NBC Clears HD Hurdle for Beijing
Peacock
network takes on its biggest TV broadcast ever
BEIJING
Before a single Chinese pasi gong has sounded on the opening ceremonies
on August 8, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is already proving to be
groundbreaking television.
The
games have inspired riots around the world, set off political infighting,
led to broadcast equipment delays, promised to pull in a record-breaking
financial windfall for the International Olympic Committee, and cost
broadcasters $2.5 billion in the three years leading up to this year’s
event.
All
before a single competition has gotten underway.
The
physical broadcast of the world’s most famous sporting event is expected
to be groundbreaking as well. For the first time for viewers here
in the United States, the Olympic Games will be produced and broadcast
as an all-HD affair.
That
leaves a monumental task in the hands of the host broadcaster, Beijing
Olympic Broadcasting, and to NBC, the U.S. broadcast rights holder
of the Olympics through 2012.
While
NBC has been in these shoes before—most recently in Torino, Italy
for the 2006 Winter Games—the Beijing Olympics have brought unique
challenges, such as security snafus with broadcast equipment, the
difficulty in shipping multi-ton OB trucks halfway across the world,
and simply the challenge of setting up a world-class broadcast environment
in a nation not known for openness and an ease of operation.
“Before
we landed in China we already had a massively more ambitious project
than Athens,” said David Mazza, senior vice president of engineering
for NBC Olympics. “To that, when you add the intricacies of doing
an Olympics and a broadcast of this size in China—with so many of
its own firsts—you can’t help but have some significant challenges
ahead of you.”
A
HI-DEF WELCOME
Yet the games will go on in all their glory, and in front of a massive
global audience. More than 4 billion worldwide are expected to watch
the Olympics, which will air in the United States on NBC and its NBC
Universal sister networks, CNBC, Oxygen, USANetwork, Telemundo and
Universal HD.
Coverage
of the Beijing Olympics will kick off at the new Beijing National
Stadium, an artfully lit, oval-shaped stadium known affectionately
as the “Bird’s Nest” for its interwoven columns and gently sloping
edges.
The
action will travel far and wide across China, with events like soccer
in Qinhuangdao, equestrian in Hong Kong, and sailing in Qingdao at
newly opened architectural pieces like the Beijing National Aquatics
Centre and the Olympic Green.
NBC
plans to present more than 3,600 hours of broadcast coverage of the
2008 Beijing Olympics, (including 2,900 hours of live coverage), with
more than 2,200 hours of live coverage dedicated to the network’s
Internet streaming venture, NBCOlympics.com (see “NBC Pursues Mass
Streaming Initiative,” p. 21).
PRESSING
CHALLENGES
NBC’s most pressing challenges have been to ensure that the landmark
goal of providing an HD-only broadcast goes off with as few hitches
as possible.
“Technically,
there are [HD] issues relating to infrastructure, such as cable length,
all new peripherals, production systems, storage space and processing
power,” Mazza said.
“Operationally,
[the challenge of] shooting and protecting for the 4:3 center slice
is something we have to continue to remind our camera operators about.
It is very easy to be taken in by the size of the 16:9 canvas and
forget that many of our viewers at home are still only seeing the
4:3 center portion.”
Add
to that the fact that “television on this scale has never been done
here before, access like this never been done before, transmission
in and out of China never been done like this before, and currently
very little SNG and ENG seems to happen here,” Mazza said.
NBC
is also attempting a number of technical feats, including using a
technology from Switzerland-based Dartfish called “StroMotion,” which
employs stop-action photography to show frame by frame the exact location
of a diver entering the water, or a gymnast flipping across a floor
mat.
The
Beijing National Aquatics Centre (foreground) will host swimming and
diving events while opening and closing ceremonies and track and field
events will be held in the Beijing National Stadium (background).
NBC
will also use specialty camera placements to provide viewers with
unique perspectives, such as its DiveCam, UnderwaterCam and TrackCam
technologies, and will set up specific POV cameras on the new BMX
and whitewater kayaking events to give viewers the feel of the course,
and capture the action in a way that hadn’t been possible with other
camera position placements, Mazza said.
IMAGES
ON DISPLAY
NBC has ushered in equipment manufacturers to make that possible,
from smaller firms like Blue Order to behemoths like Sony, who will
provide a spate of technology to the games, with new XDCAM HD 4:2:2
technology including 30 PDW-700 2/3-inch CCD cameras and 170 PDW-HD1500
recording decks.
As
NBC’s key ENG camcorder, the XDCAMs will be used to record athlete
arrivals, interviews, press conferences and the like, and were selected
for their improved picture performance and reduced capture and storage
costs, according to Mazza. The network will also put PDW-700 camcorders
in the hands of its Spanish-language television network Telemundo,
who will use the models at a standup location overlooking the Olympic
Stadium. The equipment will record on the 50 GB version of the PFD50DLA,
Sony’s optical Professional Disc media.
NBC
will also use 42 Sony HDC-1400 studio cameras as well as several HDC-3300
3x Super Motion cameras. Switchers from Sony will also be put to use,
including 11 MVS-8000s and two MFS-2000s.
Lenses
will be a mix of Canon studio and ENG lenses, and NBC will rely on
Anton/Bauer batteries.
To
cover the 302 Olympic events—including nine new disciplines, such
as marathon swimming and the aforementioned BMX competition—BOB will
use more than 60 OB units and NBC will use all-HD mobile video control
rooms, known as flypacks, as well as mobile units to cover athletics,
gymnastics, aquatics, beach and indoor volleyball, boxing, basketball
and more from NEP Visions in the UK, NEP Pittsburgh, Bexel Broadcast
Services, Chinese-based Xaitong, and from Chinese firm CNC, which
will supply two SNG trucks. Five venues will have just a commentator
system on site for announcers.
NBC
is using Avid ingest stations in its graphics area.
AUDIO
ASPECTS
Audio will mark a milestone as well, with the games produced in high
definition with 5.1 discrete channels of audio, as well as stereo
broadcasting. “Each Olympic Games’ coverage brings with it new demands
for better technology, increased flexibility and greater efficiency,”
said Bob Dixon, NBC’s director of sound design at the Beijing games.
Starting
with the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996 to Beijing in 2008, the network
has gone from an analog-only two-channel contribution and distribution
platform to a fully digital, discrete 5.1 channel platform, Dixon
said. To help the network succeed on that path, NBC will use five
Omega with Bluefin consoles from Calrec. Two boards will provide audio
coverage for the opening and closing ceremonies, and the athletics.
Another two consoles will be used for gymnastics and trampoline events,
and a fifth will be used for beach volleyball.
Other
audio solutions include DiGiCo mixing consoles, Yamaha mini mixing
consoles and Graham-Patten edit mixing consoles Mics include systems
from Audio-Technica and Sennheiser. This is the first time the games
will be produced totally in high definition with 5.1 discrete channels
of audio, according to Dixon. “We are still in a period of transition
in the United States, so most of our audience will still watch the
games on standard-definition television receivers with two channels
of audio,” he said. “This means that everything we do in China must
serve both communities.”
The
plan is to send six discrete channels of audio with HD pictures to
the United States. Special care will be taken to downmix those channels
for NBC’s stereo-listening audience. Audio from each venue will be
sent as a 5.1-channel program mix and simultaneously as a two-channel
program downmix and a stereo downmix of the sound effects. The stereo
sound effects mix will be used in promos and post-produced pieces,
Dixon said.
NBC
will also have 30 UPMAX:neo upmixers from Linear Acoustic on hand
to analyze the quality of incoming feeds, upmix audio to 5.1 if necessary,
and downmix to stereo sound to maintain consistent quality. Dolby
gear will be deployed for loudness monitoring, with NBC using ADAM
intercoms from Telex and RVON VoIP interfaces from RTS.
CONTENT
CREATION
For editing and graphics, NBC will use Avid nonlinear systems including
the Digidesign ProTools for sweetening, EVS IPEdit for IPDirector,
Chyron HyperX2 Duet, Discreet Logic Smoke and several Apple systems
running Adobe Creative Suite 3, Maxon Cinema 4D and Final Cut Express.
For
storage, NBC will use clustered solutions from Isilon Systems, including
the Isilon IQ clustered system, as the primary on-site storage solution
for media created on the HD EVS XT[2] server system.
Other
storage solutions include 400 TB of Omneon MediaGrids and MediaDecks
and 250 TB of Avid Isis. The network will archive all low-resolution
Olympic footage onto Isilon IQ. NBC will rely on Blue Order’s Media
Archive for asset management, and Cryadis Technologies for machine
control. The Omneon ProCast content distribution platform will be
put to work to handle long-distance file transfer management and acceleration,
and ScheduALL will be used for facilities scheduling. For proxy viewing,
NBC will use technology from MOG Solutions, including Toboggan software
for conforming SD and HD files. Anystream and Velocity software will
be used for flipping new media files.
For
teleprompting needs in the field and studio, the teleprompting firm
Autoscript will provide 15 WinPlus News systems, which includes a
Windows-based teleprompting suite linked into an electronic newsroom
system, as well as seventeen 17-inch TFT high-brightness on camera
units and six 15-inch TFT on camera units. The prompters will be in
NBC’s studios on location in Beijing and at venues such as swimming,
gymnastics and boxing. For mobile coverage, the network will use an
8-inch TFT lightweight system.
Behind
the scenes, the network will use Miranda Digital Glue equipment; Tektronix
terminal gear; Tandberg Television MPEG-4 encoders, decoders and multiplexers;
Snell & Wilcox standard converter equipment; Cisco data routers; Scientific-Atlanta
IPTV equipment; Barco projectors; and Sony MVS-8000G switchers.
By
Susan Ashworth@www.tvtechnology.com
HOME
Headlines
Officer
and Photog Scuffle
TV
reporter, cameraman plead guilty to trespassing charges
Black
Anchor Out After Using "N" Word
TV
news helicopter violates Presidential airspace, says FAA
Kitten
Rescued from Fox 17 Station Car
Final
hour for newscast
Suspect
in fatal crash found in TV vehicle
NBC11
Reporter Robbed While Covering Story On Smash-And-Grabs
LA
TV news stringers to become TruTV series
Wilmington
to be digital TV test market
Barrington
To Slash Staff
WNBC
Plans 24-Hour News Channel
ABC
News to launch on-campus bureaus
Some
Pappas Telecasting Stations file for Chapter 11
Deputies
use Taser on sportscaster in jai
l
Jane
Fonda Slips C-Word Past NBC Today Censors
CBS
Lays Off CSTV Staffers
Man
charged in snowmobile crash that killed TV anchor
Former
Tampa Reporter busted for Child Porn
Former
Boise TV anchor arrested for domestic abuse
Former
Meteorologist Wants Jail Sentence Tossed
Davenport
TV station lays off 12, cancels 2 newscasts
Can
Columbus' famously combustible news director be tamed?
GM
apologizes for weatherman's goof
L.A.
mayor's girlfriend demoted by TV station
FCC
urges fine for Comcast
BBC
to integrate news operation
NFL's
new vest policy is out of line
Another
news chopper incident
Ex-forecaster
insists she's not guilty of shoplifting
'Early
Show' bails on flooded studio
Pit
bulls attack TV, radio station workers
Police
review actions of TV crew at office protest
Voice-over
actor tapped as traffic reporter
Family
files civil suit against anchor
Eyewitness
News back on after fire
Broken
Pipe Cripples TV News
Philly
shooter slugged
Photog
arrested
Camerawoman
files claim against Los Angeles
Global
TV cameraman saves toddler
Pittsburgh
station sorry for misplaced news tease
Hopefuls
jam station's traffic-reporter tryout
News
anchor jailed, charged with felony
Man
accused of threatening TV reporter
Another
TV News Copter Goes Down
TV
Station Fires Worker Over Porn Prank
TV
Reporter Found Guilty Of Contempt
TV
Helicopter Pilot Saves Stranded Deer
*Watch
video
Pols
Call For Warning Labels on Analog-Only TV Sets
No
charges in arrest of 'Car Czar' reporter
Former
Channel 7 analyst arrested on child sex charges
Philly
station launches mostly unscripted newscast
Boston
TV's Ansin defends mass firings
Charity's
director sues WFLA-TV reporter
Boston
radio giant fires entire news team
Roanoke
TV station fires meteorologist over MySpace photo
'Borat' duped TV producer
Former TV Reporter Indicted For Cruise Ship Conduct With Boys
KTMD
losing most of news staff
Broadcast
Workers Oppose Dereg
TV
Takes a Page Out of Newspaper Hardships
Students
make 'Point' on TV news
Fox
journalists released in Gaza Strip, ending nearly two week hostage ordeal
Cincy
TV stations settle sideline-camera flap
Death
stuns, angers reporter's family
Bossier
City businessman accused of attacking TV crew
Wife
of kidnapped Fox cameraman makes tearful plea for release
Ex-news
anchor arrest
Popular Weatherman
Passes
Former
TV personality charged with soliciting a child
Voice
of the Razorbacks Dies in Car Accident
Sentence
in crash that kills photog
Cameraman
tossed from tour
TV
station editor beaten up over report about broken privatisation promises
Chopper
4 crashes during search
Once again a near death incident. Glad everyone's safe...but
here's another reason why I've given up helicopters for good.
Cameraman
Claims He Slept With Princess Diana
Now that's what I'm talkin' about. You go get 'em
cameraman!
Broadcasters'
audience size sets new low
The least-watched week in history. Going downnnnn....
Bank
robbery foiled by TV reporter
Fox,
AP Settle Photog Flap
"Miraculous
Recovery" for CBS' Dozier
Holdin'
Globes
New
pandemic fear as cameraman falls ill in bird flu village
Reporter
killed in head-on collision
NBCU
Puts Four Stations Up for Sale
PGA
Announces New Agreements With CBS, NBC
Fire
kills anchorman
Former
TV reporter charged with shoplifting
Anchorwoman
Accepts Proposal on Air
Ex-TV
reporter Barth joins race for seat in Congress
ABC
Cameraman shot dead in Baghdad
Shootout
video cameraman drops out of sight
Spitting
at TV cameraman earns suspension
Pittsburgh
TV Reporter Cited For Trespassing
TV photogs attacked outside court
Break-in
delays W. Va. newscast debut
Viacom lays off 11 at KOVR, KMAX
Colo.
station suspends local news
NFL
won't act on Benson altercation with TV crew
Cameras
Captured a Disaster but Now Focus on Suffering
Cameraman Assaulted
