Mark Davies, director of products and technology at TSL Products, explains how advanced control surfaces can ensure creative production freedom and the highest technical quality for esports applications
By Contributor
Published: September 24, 2020
Mark Davies, director of products and technology at TSL Products, explains how advanced control surfaces can ensure creative production freedom and the highest technical quality for esports applications
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Mark Davies, director of products and technology at TSL Products, explains how advanced control surfaces can ensure creative production freedom and the highest technical quality for esports applications
https://www.tvbeurope.com/live-production/how-advanced-broadcast-control-surfaces-can-advance-live-esports-production title=Share via Email class=share-email>
In fast-paced live production environments, such as esports, the control layer can simplify a broadcast, whilst sharing and managing resources between system locations to save time, space and money. Each company has its own operations, processes, and workflows and by empowering operators and engineers to have complete control of the system, their job becomes much easier. Advanced control surfaces can ensure creative production freedom and the highest technical quality for esports applications.
Esports productions are very similar to traditional sports broadcasts, but the potential for exponentially more inputs and sources to choose from in the production control room creates an even greater need for advanced control. There is also an added workflow challenge when working with game servers and video game consoles acting as inputs. Advanced control and tally systems can help bridge the gap for production personnel in order to achieve a smooth broadcast or live stream. In addition, intuitive control interfaces enable users to establish seamless communication on a single, unified layer. With the ability to perform powerful actions without the need to invest in a system controller, universal control systems and panels can quickly and cost-effectively plug-in to any infrastructure or workflow, providing operators with the control they need over the devices they use. A well-designed control solution offers an intuitive user interface, providing increased flexibility for esports production personnel.
With increasing demands on resources, budgets, and the rapid adoption of IP and remote production, it is more important than ever for control systems to be able to hide underlying system complexities so that operators can remain focused on making great content. For esports applications in particular, it is important for the observer, the person tasked with managing the in-game cameras as well as identifying key moments in the game for replays and highlight reels, to have an advanced tally and control system because its helps to tie in the entire production ecosystem. Through a unified control layer, operators can share technology between multiple locations, simplifying the production process. This also reduces the risk for human error by putting the appropriate amount of control under the hands of a single operator and creates a seamless workflow that minimises training time. Additionally, with advanced broadcast control, users can decrease the number of operational control panels needed by managing the functionality across a controlled system via unified interfaces.
Routing control is another important component for esports applications Users need to be able to manage signal routes throughout a facility. This might include routing video, audio and data signals between the various elements of a network. Users need a system that will send a signal precisely where it's needed while providing the flexibility and control to build an appropriate signal path for esports operations. Instead of the traditional requirement to route one video signal to one destination, ever-increasing video quality and resolution mean one destination is no longer enough. More bandwidth is required to group 3G data inputs to make a 4K source. This can be achieved by routing between blocks of quad inputs and outputs, by condensing four levels' in an association router into one destination. Additionally, with table routing capabilities, a cross point made within a connected matrix can be used to trigger another cross point. When a source is routed to a destination that feeds a source of the switcher, the control system will then use this change as a trigger to route the same source to a corresponding destination. This will allow all the sources routed to a switcher to be displayed on a multi-viewer.
From multi-device streaming requirements for at home-engagement, to more dynamic onsite live production across facilities, projects at venues such as Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas and Freaks 4U Gaming in Berlin, see the value in using advanced control systems to support high-quality eSports productions. For eSports projects such as these, operators are often volunteers, and lack broadcast-level experience. With the right system and set of controls, users can easily learn which buttons trigger specific actions without having to worry about the coding or engineering processes. Additionally, with TSL Products' solutions, customers can achieve interoperability between equipment routed through analog, IP or hybrid networks, regardless of differing manufacturers and format specifications.
Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas needed to establish a broadcast workflow suitable for its modern, 100,000-square-foot event space. They required an advanced and user-friendly system to transition between live hosts and various player cameras to help organise who should be live at each point of an event. To achieve this, the stadium uses TSL's advanced cont
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Mark Davies, director of products and technology at TSL Products, explains how advanced control surfaces can ensure creative production freedom and the highest technical quality for esports applications
