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Pixellot: the AI-automated sports camera -
ARRI CCM-1: the new onboard monitor
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TVU RPS One: the remote production system
Discussing the latest technological news with our respected experts – Philip Grossman and Mary Ann Seidler. Don’t forget to give the program a like!
Maria: Featuring a 12K three camera array in one compact and lightweight unit, the Pixellot Show S3 captures every detail of the game, providing a sharp video image for fans, as well as a high-quality analysis solution for coaches. The system has been designed for 19 sports, including full pitches or small courts, indoors and outdoors.
So Philip, is Pixellot creating a new standard for sports streaming?
Philip: It’s an interesting technology because I believe it started around sports analysis, trying to capture stuff on video to help players get better. Then, I think there was this realization that if we’re capturing the material, why can’t we use it for actual broadcasting? So, I think that one of the things that it’s doing is bringing the ability to broadcast sports to smaller venues and smaller teams in a very compact way. From what I understand about the simple package, to use it doesn’t require someone with a production switcher because the AI component tracks the people on the field through the camera movement. I like to see how it may integrate into larger productions where you might use one or two of those cameras plus your traditional camera setup and integrate all those, and then it really becomes sort of a powerful tool. Though the big problem with high school and college sports, in general, is that it’s so complicated. There are so many wires to run. If these guys can actually bring a simplified solution to the table, making it easier for teams to do this, you’re going to see it get adopted very quickly. Especially at a reasonable price within the high school sports world specifically and within 2A and 3A college sports.
Maria: Now moving on to ARRI, The ARRI CCM-1 provides an alternative control, menu, and image interface to the viewfinder. The monitor can either replace this entirely or work alongside.
Philip, does this solution give operators new configuration options?
Philip: Well, monitors have always been around like this. What’s interesting here, I think, is that ARRI decided to go outside of their own development team and go to SmallHD, who has a reputation for making fantastic monitors and UI capabilities.
Extending their capabilities allows you to engage the touchscreen to control the camera instead of the million little buttons that you typically have to go through on menus on a camera. This makes it a bit quicker to get to things, so it’s interesting that they obviously now make camera controls for a lot of different cameras from RED to ARRI to Sony, and this one being specifically built for ARRI is interesting.
Maria: The TVU RPS One will be the centerpiece of the BroadcastAsia exhibit. It is the only platform in the class that combines REMI and cloud production in a single portable unit for multi-channel remote workflow over the public internet.
Mary, I know that you are curious about this one.
Mary: Yes, I was. So Philip, one thing that caught my eye with this was the amount of data connections it supports. This is a mega belts and suspenders approach but other than that, how does this get us ahead? What does this give us that we don’t already have in different products?
Philip: I think the key to this product and it’s really more of a solution, is that it’s integrated with their Cloud production so you’re not having to string together a bunch of different components to make sure they work. It’s not quite a TurnKey but very close to a TurnKey solution similar to the first product we talked about which enables smaller venues and smaller organizations to produce high-end productions. The TVU solution with their pack which they’re known for and now they’re new Cloud production capabilities really makes it pretty easy. We often hear the term throwdown box however, this is effectively a throwdown box because you can plug a couple cameras in and it connects to the cloud interface and then you’re producing a live show. Those capabilities are going to expand the amount of content that we can produce at remote facilities.
Mary: Do you see these products not only being used for high school sports but also in a corporate environment? For instance, if someone’s having a retreat for their corporation and they want to get a word out to shareholders, would this be something that someone who is not using video equipment every day would be able to run with?
Philip: Actually, that’s a great point. I haven’t really thought about that, but in the corporate world, this would be fantastic as we’ve moved to online video meetings such as Zoom and a less in-person dynamic. Having a Zoom call is sort of impersonal, not necessarily professional. This allows those organizations to step up their level of production so they can have their quarterly meetings and produce some sort of professional environment without having to travel around the world with lots of people and equipment. It’s a relatively simple interface to set up and get going, so I think corporate environments are going to have great distance learning potential. I think there are a lot of opportunities around that tech, and TVU seems to be the first one that sort of simplified it and integrated both the broadcast and the production side together. I think it’s going to be very interesting to see where their competition goes.
Maria: That’s all the time we have today. Many thanks to our experts – Philip and Mary! And don’t forget to comment on the news we’ve discussed. See you next Monday at the same time! Goodbye!
The live broadcast took place on June 5, 2023. Production – TKT1957 LLC.
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