Timeline has adopted Videosys Broadcast’s camera control technology for the coverage of the British Basketball League (BBL) championships, which are broadcasted on Sky Sports, the League’s official broadcaster in the UK.
The championships feature 10 clubs competing in three to four games every weekend across various UK locations. To optimize resources, Timeline has introduced a remote production strategy that aims to minimize expenses on personnel and equipment.
Remote Production Solution
The approach involves providing space at Timeline’s Ealing Broadcast Centre in West London for the League’s production crew and show presenters. This setup includes offering technical support and deploying identical portable equipment kits across all game venues. During matches, feeds from four Sony cameras at each venue are transmitted to the Ealing center through ethernet connections. This setup enables the production team to manage aspects like color balance, camera angles, and vision mixing remotely.
John Hayhurst, Senior RF Project Manager at Timeline TV, highlighted the efficiency of this system, noting that baseband video movement has been replaced by data transmission over ethernet cables and IP addresses. The production is managed from the Ealing Broadcast Centre, including the provision of camera tally through an IP-based system to control the cameras remotely.
Videosys Camera Control System
The camera control utilizes a Videosys system comprising three components: an Indoor Unit (IDU) located in Ealing, an Outdoor Unit (ODU) positioned at the game venues, and a Camera Receiver (RXSM-E) attached to the cameras on-site. The IDU is capable of managing up to four cameras and integrates into existing OCP networks through either legacy or full ethernet control. Connecting to the ODU and the RXSM-E enables seamless camera setting adjustments by operators from any location.
Currently, camera control data is sent using unicast from Ealing to each venue. However, the system supports multicasting, allowing simultaneous data transmission to multiple locations, facilitated by the identical setup at each event. The Videosys CCU system, fully IP-based with built-in web browser setup adjustments, supports both TCP and UDP data delivery, ensuring reliable latency over wide area networks.
The primary aim of this remote production model is to leverage the same production crew for multiple events occurring concurrently, thereby maximizing efficiency and reducing operational costs.
News source: https://videosys.tv/
