it live to consumers on DirecTV.
CBS Sports and DirecTV are offering live coverage of hole 4 in 4K at Baltusrol Golf Club during this weekend's PGA Championship.
It marks the fourth golf tournament this year that the two media companies have introduced some element of a 4K production, the most notable being the three-hole live coverage of Amen Corner at The Masters in April.
We're very comfortable with using 4K, and, as soon as it's fully distributed, we'll be way ahead of the game, says Harold Bryant, executive producer/SVP, production, CBS Sports. We have [4K] cameras on football games, golf events; we are using 4K and finding out its capabilities; on replays, the clarity that you can get out of it zooming in and keeping the crispness of a shot is fantastic. We'll be ready to go when it's fully distributed.
Of the five cameras deployed at hole 4 this weekend, two are unilateral; the other three are shared with the primary HD production. As was the case at The Masters golf tournament, the show is being acquired by Sony HDC4300 4K/HD/high-speed cameras outfitted with a mix of Fujinon 4K and HD lenses.
At Augusta, says John Ward, SVP, content operations, AT&T Entertainment Group, there was certainly more nerves because we hadn't done this before. Now, of course, you don't take it any less seriously, but here we've got the building blocks in place, and you can ask, what else can we lay on top of it?
CBS Sports and DirecTV are producing the 4K show from Mobile TV Group's 39 Flex truck, which houses a 4K-capable 7M/E Grass Valley Kayenne K-Frame switcher (192 inputs in HD, 48 in 4K), Evertz hybrid SDI/IP router (which allows the mobile unit to route 4K as a quad-HD signal today and IP in the future), a Calrec Artemis audio console, and ChyronHego 4K graphics.
We're getting comfortable enough that we're willing to start experimenting a bit and push the boundaries, notes Dale Canino, director, technology, Mobile TV Group. It's nice to have clients that allow us to do that. CBS and DirecTV are very forward-thinking, and that's ideal for an engineer.
Mobile TV Group's Dale Canino inside the company's 39 Flex 4K/HDR truck, which is hosting this weekend's 4K production.
On the playback side, 39 Flex houses several 12-channel EVS XT3 replay systems, but, this weekend, the production crew is also trying out the new EVS XT4K, a dedicated four-channel 4K server, which is being used to record the cameras in 4K/UHD with sLog3 HDR.
One change that the engineering team at DirecTV has made for the PGA Championship is to incorporate a new set of encoders from ATEME. DirecTV has purchased four Ericsson Envivio encoders and four ATEME encoders, and engineers on the DirecTV team are going back and forth with both providers experimenting and testing the boxes.
Since launching 39 Flex as a 4K/HDR production facility in April, Mobile TV Group continues to learn lessons with each production. Among the many things Canino has learned is that timing is a critical element.
We've learned how important timing is in the quad-link square-division world specifically, because the industry hasn't gone to two-sample interleave yet, he explains. If you have any sort of timing error between quadrants, they're going to be visible. Also, devices such as encoders are very strict, as far as timing goes. The encoders we use have something like a three-microsecond buffer, so we have to have all of our timing within that. Because of that, we have reorganized how we are feeding our replay and other timing-sensitive devices so that, instead of having to go into the timing plane of the router and adjust things, [everything is] there to start with. We are being proactive now, whereas, in the past, because we didn't know, we were having to be reactive.
CBS has been aggressive in its attempts to embrace 4K, integrating 4K elements into Thursday Night Football and Super Bowl 50 and doing full-fledged 4K productions at four golf tournaments. The network appears to be finding its 4K footing.
The 4K production is a five-camera shoot featuring Sony HDC4300 4K/HD/high-speed cameras, one of which is on a jib.
We're getting much more comfortable with [4K], says Sean McManus, chairman, CBS Sports. I think the production of 4K has been pretty seamless. It's really a question of how much equipment will be 4K-capable in the future and how much distribution we can help generate with the carriers around the country. I think it's a combination of ramping up the technical facilities so that more of the cameras and more of the [replay] machines are 4K-compatible and also driving the distribution.
It's very much like high-definition was when it first came in, he continues. At first, all of the HD broadcasts were separate broadcasts with side-by-side coverage with standard definition. Eventually, all the new trucks being built were HD-compatible, and people's TV sets at home began to be able to receive the new HD; it was a seamless transition. I think it will be a little slower for 4K, but working as closely as we are with DirecTV and AT&T, I think we are going to keep pushing the envelope and, in not too many years, you are going to see 4K being a much more prominent part of our productions.
Inside Mobile TV Group's 39 Flex during live production on Thursday afternoon
DirecTV, meanwhile, has gained a lot of 4K experience this year. In addition to launching the first full-time 4K channel in the U.S. and a 4K pay-per-view movie service, it
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
It's another major golf tournament and another significant step forward in 4K production for CBS Sports. In partnership with DirecTV, CBS is producing five-camera 4K coverage of Baltusrol Golf Club's signature par-three hole 4 at this weekend's PGA Championship, airing it live to consumers on DirecTV.
