Wimbledon in HD Crosses the Pond
NBC
carrying BBC's hi-def feed of tennis' premier event
LONDON
Throughout its 131-year history, the British-born Wimbledon tennis
championship has seen its share of thrills and excitement, such as
when matches were televised for the first time in 1937, or when Wimbledon
made television history in July 1967 as part of the first official
color broadcast in the U.K.
But
a new precipice is about to be crossed, as coverage of this championship
tennis match traverses the pond for the first time in high-definition.
That's
no small feat for this sporting event-referred to often as simply
"The Championship"-which has been so closely managed and
organized by the parent All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Yet for the first time, the organization and its host broadcaster-the
BBC-will allow a U.S. audience to see the event in HD by giving NBC
the option to broadcast parts of the championship in high definition.
"NBC's
HD broadcast of Wimbledon will create pictures worthy of a Grand Slam
event for U.S. viewers," said Ken Goss, vice president of sports
operations for NBC.
Marking
the 40-year anniversary of working with the BBC on Wimbledon, this
year NBC will pick up high-definition coverage of the action on Centre
Court and Court 1, and will also showcase upconverted standard-definition
coverage of the remaining matches, Goss said. The HD transmission
will be sent over a 20 Mbps fiber link from Wimbledon, as well as
via an HD uplink during the match finals.
ANYONE
FOR SLO-MO?
To handle the new HD aspects of the event, as well as the standard-definition
uplink, the Peacock network will also march out an arsenal of its
own technology that includes eight Thomson LDK6000 cameras and a mixture
of Canon HD/SD lenses, including the 5xHJ86x9.3 box lens, the 5xHJ22x7.6
lightweight HD/SD lens and the 4xHJ11x4.7 lightweight HD/SD model.
Wimbledon
is undergoing a multimillion dollar three-year renovation that will
culminate in the debut of a retractable roof over Centre Court in
2009. The network will also showcase its signature slow-motion coverage
by using a Sony tri-motion camera and Canon box with built-in image
stabilizer, which sits near the Royal Box, where members of the royal
family watch matches, Goss said. NBC will call on outside broadcast
company NEP Visions, who will roll out the HD2 mobile unit as the
network's primary production facility.
NBC
will also use a separate tape truck, known as the HDR3, a full 1080i
vehicle. Audio will be a stereo audio mix. For editing, the network
will use an Avid Nitris. Other equipment will include the EVS XT2
production and play-out server, and the EVS IP Director integrated
control system.
With
those 40 years of experience in its back pocket, NBC has managed to
create a smooth, well-rounded broadcast that melds well with the working
styles of the BBC and the club itself. As such, NBC will rely on the
understated graphics package that it used last year, with some updates
created via Avid Deko and Quantel Paintbox systems.
CALL
OF THE MARKET
Like other sporting events that have made the transition to HD, the
decision to showcase pieces of the Wimbledon event in high definition
came down to market demand.
"It
was just time to bring that clarity to our viewers," Goss said.
"We've had great success with Wimbledon year after year,"
he said, "and after transitions to do HD for the French Open
and the U.S. Open" itseemed like now was the right time, he said.
And
there is indeed much to see, even beyond the matches themselves. The
Wimbledon Club spent millions of dollars in the last three years revamping
the physical space of the venue itself. The most dramatic change is
the makeover of the roof. The organization has been building a retractable
roof, designed to best the often-unpredictable weather of British
summers and ensure that rain delays are a thing of the past. This
retractable roof will be completely ready for the 2009 tournament,
and is designed to allow matches on Centre Court to continue regardless
of weather, said Adrian Kingston, engineering manager for SIS Outside
Broadcast, the OB production company hired by the BBC to cover the
event.
"The
roof will allow play on Centre Court during rain and bad light,"
Kingston said. "While this won't keep the tournament on schedule
when there are 18 courts in play for eight hours of the day, it will
keep a major show court match running through any rain break, providing
the world TV audience with live tennis when otherwise they maybe watching
reruns.
"Clearly
toward the end of the event, when the numbers of matches decline,
the ability to play in all weathers may well make the difference between
finishing on time and not," Kingston said.
While
the match will be broadcast domestically by BBC Sport, SIS Outside
Broadcast will physically capture all of the matches with its fleet
of television production units, communications vehicles and specialty
cameras. Earlier this year, the BBC's former fleet of production vehicles-known
as BBC Outside Broadcast-were purchased by Satellite Information Services
(SIS).
The
SIS Outside Broadcast's master control truck will provide production
space for the BBC Domestic operation with two supporting units, including
a large 24-camera unit for Centre Court and a slightly smaller one
for Court 1.
Sony
cameras will be used throughout, including five Sony HD 3X speed slo-mo
cameras, as well as four Thomson LDK23 cameras and a Panasonic high-motion
hyper slo-mo camera, designed to offer six to 12 times slow-motion
image analysis. Lenses will be a mix of Fujinon and Canon systems.
SIS
is also introducing other changes such as new archiving on EVS XFile
drives and utilizing the EVS IP Director. The company is also installing
50 miles of signal cable to deliver coverage.
"The
Hi-Motion cameras will offer detailed slo-mo analysis of play with
improved picture quality over other systems that have been used in
the past," Kingston said.
This
is the third year that the BBC has made the Wimbledon championship
available in HD, but the cost of acquiring equipment and the challenge
of upgrading hasn't always been easy to overcome, Kingston said.
"In
previous years, there have been some issues around HD equipment availability
during the tournament, plus the overall upgrade costs for clients,"
he said.
The
matches will also be repurposed and aired on-demand, via mobile, and
through the BBC's iPlayer technology, which will show key matches
for up to seven days after the broadcast.
"[This]
is proving competitive, and allowing more for less, [and is] especially
important as interactive offerings expand and broadcasters need multiple
routes out of the venue for the fortnight," Kingston said.
By
Susan Ashworth at www.tvtechnology.com
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