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

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

24/05/2025

Paul Reubens Opens Up on His Terms in Pee-wee as Himself

(L-R) Senior Manager and Festival Programmer Adam Montgomery and Matt Wolf attend the Sundance Film Festival premiere of Pee-wee as Himself January 23 at The ...

24/05/2025

Survey: Black Audiences Over-Index in SVOD, FAST and vMVPD Use

A new Horowitz Research survey indicates companies offering TV, pay TV, SVOD and advertising-supported streaming services need to develop comprehensive strategi...

24/05/2025

Max Holland Joins Shotoku Broadcast Systems as Technical...

Shotoku Broadcast Systems, the international manufacturer of high-quality, easy-to-use, and reliable robotic and manual camera support systems, has announced th...

24/05/2025

Cloudbass New Cutting-Edge IP OB Trucks Set to Support a...

arkona technologies GmbH and manifold technologies, providers of cutting-edge IP core infrastructure solutions, have been tapped by Cloudbass, a UK leader in ou...

24/05/2025

Cobalt Digital Heads to BroadcastAsia with a Comprehensiv...

Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiative is heading...

24/05/2025

Easily Format Big Numbers and Currency in After Effects

Easily Format Big Numbers and Currency in After Effects Graham Quince May 23, 2025 0 Comments A quick expression to automatically add separators, deci...

24/05/2025

Meet the Colorist - Tom Cairns of Brick and Mortar

Meet the Colorist - Tom Cairns of Brick and Mortar Caroline Shawley May 23, 2025 0 Comments After honing his craft at prestigious facilities like Moli...

24/05/2025

Fear Street: Prom Queen' Scares Up a Terrifying Night to Remember for Fans

Back to All News Fear Street: Prom Queen' Scares Up a Terrifying Night to Remember for Fans From left to right: Fear Street: Prom Queen stars Ella Rubin,...

23/05/2025

Get Familiar With This Summer's Filmmakers Through These 16 Sundance Institute-Supported Films

Elijah Wood and Melanie Lynskey star in Macon Blair's award-winning film I ...

23/05/2025

TNT, Eurosport Set Coverage Plans for French Open

TNT Sports and Eurosport have announced details of their coverage of the French Open, the year's second grand slam event on the professional tennis tour, ta...

23/05/2025

FCC to Open Up More than 20,000 MHz in Satellite Spectrum

WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to start a process that could unlock more than 20,000 megahertz of spectrum for high-speed in...

23/05/2025

Blue Man Group Puts Clear-Coms FreeSpeak Icon to the Test...

Clear-Com is excited to announce that its newest member of the FreeSpeak family of wireless intercom systems, the FreeSpeak Icon beltpack, , is currently und...

23/05/2025

7fivefive Expands Strategic Partnership with BBC Studios

7fivefive, a leader in media systems innovation and integration, is enabling the BBC Studios Global Media & Streaming team to scale its virtual infrastructure. ...

23/05/2025

Broadcast Management Group and Grass Valley Expand Partnership for First Cloud Network Operations Center

Broadcast Management Group and Grass Valley Expand Partnership for First Cloud N...

23/05/2025

Berklee Global and Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Host Emerging Talent Intensive Program in Mexico City

Berklee Global and Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Host Emerging Talent Intensi...

23/05/2025

CNBC Selects Custom Consoles Module-R desks and MediaWall...

Custom Consoles announces the completion of technical control desks and monitor display frames for the European headquarters of CNBC. One of the mostly widely v...

23/05/2025

Baris Zavaroglu Appointed as the New CEO of Zero Density

Zero Density, a global leader in virtual studio productions and on-air graphics, has appointed Baris Zavaroglu as its new CEO. Zavaroglu succeeds Ofir Benovici,...

23/05/2025

Witbe to Showcase Innovations in Post-Device Monitoring a...

Witbe BroadcastAsia 2025 Exhibitor Preview May 27-29 Singapore Stand 5H3-1 The Asia Pacific (APAC) region is experiencing a wave of change in video in ho...

23/05/2025

Automated QC and Monitoring Innovations From Interra Syst...

Interra Systems BroadcastAsia 2025 Exhibitor Preview Singapore May 27-29 Stand 5C1-12 Analysts predict that Asia-Pacific's video streaming market will...

23/05/2025

Broadcast Management Group and Grass Valley Expand Partne...

Grass Valley, a global leader in live production solutions, has announced an expanded partnership with Broadcast Management Group (BMG), a leading U.S.-based vi...

23/05/2025

Magnifi Selected as Official AI Technology Partner for 20...

As pickleball's popularity surges across North America, the Canadian National Pickleball League (CNPL) is partnering with Magnifi by VideoVerse to power it...

23/05/2025

Han Chiang University College of Communication Chooses DH...

Han Chiang University College of Communication in Penang has chosen a DHD DX2 audio production system for its media training studio. The project was implemented...

23/05/2025

Limecraft and dzjinius Team Up to Improve Operational Eff...

Limecraft (a leading provider of production and delivery workflows for the media and entertainment industry) and dzjinius (the all-in-one production management ...

23/05/2025

LiveU Completes Closing of Actus Digital Business and Tec...

LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video contribution, production and distribution solutions, has announced the closing of its acquisition of Actus Digital'...

23/05/2025

CVP Appoints Stuart Dennis as Sector Development Manager

CVP, one of Europe s leading resellers and providers of professional video and broadcast solutions, is pleased to announce it has appointed Stuart Dennis as Sec...

23/05/2025

Ikegami to Promote IP Solution and Latest-Generation TV P...

Ikegami Electronics Asia Pacific will promote its wide range of broadcast production cameras, monitors and related equipment on stand 5D3-1, Hall 5, at Broadcas...

23/05/2025

BroadcastAsia sees Appear and Planetcast Demonstrate Stra...

Appear, the global leader in media processing and delivery technology, and Planetcast, one of Asia's foremost media services companies, today announced a st...

23/05/2025

Imagine Communications Streamlines News Production at Med...

Imagine Communications has implemented a fully automated and integrated workflow supporting reliable, fast turnaround for news transmission at Media Prima Berha...

23/05/2025

RMG Modernises Global Racing Broadcasts With Cerberus Tec...

Cerberus Tech, a leader in cloud-native IP video contribution and distribution, today announced that Racecourse Media Group (RMG) has expanded its use of the Li...

23/05/2025

FCC Plans to Open Up More than 20,000 Megahertz in Satellite Spectrum

WASHINGTON During the May 22 Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to start a process that could unlock more than 20,000 megaher...

23/05/2025

AIMS To Demo Latest IPMX Advancements At InfoComm 2025

BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) will highlight the latest Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) developments and host several of i...

23/05/2025

FCC Commissioner Starks to Retire Soon

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said at the agency's May 22 Open Meeting that it would be his last one as a member of the FCC...

23/05/2025

Vizio Integrates Free Over-the-Air Channels into the Sling TV Guide

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. SlingTV has announced that it has been working with Vizio to integrate free, live local over-the-air (OTA) channels directly into the Sling TV...

23/05/2025

Rede Minas Taps Pebble for Playout Modernization

Pebble has announced that it has implemented a complete, software-defined playout architecture for Brazilian broadcaster Rede Minas....

23/05/2025

This summer, start a project with Native Instruments, finish it with iZotope

This summer, start a project with Native Instruments, finish it with iZotope Brie Clayton May 22, 2025 0 Comments This is your cue to hit the studio w...

23/05/2025

Sony Electronics Launches GP-VPT3 Multi-Function Shooting Grip and the RMT-VP2 Wireless Remote Commander

Sony Electronics Launches GP-VPT3 Multi-Function Shooting Grip and the RMT-VP2 W...

23/05/2025

Digital Domain Delivers Grounded & Invisible VFX for Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*

Digital Domain Delivers Grounded & Invisible VFX for Marvel Studios' Thunder...

23/05/2025

3 Expressions to fade layers for you in After Effects

3 Expressions to fade layers for you in After Effects Graham Quince May 23, 2025 0 Comments Breaking down three different ways to control the visibili...

23/05/2025

Berklees 2025 Commencement, Through the Lens of a Graduate

Berklees 2025 Commencement, Through the Lens of a Graduate Photographer Matthew Ryu shares a look at Berklees 2025 commencement from a graduates POV. By Ma...

23/05/2025

Live From the Indy 500: For IMS Productions and HD-5 Truck Revamped With IP and HDR, It's All Systems Are Go

Live From the Indy 500: For IMS Productions and HD-5 Truck Revamped With IP and ...

23/05/2025

Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports' Mike Davies on a Historic Production Effort at the Brickyard

Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports' Mike Davies on a Historic Production Eff...

23/05/2025

The Great Indian Kapil Show Returns to Netflix for Season 3 - This Time With Superfans!

Back to All News The Great Indian Kapil Show Returns to Netflix for Season 3 - ...

23/05/2025

BroadcastAsia 2025 Preview

BroadcastAsia 2025 Preview May 23, 2025 BroadcastAsia 2025 Preview Click to visit Cobalt BroadcastAsia 2025: Cobalt Digital Heads to BroadcastAsia with a C...

23/05/2025

RT Update: RT VEP 2025

In an email to RT staff this evening, RT Director General stated as follows: Dear colleagues, RT 's VEP 2025 is now closed. I can confirm that we receiv...

23/05/2025

VEON and Engro Corporation Advance to Closing Pioneering Infrastructure Partnership in Pakistan Following Regulatory Approvals

23 May 2025 VEON and Engro Corporation Advance to Closing Pioneering Infrastruc...

23/05/2025

Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports Revs Up the Audio for Its First Time Covering the Iconic Race

Live From the Indy 500: FOX Sports Revs Up the Audio for Its First Time Covering...

23/05/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2

SVG College Summit 2025: Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2 By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Friday, May 23, 2025 - 9:01 am Print This Story | Subsc...

23/05/2025

Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Zac Fields Says AR Is Set To Help Celebrate the Big Race

Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Zac Fields Says AR Is Set To Help Celebrate th...

23/05/2025

Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Motor Sports Engineering Team Is Ready To Shine

Live From the Indy 500: FOX's Motor Sports Engineering Team Is Ready To Shin...