UEFA delivers UHD IP remote production trial
July 31, 2017
UEFA has delivered what it says is the world’s first uncompressed UHD remote production trial during the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final, held in Poland in June, in collaboration with Snell Advanced Media (SAM) and system’s integrator, Gearhouse Broadcast. During the Championship final game, the IP system – which replaced a traditional OB set up – delivered live camera signals from the Marshal Józef Piłsudski Stadium in Krakow, Poland to UEFA who were located at BT Sport’s facility at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, around 1600km away, ready for live edit and playout.
On the trial, André Nel, UEFA’s Senior Broadcast Engineering Manager, said, “This successful test represents a major milestone for UEFA as we continue to innovate and explore remote production solutions ahead of the incredible challenges that future finals and UEFA EURO 2020 – with matches played in 13 different countries – will present.”
Working closely with Gearhouse Broadcast, to ensure the system design would result in smooth integration with the rest of the workflow, SAM delivered to UEFA a complete Proof of Concept (POC) IP-based remote production system.
Live UHD signals from five Sony HDC 4300 4K/HD cameras at the stadium were sent via a specially installed and commissioned pair of fully redundant 100GB Ethernet links. The signal was delivered to a production control room provided by BT Sport in London with a Director, Vision Mixer, PA, Graphics, Audio Supervisor, LiveTouch operator and Producer. The SAM LiveTouch server was used in a 2 in/2 out UHD configuration to play UHD replays, packages and graphics.
Robert Szabó-Rowe, EVP and General Manager, Live Production and Infrastructure at SAM, added, “This project is a real milestone for remote production, and we are very proud to be part of it. It is the first time that uncompressed UHD signals have been delivered over such a distance with ultra-low latency. The production team didn’t see any perceived difference to sitting in an OB truck on location.”