The play at the French Open this weekend might have gotten off to a soggy and slow start but the production backend is up and running completely. And once again VER is providing the technical equipment, engineering and support that gives the Tennis Channel the required energy to meet the needs of tennis fans back in the states as well as NBC Sports, ESPN International, and, new this year, Eurosport.
The Tennis Channel control room is busier than every at the French Open this year and VER is providing the technical backbone, personnel, and engineering services.
This year we have an entirely separate facility for Eurosport located next door, says Mike Forman, VER, project manager. It's a separate package and they have their own EVS systems and router but it is tied together with the Tennis Channel facility so they can share resources. Almost all of the resources are shared.
The core of the Tennis Channel facility is a 576 1152 Evertz router that routes signals to two control rooms that each include a Grass Valley Kayenne K frame switcher and Calrec audio boards. A third control room for Eurosport and a fourth for ESPN International are also on site and managed by VER. There are also 14 EVS XT3 systems on site for replay needs. On the audio side, Craig Lapsley, audio engineer for project, says that there are 32 MADI streams that are transporting all of the audio and all audio signals are also patched virtually, something unique for an event of the size of the French Open. There are also seven Lance Commentary kits around the grounds that use fiber to send signals to and from the courts. All audio is also backed up on a Calrec Hydra rack system and on separate paths so that it can be switched over to the backup as quickly as possible.
Left-to-right: Derek Whittington, Craig Lapsley, and Mike Forman are leading the VER technical team for the French Open.
We take the feeds from the host and then pass to the EVS replay servers and also de-embed the audio so that it can be mixed and the reassembled into the show, explains Derek Whittington who is engineer-in-charge for the project.
This is the third year that VER has been on site at the French Open for Tennis Channel and Whittington says the team gets better each year, especially as they have a better understanding of what tools and technologies the Tennis Channel production team needs.
It's about having good prep time as we build this system up at the VER facility in Glendale, CA and then test it there so that by the time it gets here we are already 90% there, he explains. At that point it is just cabling the system and then modifying it to improve efficiencies. But this is a good challenge that has a lot of moving pieces and keeps us sharp as we all have to collaborate and work together. Plus there are new technologies that need to be incorporated into the older system.
The VER team, between staffers and freelancers, numbers about 15 people and VER also handles hiring the additional production staff (EVS operators, camera operators) for the Tennis Channel. Following the conclusion of the French Open the VER team will prep for a busy summer that includes support of the Tennis Channel at Wimbledon (with a scaled down system that will use the Eurosport system on site at the French as a starting point) as well as Rio for the Summer Olympics.
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The play at the French Open this weekend might have gotten off to a soggy and slow start but the production backend is up and running completely. And once again VER is providing the technical equipment, engineering and support that gives the Tennis Channel the required energy to meet the needs of tennis fans back in the states as well as NBC Sports, ESPN International, and, new this year, Eurosport.
