Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

EXCLUSIVE: Home match for MagentaTV

24/09/2021

EXCLUSIVE: Home match for MagentaTV posted: 18/10/2021

by Bernhard Herrmann, Kevin Reimuth

If you wanted to watch all 51 matches of the UEFA EURO 2020 on screen this summer, in Germany you had to turn to MagentaTV. All matches were offered there in UHD and Dolby 5.1. As the service provider, Plazamedia was responsible for the studio production. Bernhard Herrmann was there for our issue 9.2021 in the nerve-racking 2-2 between Germany and Hungary.

The German national soccer team met the team from Hungary in their last preliminary round match of the UEFA EURO 2020 in the arena in Munich on June 23, 2021. They needed at least a draw to advance to the round of 16.

Around noon, the Plazamedia studio complex in Ismaning, Bavaria, just outside the city limits of Munich, is covered in summery sunshine. At the compound of Plazamedia, a company of Sport1 Medien AG, three Covid-19 test stations have been set up at the main entrance to the building. Each of the up to 120 employees who are present every day must undergo a PCR or rapid test according to a scenario agreed with the health department. Anyone who has completed their test and received the negative result will receive a colored bracelet for that day, which allows access to certain studios.

Plazamedia was commissioned by Deutsche Telekom as the general contractor. A total of three studios with an area of around 2,600 square meters, four playouts and a content center are used for MagentaTV. The technical production of all 51 games took place on 22 live production days between June 11 and July 11 on two HD and two UHD channels. As a content-related program service provider, thinXpool TV GmbH was responsible for all editorial aspects of the project. Hardy Steinweg, COO of Plazamedia GmbH, welcomes us and we take a seat at a beer table set in the shady courtyard. He explains the workflows, the technology used and what Plazamedia has set up for a month on the occasion of the production for MagentaTV for EURO 2020.

Live production area in the Plazamedia-Compound in Ismaning

The arena in Munich-Fr ttmaning, where the team's last preliminary round match will take place that day, is less than three kilometers away from the studios. Unfortunately, the German Weather Service has already issued a severe weather warning with thunderstorms and heavy rain for the kick-off of the game, which is nowhere to be suspected with the Bavarian white-blue sky still prevailing. Gradually, the employees from the various trades arrive at Plazamedia.

Augmented Reality and 3D graphics in the studio

In Plazamedia Studio M, a 250 square meter action area was available for MagentaTV programs. A 60 square meter LED video wall in 32: 9 format served as backdrop and was feeded with a Pandoras box system from Christie as a media server. The curved, black presenters desk in front of the video wall with monitors embedded in a semicircle was based on the Telekom logo.

The U-shaped, light gray and silver-colored wall elements with various large curves at the corners were mainly kept in Deutsche Telekoms CI color magenta. Two white circumferential light strips indirectly illuminate the rear and side walls above and below. In addition to around two dozen spotlights, points the size of a tennis ball made of reflective film stand out on the ceiling of the studio. These belong to the Mo-Sys StarTracker system, where an LED sensor is attached to each of three studio cameras. This is used to calibrate the position and orientation of the camera. Rotation and lens data are determined exactly. This data is sent to a rendering engine so that a virtual 3D graphic can be integrated into the 2D TV image as an augmented reality element.

The central equipment room was housed in an external container

With the help of this system, VIZRT graphics could be faded into the TV image as an animated steel frame of the roof of the Munich arena in the studio image, giving the impression that you were actually there. The transition from the real studio wall to the virtual roof consisted of the familiar real, but now virtual, wall elements in magenta color. In some scenes of the program, the graphic designers had pushed the high-contrast combination of studio colors in the virtual representation a little too far, so that the complementary colors no longer matched each other. The reflection of the color yellow from the virtual German flag even gave the presenter and an expert a yellowish color in the TV picture.

All of UEFAs on-air graphics were produced by Deltatre in UHD, assigned to the live stadium feed and made available to broadcasters for their own superimpositions. The respective statistic datas were recorded and distributed by Deltatre in the stadiums.

Five cameras for MagentaTV

Five UHD-capable Sony HDC 3500 with Fujinon HD Boxed 24x and Fujinon EFP wide-angle 14x lenses were used in the MagentaTV studio. Three cameras were on pump tripods. This setup was supplemented by a camera crane and a steadicam. The moderators were equipped with headband microphones and in-ears.

The LED screen and AR control were particularly important for additional information and the virtual extension of the studio.

For the MagentaTV analysis on the Magic Wall , expert Jan Henkel used a 100-inch UHD touchscreen with a Piero Sport graphics analysis system from Ross Video. He used various graphic 3D elements and markings to explain game- and goal-deciding scenes with routes and positions on the field that had previously been selected for analysis from the live stadium feed and saved locally. This enabled for instance goals to be explained at half-time on a sport-professional level (that did not require a trainer seminar for viewers, as was sometimes necessary for other TV stations). The sports graphics and analysis engine also offered everything to display the actions in video scenes frame by frame
LINK: https://www.live-production.tv/news/sports/exclusive-home-match-magent...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

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...

07/08/2025

Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, Redefining In-Car Entertainment Experience

July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...

18/07/2025

Realm of Satan Disturbs the Comfortable at 2024 Sundance Film Festival

Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...

18/07/2025

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, the Directors of FOLKTALES

By Jessica Herndon One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...

18/07/2025

NESN Unveils Enhanced NESN 360 App for iOS, Android Devices

BOSTON Sports network NESN today relaunched the NESN 360 app with a redesigned user experience and upgrades....

18/07/2025

Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflixs Building the Band

Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflixs Building the Band Netflixs new music competition show features two Berklee artists looking to make their pop b...

18/07/2025

Trump Expected to Sign Bill Defunding CPB After House Approves $1B Cuts

As the House of Representatives voted early Friday morning to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, advocates warned that the elimination of $1 bil...

18/07/2025

Imagine Communications Sharpens Focus on Sports, Live Events Market

DENVER Imagine Communications has announced that it is deepening its commitment to the North American sports and live events market with investments in its prod...

18/07/2025

Netflix Beats Revenue, Profit Expectations

LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix once again reported strong financial growth, with revenue increasing 16% year-over-year to $11.079 billion in Q2 2025 as net income s...

18/07/2025

Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enables Practice Scheduling for Players

Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enab...

18/07/2025

ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and Beyond Through Tracking Tech

ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and ...

18/07/2025

Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House

Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House Matchday Production produced 800+ matches across Denmark in its first year By Geor...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Support for NBC Sports

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Su...

18/07/2025

Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the Fight to Life with State of the Art Cameras and Graphics from DAZN and Gravity Media

Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the fight to life with state of the art cameras and ...

18/07/2025

Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's Head of Boxing Chris Glanville Talks Helicopters, a Ringwalk Spectacular and Directing the Action

Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's head of boxing Chris Glanville talks helicopters, ...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Studio Gives Live From,' NBC Sports a Great View

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Stu...

18/07/2025

Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure the Future of the Business

Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Golf Coverage

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Go...

18/07/2025

ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend

ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend Besides the game, four studio shows will be produced onsite By Jason Dachman, Edit...

18/07/2025

The Sky Arts Awards Are Back, Live From The Roundhouse This September

Friday 18 July 2025 Credit: Marc Sethi The Sky Arts Awards will return on 16 September, once again taking place at the iconic Roundhouse in London. Produced b...

18/07/2025

2025-07-18

This month, players can dive into special crossover events featuring SpongeBob SquarePants in Snake.io+ and Crossy Road Castle, available exclusively on Apple A...

18/07/2025

Hurling Fans Flock Together for a Night of Craic agus Ceol on RT's Up For The Match this Saturday night

Up for the Match brings the fun, the passion-and a bit of Riverdance- tomorrow n...

17/07/2025

Realm of SatanDisturbs the Comfortable at 2024 Sundance Film Festival

Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...

17/07/2025

Audiobooks+ Brings More Choice and Flexibility to Spotify Premium Subscribers

Spotify's goal with audiobooks is to help grow the publishing industry and create the best possible experience for booklovers, which is why we're launch...

17/07/2025

L3Harris to Expand Solid Rocket Motor Production in Arkansas

An advanced large solid rocket motor hot fire test conducted at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, site....

17/07/2025

L3Harris Has the Future of PNT Ready Now

L3Harris payloads and components have been on board every U.S. GPS satellite-more than 70 missions since the 1970s. Our technology is at the core of GPS availab...

17/07/2025

L3Harris Introduces Launched Effects Vehicles to Increase US Multi-Domain Superiority

L3Harris' pack of launched effects is comprised of multi-role vehicles that ...

17/07/2025

Nielsen taps Ryan Moore as Chief Business Officer of Gracenote

NEW YORK - July 17, 2025 - Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has announced the appointment of Ryan Moore to the new role of Chief Business O...

17/07/2025

David Cohen Joins Miri Technologies as VP, Sales and Business Development

READING, Pa. Network technology startup Miri Technologies has added David Cohen as vice president, business development. He'll be tasked with expanding the ...

17/07/2025

Berklee Wins CASE Award for Standout Digital Campaign

Berklee Wins CASE Award for Standout Digital Campaign The Alumni Affairs team's Variations Signature Series earned recognition for offering an authentic p...

17/07/2025

Senate Votes to Strip Federal Funds for Public Broadcasting

Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...

17/07/2025

British Innovation Leads the Way at IBC2025

GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...

17/07/2025

SMPTE Forms Study Group on Content Provenance and Authenticity In Media

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...

17/07/2025

NBCU Reports Highest Sales Volume in History' for 2025-26 Upfronts

NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...

17/07/2025

Study: TV Ads Are Top Influencer of Older Adults Buying Retirement Homes

NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...

17/07/2025

Service Electric Cable TV Deploys OpenVault PMN

ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...

17/07/2025

FCC Chair Outlines Busy Summer Agenda That Includes Major EAS Vote

WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...

17/07/2025

SES Receives All Required Regulatory Approvals to Complete Intelsat Acquisition

Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission. O...

17/07/2025

Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards

Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-seven Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...

17/07/2025

What We Watched the First Half of 2025

Back to All News What We Watched the First Half of 2025 Entertainment 17 July 2025 Global Link copied to clipboard Today, we're sharing our latest Eng...

17/07/2025

Vote for Ivory 3 American Concert D in the MIDI Innovation Awards!

Cast your vote in 2 categories for Ivory 3 American Concert DIvory 3 American Concert D is in the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards and we are honored to be nominated...

17/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on Evolving Data Management

SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on E...

17/07/2025

Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Adoption

Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Ado...

17/07/2025

NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing

NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing Audio mixing, intelligent camera framing are among AI-driven efforts By Ken Kerschbaum...

17/07/2025

SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today!

SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today! By SVG Staff Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 8:29 am Print This Story | Subscribe St...

17/07/2025

Gravity Media Chosen as Group Name for Merged OB Business

Gravity Media chosen as group name for merged OB business By George Bevir Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 11:30 Print This Story Gravity Media executive chairm...

17/07/2025

SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivity

SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivit...

17/07/2025

How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game

How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game Vintage content, state-of-the-art projection/processing combine in marvelous mile...

17/07/2025

Riedel Communications Powers Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour with Integrated Network and Comms Solutions

Wuppertal July 17, 2025 Riedel Communications Powers Handa Opera on Sydney Har...