Yankees-Mariners to Serve as Testing Ground for 3D Transmission

Like most live 3D telecasts thus far, this weekend’s 3D production of two New York Yankees-Seattle Mariners baseball games will be an exercise in experimentation. However, unlike previous sporting events broadcast in 3D, the YES Network-FSN Northwest production will be transmitted out to a total of eight distribution partners, the most of any 3D sports telecast yet.

On Wednesday, Blue Ridge Communications, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Service Electric Broadband Cable, and Time Warner Cable joined the previously announced DirecTV and Verizon FiOS as 3D carriers for the July 10 and 11 games. DirecTV will run fiber directly from Safeco Field in Seattle for transmission and use the satellite uplink as a backup; the other carriage partners will receive the feed via satellite.

“This is obviously very historic,” says John McKenna, chief engineer, YES Network. “It’s the first 3D baseball game that anybody has done, and we’re pretty proud to be involved in doing it. “It’s definitely a milestone in a lot of careers for the people involved.”

The 3D capture end of the production alone will be a massive undertaking, but the transmission side will be just as challenging. Two discrete left-eye/right-eye 720p 16×9 feeds will run into NEP’s SS31 3D production truck. Both will be fed into a Miranda Imagestore processor, which will insert YES 3D branding graphics and provide a full-screen YES 3D graphic to be displayed instead of black screen before the game and during commercial breaks.

From there, the signals will be fed into a SENSIO 3D encoder provided by PACE. The SENSIO encoder takes the 720p left- and right-eye signals and merges them into a 720p side-by-side picture. The newly merged signal is then sent through a Harris NetVX series encoder and on to the uplink truck. YES and FSN Northwest are using the AMC1 satellite and 18 Mbps bandwidth to distribute the signal to their affiliates. The feed will be transmitted directly from Seattle; YES headquarters in Stamford, CT, will not play a role in the transmission process.

“We don’t have 3D parallel or 3G capability here in Stamford,” says McKenna. “We had not expected at this point to need that kind of bandwidth yet. So we figure, it’s easier to go right from the site because there’s nothing we can do with it [in Stamford]. It’s all coming right from the site to the affiliates.”

The production team will run a “3D dress rehearsal” during tonight’s Yankees-Mariners game to gain some live-game insight and give distribution partners a chance to optimize their 3D capabilities.

“The [Friday-]night game will be a dress rehearsal for 3D, and we’ll put it up on the satellite for the affiliates to have a six-hour window to tune and tweak and make sure everything is working,” says McKenna. “Anything we glean from that, we’ll be able to apply to the next game or anything after that.”

The real deal will start on Saturday night, when the Yankees and Mariners take the field at 10 p.m. ET. Sunday’s game will begin at 4 p.m. ET. DirecTV and Panasonic will be presenting sponsors of the two 3D telecasts.

“It’s a very steep learning curve for everybody,” McKenna acknowledges. “We know that, when 3D is good, it’s great, but, when it’s bad, it’s absolutely horrible. We have to start off on the right foot.”

By Jason Dachman, Sports Video Group

Yankees, Mariners Step into 3D Spotlight

This will be another historic weekend in sports broadcasting: the YES Network, FSN Northwest, and DirecTV will broadcast two games between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in 3D. For hardcore baseball fans, it signals a new day in enjoying the game at home, and, for hardcore sports-production professionals, it signals a new challenge: is baseball 3D-friendly?

“It’s a learning experience,” says Ed Delaney, VP of operations for YES Network. “We want to put the best broadcast we can on the air, and there is a lot to learn.”

NEP’s recently refurbished SS31 production unit will be on hand for the broadcast. Similar to its original incarnation, SS31 is a single-expando with a front-to-back control room and a Calrec Q2 audio console. The truck also features a Sony MVS-8000A production switcher, EVS XT[2] servers, support for 10 tape machines, and the ability to support 14 PACE 3D camera rigs in a variety of configurations. Chyron graphics will be used for the games, and a B unit will house the stereographer and convergence operator, with 3D expert/PACE CEO Vince Pace and his team on hand to oversee the production.

Tonight’s game will be produced in 3D as a full rehearsal to enable the team of nearly 40 personnel to iron out some of the kinks. Delaney says the technical side of the operation is in great shape, with six 3D camera positions to be complemented by 2D cameras whose signals pass through HDlogix 2D-to-3D converters.

“We did a test with HDlogix during spring training and had some success with it,” says Delaney.

Five hard cameras will be in place: one each at low home, low first, low third, centerfield, and high home. A sixth camera, a handheld 3D beam-splitter rig, will also be used for game coverage. And shots in the announce booth will be captured with the Panasonic AG-3DA1 3D camcorder, a unit that is quickly earning the nickname “Wall-E,” given its uncanny resemblance to the animated robot of Pixar fame.

Delaney expects the shots from low home to deliver the best 3D impact. The high-home camera position, however, remains a concern because it will be shooting through the screen behind home plate. During tonight’s rehearsal, the quality of those images will be evaluated, and, if necessary, the camera will be moved to an alternative position that is not behind the net.

“We will learn a lot during the rehearsal,” says Delaney.

The biggest challenge during the broadcast will rest on the shoulders of the director since baseball broadcasts typically involve a lot of cutting from one camera to the next.

“The pace of the game and how it is cut is an issue, and it isn’t going to go away,” says Delaney. “It isn’t cut like football, hockey, or basketball, where the action goes side to side and you can stay wide with a shot. Baseball is about cut-cut-cut. With 3D, that can blow people’s heads off. So that is going to be the biggest learning curve.”

Delaney is already assembling a 3D wish list for future broadcasts, including the desire for a low camera position that is closer to the dugout and can give the viewer the sense of watching the game from the top of the dugout: “It would be like having the best seat in the house.”

By Ken Kerschbaumer, Sports Video Group

All Mobile Video Looks to Harness the Future of 3D

As the demand for live sports and entertainment productions to be captured in 3D continues to increase, compatible facilities to support this are now becoming readily available. Major sports productions like the FIFA World Cup tournament as well as a number of entertainment events in theatres are driving this demand.

All Mobile Video (AMV), a veteran mobile production company based in New York City that has been at the forefront of a number of industry transitions (they built the first all-digital, standard definition truck ‘Celebrity’ in 1998), is meeting the challenge with a new 3D-centric truck that promises to not only help producers bring 3D to homes and theatres across the United States, but will also serve as a teaching tool.

Called Epic 3D, the new 54ft-long ‘test bed’ expands along 47ft of its curb-side and 33ft on the roadside to more than 15ft wide, and can support standard HD recording with the improved colour recording of the highest quality 4:4:4 colour sampling at multiple frame rates. In a standard high definition 4:2:2 recording, half of the colour information seen is discarded before recording. Using 4:4:4 colour sampling, more colour information is captured, and thus the resulting image is that much more brilliant, making for a captivating 3D experience.

What makes Epic 3D unique, among the handful of similar trucks now becoming available from a number of production companies, is that it was built from the ground up to be 3D-capable, handling the entire production chain, from acquisition through to transmission.

“The idea with Epic 3D is that it is a complete turnkey solution for 3D acquisition,” says Eric Duke, president of AMV. “You won’t need any other vehicle to produce and distribute the finest 3D available today.”

When it hits the road this month, Epic 3D will carry a full complement of Sony HDCAM SR (4:4:4 processing) recording equipment, 18 Sony HDC 1500 HD cameras, six camera rigs made by 3Ality Digital (both side-by-side and beam splitter rigs, each holding two Sony HD cameras and including computer assisted convergence capability), a Sony MVS-8000X production switcher, and a Studer Vista 8 Digital audio console (250 input, 62 fader) for producing full 7.1 surround sound mixes.

On-board Signal Monitoring
The new truck includes a spacious Production area, where the front row accommodates the director, TD and producer, while a back row features six ‘convergence’ positions, one for each 3D camera rig in use. The front wall features 16 Sony LCD displays running off a number of Kaleido-X16 3D multi-viewers from Miranda Technologies.

These monitor wall displays combine stereoscopic 3D sources coming from dual 1.5 Gbps signals from each camera rig (the truck is outfitted with a redundant 3 Gbps infrastructure), and it can also show frame-compatible formats — left and right images side by side, or top and bottom — in a single HD window. Stereoscopic 3D sources can be combined on the same display with HD and SD sources, with full flexibility regarding layout configuration. Each area of the truck, namely Engineering, Production, Audio, Camera Shading and Tape, has its own Kaleido-X16 multi-viewer and layout. The multi-viewer outputs are connected directly to Sony stereoscopic 3D LCD displays, hung in both portrait and landscape orientation.

The Kaleido-X16 multi-viewers allow up to 128 inputs to be displayed across the front wall inside the truck. The control and layout characteristics in stereoscopic 3D are the same as with 2D video, and the Kaleido-X16 can display 3D and 2D signals simultaneously. In addition, HD-SDI outputs from each multiviewer can provide a copy of the multi-viewer display, which can be fed to the router for distribution throughout the truck, and outside for commentary or other requirements. By using high quality stereoscopic 3D monitoring during production, AMV’s convergence crew can fully assess the quality and compare perspectives before switching between two stereoscopic 3D cameras.

In addition to the stereoscopic 3D multiviewers, AMV has also installed interfacing equipment from Miranda, including the new 3DX-3901 3D signal processor, used to convert among the many types of stereoscopic 3D signals on board the truck. The processor also provides correction and electronic alignment of images coming from the 3Ality Digital 3D rigs. When the truck is used for 2D events, the 3DX-3901 can be used as a traditional 3Gbps/HD frame sync and up/down/cross converter, avoiding the cost of extra equipment in the truck.

“We really like what Miranda has developed in terms of 3D monitoring and signal processing,” Duke says, adding that the crew will wear polarised glasses during a production to view the converged 3D sources. “Our crews love the Kaleido-X16 multi-viewers because they are so flexible and can be set up differently for different directors, depending upon how they like to work.”

Making 3D Practical
In order to save clients money, AMV engineers are working on a solution that will enable the truck to produce projects simulcast in both 3D and 1080i or 1080p HD.

“We don’t know yet how it’s going to work for every show, but we will have a solution that will be cost-effective for producers.”

One idea is to have a second production switcher on board (on the back row) to handle the 2D show, using left or right eye only camera sources. However, this adds cost to the client, and 3D production is expensive when compared to a traditional HD project.

To be cost-effective for AMV, the truck had to support the multitude of signal types now requested in HD, plus the new stereoscopic formats. This includes: 1920x1080 resolution up to 60P (progressive frames) per second and standard 4:2:2 colour sampling for HD and stereoscopic 3D (S3D) 1920x1080 progressive or interlaced HD production at 23.98p, 24p, 29.97p, 50i and 60i frames per second; Dual-link (left eye/right eye all to one tape) with standard 4:2:2 colour space sampling to HDCAM SR tape; and the 720/60p HD format.

“Currently, the cost of doing a 3D production is rather high, even by early HD standards,” Duke says. “When we went from SD to HD, maybe we added one more person to the truck. With 3D,we’re adding one person per rig, plus a stereographer, plus a processing engineer. So you could be up to ten people on top of the standard crew that is necessary to produce a standard HD event. And if we do a 2D/3D simulcast, we need a second production switcher and TD. There’s a big difference between 2D and 3D in terms of acquisition and making it all fit into an overall production that today’s viewers have come to expect.”

AMV is also dealing with the challenges of the cumbersome 3D rigs and how they can be positioned to get the most benefit for viewers at home without taking up too many seats within a venue. A 3D hockey game produced and televised by Madison Square Garden Network, in New York City, in March reportedly ‘lost’ about 700 seats to 3D camera positions.

“For years we’re been striving to make HD camera positions smaller and smaller, now we have these large 3D rigs, which must be placed closer to the field,” Duke says. “Now, we have to figure out how to make it work for everyone, because if you take money away from the house, they won’t be so receptive to accommodating a 3D production. That’s the only way this will succeed.”

For now, AMV is excited to get the truck in action and see what happens. Apparently, so is the rest of the industry, which is looking at what AMV is doing to plan their next moves and learn from their experiences. Everyone agrees that 3D production is still in the development stage and events like the FIFA World Cup will go a long way to working out the kinks.

AMV is also outfitting one of its studios in New York for 3D because it feels it can manage the signal processing in the studio a lot easier.

“We tend to go into new territory ahead of everyone. We try to set the standard and stay ahead of the curve. No one knows how 3D is going to be received in the marketplace but we see a great future for 3D projects.”

By By Michael Grottecelli, TVB Europe