Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NBA Playoffs 2025: ESPN's Postseason Run Highlighted by New Cameras, Player Mics, Flagship Mobile Unit

17/04/2025

NBA Playoffs 2025: ESPN's Postseason Run Highlighted by New Cameras, Player Mics, Flagship Mobile Unit After remote/shared operations, Western Conference and league Finals will be onsite production By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.

Thursday, April 17, 2025 - 3:15 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

With a particularly dramatic edition of the NBA Play-In Tournament wrapping up tomorrow night, the 2025 NBA Playoffs officially tip off this weekend with ESPN's triple-header of Round 1 coverage on Saturday followed by a blockbuster doubleheader on ABC on Sunday. For ESPN's veteran remote-operations team, the ultra-busy weekend is just the start of a two-month odyssey culminating in the NBA Finals in June.

ESPN plans to have more than 40 camera sources, like this Sony camera with a Canon lens, for its NBA Finals coverage in June.

We have the best and most experienced operations and technical teams returning for this playoffs run, says Eddie Okuno, senior remote operations specialist, ESPN. The same goes for the best crews in our industry that support our NBA games year in and year out.

After relying largely on REMI and REMCO production models for the Play-In Tournament, ESPN will share the load with RSNs in the early rounds of the playoffs before deploying massive onsite operations for the Western Conference Finals and league Finals. In addition to a full arsenal of cutting-edge cameras, audio tools, and AR graphics, ESPN's tech complement will include the new Flagship mobile unit from Game Creek Video, which debuted this month.

Play-In Games Get the REMI PLUS, REMCO Treatment Wednesday's Play-In games exclusively deployed ESPN's REMI PLUS workflow: the broadcaster supplied all cameras/operators for manned and robo positions, as well as for onsite announcers/reporter, and transmitted the feeds to Bristol, CT, for integration at one of ESPN's REMI production-control rooms.

After relying largely on REMI and REMCO production models for the Play-In Tournament, ESPN will share the load with RSNs in the early rounds of the playoffs before transitioning to full onsite production.

Friday's final Play-In game will use ESPN's REMCO workflow with producer/director and on-air talent onsite. The graphics AP, graphics operator, clock and score operator, and up to four EVS replay operators will operate from either Bristol or Charlotte, NC.

REMI Operations is also staffing a Viz Libero operator in Bristol on all matchups for on-screen telestration. The operator works with a producer located at their home.

We at REMI Operations are extremely proud of our teams across Bristol and Charlotte that have been on this project, says Scott Chamberland, supervisor, REMI Operations, ESPN. We documented some amazing stories this season: Luka's return to Dallas, Hubie Brown's last called game, and many more. The technical skills of our operators and the relationships built with our production team puts us in the best position as we head into the playoffs.

ESPN Shares First-Round Load With RSNs, Has Big Plans for Finals All of ESPN's first-round games will be non-exclusive broadcasts with ESPN sharing compound space and camera positions with their home and visitor RSN partners.

ESPN's new Flagship mobile unit features a Calrec Argo Q audio console.

We have had an incredibly cooperative and successful NBA season sharing feeds with our RSN partners and will continue onto the first round of playoff games, says Okuno. All productions benefit from the shared resources as the storytelling resources for game coverage increases.

All first-round games will be produced in 1080p SDR using six hard cameras, four handheld cameras, two above-the-rim robos, and two basket POV cameras. For the second round, ESPN will add more high-frame-rate super-slo-mo cameras and EVS replay channels.

Many playoff games will deploy the newer and smaller Q5X Digital PlayerMic X.

Many playoff games will also have enhanced audio quality highlighted by deployment of the newer and smaller Q5X Digital Player Mic X.

In preparation for the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals, Okuno adds, ESPN will be testing multiple technology offerings that debuted at NAB 2025.

Once the NBA Finals arrive, ESPN will once again roll out one of its biggest production complements of the year, with more than 40 camera sources planned. The shows will also feature double-digit HFS super-slo-mo cameras, cinema-style high-frame-rate-camera capture and replay, and SkyCam (with AR/VR), and a drone (with AR/VR).

After debuting this month, ESPN's new Flagship mobile unit (A, B, and C units) will be front and center throughout the NBA Playoffs. The once-in-a-generation truck will serve ESPN's A-game for the first and second rounds before working the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals. Besides Flagship, ESPN will deploy NEP EN1 (A, B, C, D, and E units) in the other city for the Conference Finals and Finals.

ESPN's coast-to-coast NBA operations over the coming months will be led by Chamberland, Shane Smith, Luis Manuel Lopez, Kim Conrad, Kelley Nagi, Christine Rouskas, Kristianna Bryant, Johnathan Williams, Erick Guyton, CJ Chalverus, Heidi Walker, Jason Dorsey, Meredith Fenwick, Kevin Pedersen, Lacey Gandee (Charlotte), and Joe King (Charlotte).

The technical team is led by Okuno, Alan McDonald, Paul Kucharski, Justin McIntosh, Ben Neiger, Ben Ellison, Zaque Meyers, Mike Krivens, Nolan Lynch, Chris Baylis, and Neang Ne.

Crewing and resources are managed by Candice Manning, Stephanie Cannon, Max Morales, Jocelyn Thomas, and Laurie Niziolek.

It's a privilege to carry the responsibility of capturing NBA history and being part of its legacy, says Okuno. We are extremely excited, honored, and proud to start coverage of the 23rd NBA Playoffs run for E
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/04/17/nba-playoffs-2025-espns-postsea...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

16/07/2026

New studio monitoring leads Glensound's 60th year line-up...

Glensound returns to IBC with a major new addition to its intelligent loudspeaker range, the Greater Divine Supernal studio monitor, alongside recent developmen...

16/07/2026

Complete spectrum of innovation from British exhibitors a...

33 leading exhibitors are taking part in the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions and linked locations across IBC2026 (Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September)...

16/07/2026

Hitomi Broadcast to showcase HDR colour verification and...

Hitomi Broadcast will introduce Spectra, a new HDR colour verification solution measured in picture, not using VPID, at IBC2026 (Hall 10, Stand A40). Expanding ...

16/07/2026

SMPTE Kicks Off 110th Anniversary Campaign

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Cox Media Group Taps Waymark for AI Ad Creation Tools

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Parks: Cable Broadband Sub Losses Slow Down

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

CatchLight, Sony Launch Initiative to Help Local Newsrooms

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

XR Launches XR ONE Ad Ops Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/07/2026

Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions Partner to Provide...

Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver ...

16/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App

Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App Brie Clayton July 15, 2026 0 Comments Leader in Personal Aviation taps URSA Cin...

16/07/2026

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage Interfaces

XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage In...

16/07/2026

Sharpen the Sword, Skip the Downloads - Onimusha: Way of the Sword' Is Coming to GeForce NOW

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is coming to GeForce NOW at launch, with the playable...

16/07/2026

FIFA World Cup semi-finals deliver whopper audiences as RT Player surpasses 21 million streams across the tournament to date

Together the semi-finals had a combined reach of 1.98 million unique individuals...

15/07/2026

Inside DAZNs Multi-Market World Cup Effort With CTO Sandeep Tiku

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big deal for DAZN, which has distribution rights in three markets: Italy, Spain, and Japan. Each requires a different editorial app...

15/07/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Qumulo's Chris Horn on Powering Global Media Workflows Across Edge, Core, and Cloud

As sports-media organizations manage rapidly growing content libraries and incre...

15/07/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Inside the HBS Non-Live London Production Hub

HBS director of digital Johannes Franken talks SVG Europe through the operation built to serve FIFA World Cup 2026 rights holders remotely from Stratford, east ...

15/07/2026

IBC2026 to Spotlight AI, Live Sports Production, Creator Economy, and Trust in Media

IBC has unveiled the conference program for IBC2026, with this year's event ...

15/07/2026

Vanessa Paradis Tour Adopts Sennheiser Spectera Wireless Ecosystem for 2026 Production

Software-defined wideband RF platform supports 96-kHz monitoring, streamlined fr...

15/07/2026

Telos Alliance Integrates AudioShake Source Separation Into Minnetonka AudioTools Server

New AI-powered module enables broadcasters and content owners to extract dialogu...

15/07/2026

AIMS Schedules Second IPMX Product Certification Event for August

Weeklong gathering at EBU headquarters will test new IPMX capabilities and expand certified product ecosystem...

15/07/2026

Force Tech Appoints Bryan Adams as Vice President of Integration

Force Tech has announced the appointment of Bryan Adams, CTS, as Vice President of Integration. Adams will oversee AV and broadcast integration project delivery...

15/07/2026

USA Sports and Bundesliga Announce Exclusive Multi-Year U.S. Media Rights Agreement

USA Sports has announced an exclusive English-language agreement with the Bundes...

15/07/2026

Inside ITV Sport's Stunning FIFA World Cup Studio in New York City With Paul McNamara

ITV Sport's FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage has been produced from one of the m...

15/07/2026

CatchLight, Sony Launch Equipment Initiative for Local Visual Journalists

Program will provide professional camera kits, training, and technical support to participating local newsrooms...

15/07/2026

CornerstoneSF Installs FOR-A HVS-Q12 Switcher in New UHD Production Facility

San Francisco church becomes first U.S. deployment of the 2 M/E production switcher...

15/07/2026

Steve Bornstein Joins Advisory Board of Scott Cokers New Global MMA Promotion

Former ESPN and NFL Network executive to advise startup league on media, distribution, technology, and fan engagement...

15/07/2026

Space City Home Network Executive Producer John Valek on Leaning Into Innovation, Access, and Opportunity

The Houston-based RSN is the live-game home of the Astros and Rockets...

15/07/2026

Freqport unveil the Dual FreqInOut FO1-2RK

Launched alongside new FreqSoft installer Designed to bridge the gap between hardware and software, Freqport's FreqInOut FO1 unit provides a simple way ...

15/07/2026

Expressive E's Summer Offers

Save up to 55% on software until 23 July 2026 Expressive E have just launched their Summer Offer sale, with discounts of up to 55% now applied across their ...

15/07/2026

Peel Stems 2 from zplane

Real-time stem-separation tool updated zplane have recently released a new and improved version of their real-time stem-separation plug-in which they say ma...

15/07/2026

Baby Audio SubCulture

A new benchmark in bass enhancement Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...

15/07/2026

DMC Production Reimagines Live OB with Calrec

DMC Production's AR 1 and AR 2 units reverse the conventional OB workflow, keeping all production-critical processing at the venue while operators work remo...

15/07/2026

FCC to Vote on Replacing National Broadcast Ownership Cap

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

ATSC Updates Industry Audio Loudness Guidance

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

GigaCloud and Cubbit partner to deliver sovereign and res...

GigaCloud, a leading Ukrainian cloud service provider, and Cubbit, the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, today announced a new Business Alliance Part...

15/07/2026

SMPTE Launches 110th Anniversary Campaign to Advance Its...

SMPTE, the global society for media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has announced the launch of the SMPTE 110th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising...

15/07/2026

STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES UNVEILS MODEL 762 STEREO LEVEL CONTRO...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, unveils the new StudioComm Model 762 Stereo Level Control, ...

15/07/2026

COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried

COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried Brie Clayton July 15, 2026 0 Comments Producer, Virtual Events (Hybrid | Full-time | ...

15/07/2026

SIMBA powers new streaming delivery network with Broadpea...

Brazilian media organization builds nationwide CDN with Broadpeak's high-performance software for low-latency streaming and new content distribution service...

15/07/2026

DHD Introduces Discovery Utility for Network-Connected Au...

DHD announces a new utility designed to increase the efficiency of its audio mixing systems during initial installation and subsequent configuration. Anyone w...

15/07/2026

BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026 Breaking t...

BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026, Breaking the 1:1 Channel-to-Server Ratio New innovations liberate broadcasters from legacy playout infrastructur...

15/07/2026

S&P Analysis: Three Quarters of Americans Watch Live Sports

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

Scripps Sports, Ion Score Women's Volleyball Rights

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/07/2026

NVIDIA Introduces New Jetson Thor Computers to Advance Mainstream Robotics and Edge AI

General-purpose robots and autonomous machines are moving from research labs to ...

15/07/2026

Screeners and press pack now available: Gomorrah: The Origins premieres on Sky and NOW on 28 July

Wednesday 15 July 2026 Screeners and press pack now available: Gomorrah: The Or...