News – information about our products, projects and achievements - Slomo.tv

Multichannel recording and replay systems by slomo.tv are used regularly at international sports competitions of the highest rank. The First European Games held from 12 to 28 of June 2015 in the capital of Azerbaijan Baku were no exception.

In the memory of viewers from around the globe were not only the passions in sports competitions, but also fabulous, unforgettable, based on historical Azerbaijan stories spectacle of opening and closing ceremonies of the European Games.

On this festival of sport Baku Media Center used its 16 camera OB Van built by Broadcast Solutions GmbH, equipped with two systems Dominator AT/HD.

The opening and closing ceremonies of the European Games were recorded using Direct Movie Record technology DMR™. 16 channels were recorded using Apple ProRes 422 codec in QuickTime container. The ready for NLE files were used for creating the final broadcast version.

Both Dominator servers were used in live broadcasts of competitions, including track and field.

Hockey club SKA St. Petersburg is using our videoReferee^® system for more than 4 years.

Initially the club used a 6-channel SD system installed in the Ice Palace (St. Petersburg) in 2010. In 2013, in accordance with KHL regulation they switched to the new HD system videoReferee^®-IIM2. At the same time the club acquired manufactured by slomo.tv cameras. With vR-Cam and GoalNetCam cameras the club could utilize all advantages of the videoReferee^® system.

SKA created its own algorithm of hockey video judging taking advantage of all 11 Full HD channels provided by the system and original configuration of recording the game:

1. Instead of one recommended by KHL regulation panoramic camera they use two wide-angle vR-Cam cameras, one for each side of the field (L.Side and R.Side).
2. Considering 3 cameras at each goal this takes 8 recording channels.
3. The remaining three channels of videoReferee^®-IIM2 are used to record signals from the OB Van: program (PGM TV), cameras N2 (Angle) and N1 (Center).

4. To optimize the work of referees the system interface was configured for three operating layouts:
• Left - panoramic (L.Side), over the goal (L.Top), behind the goal (L.Back) and in-goal (L.Goal) cameras;
• Right - panoramic (R.Side), over the goal (R.Top), behind the goal (R.Back) and in-goal (R.Goal) cameras;
• TV - program (PGM TV), camera N2 (Angle) and camera N1 (Center).

All this guarantees the video judge maximum information for making the right decision.

The mounting of behind the goal cameras deserves particular mention. The camera is attached behind the glass by suction cups and is also secured by 2 special tethers, preventing camera fall in case the glass wall is broken.

Since this system has two wide-angle cameras instead of a single panoramic camera, slomo.tv customized its software for exporting video material in accordance with KHL regulations.

We are very grateful to Andrew Ladutenko who is responsible operating of our system in the Ice Palace (St. Petersburg).

Thank you, Andrey, for your help, ideas and patience!

Here is a TV report produced by 100TV about the work of the video judge in St. Petersburg Ice Palace arena.

The Beach Volleyball World Tour was held in Moscow from 26 to 31 of May. 128 teams from all over the world were competing in this Grand Slam event. For the third year broadcast of the event was provided by START.TV, which this year used its new 14-camera Full HD OB Van. Two of slomo.tv replay servers, "Simple R 662" and "Simple R 662 Plus" were used among broadcast equipment.

In recent years, increasing number of international broadcast riders require the presence of cameras with speed of more than 3x. Until recently there were only 2 cameras which met these requirements, Ikegami Hi-Motion II and Phantom by Vision Research. In 2014 another 6x-speed camera became available - LDC HS / HS-86 by Grass Valley.

In Grand Slam broadcast "Simple R 662" was used for 6-channel recording and "Simple R 662 Plus" worked with LDC HS/HS-86 camera. Both servers were networked together for sharing clips and playlists. This functionality was used to create summary using materials from all cameras. Vladimir Shirokov, president of START.TV:

"Beach volleyball is a very fast sport and creating immediate replays is very important. The "Simple R" servers in this respect are the world champions – the search on all 6 channels while playback is in progress help operators to always playout the best moments. I would also like to note that due to intuitive interface any professional operator in just 10-30 minutes of training can confidently work with the slomo.tv system. This is very convenient, because we can use local freelancers who are experienced with other replay servers."

The slomo.tv "Simple R" series are the most compact multi-channel recording and replay broadcast quality servers in the world. The 1U 35 cm, less than 6 Kg servers records up to 6 video channels with simultaneous search of all the channels and playback of 2 channels. Thanks to the 3 graphics ports the servers in addition to the main interface can provide multiviewer and Game Analyzer (telestrator) interfaces.

Among many available options for these servers are support for 3x and 6x -speed cameras, as well as 1000FPS camera HiMotion II. These features allow you to use them for sporting events of any level.

START.TV since 2004 provides video broadcasting of major international and Russian competitions for a variety of sports channels. The company's portfolio includes broadcasts of matches KHL, ULEB, Beach Volleball Grand SLAM, World Championship Taekwondo, Night League. The company has two HD OB Vans.

Thanks to advances in technology more and more decisions by referees in variety of sports with rapidly developing complex situations are made using technical means.

From May 28th to 31st in Markkleeberg, Germany at the European Championships in Canoe Slalom for the first time in the practice of canoe-slalom competitions a specialized video-judging system, videoReferee^® by slomo.tv, was used. The trial was organized by Broadcast Solutions GmbH, exclusive distributor of slomo.tv products.

Canoe Slalom is very difficult sport and it very much depends on the quality of refereeing. Competitions are held on specially constructed water course, usually not higher 3rd degree of difficulty. The 250 - 400 m track with water flow of no less than 2 m/sec usually contains 18 - 25 gates. Depending on how the canoe passes the gate, the participant can be penalized - 2 seconds for improper passing and 50 seconds for missing a gate. Passing the gate not in upright position is considered as missing the gate. The Markkleeberg venue was equipped with 25 gates and videoReferee^® was used for analyzing gate-passing controversial moments.

Debut of videoReferee^® system in Canoe Slalom competitions was more than successful. Referee team led by Colin Woodgate, was quite impressed and satisfied with the system’s ability to assist in analyzing complex situations. Next the system will be used at the World Cup 2015, which will be held September 15-20 in London.

videoReferee^®, a specialized multi-channel video recording system, is designed for on-the fly video analyzing in a variety of sports. The system can continuously record up to 11 channels of Full HD video. At the same time referee can select and search four or one channel or play one channel at different playback speed. The system allows bookmarking of interesting moments and comfortably navigates through the marks.

videoReferee^® can be interfaced with timing and/or scoreboard control equipment and display received information synchronously with video. The system is controlled by a dedicated console with a simple, convenient and intuitive interface. At the end of a sporting event it allows you to create a video report on a DVD or as HD MPEG file. Currently there are applications for ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, judo, etc.

The 22nd World Taekwondo Championship was held from 12 to 18 of May 2015 in Chelyabinsk Tractor arena. In recent years, taekwondo enjoyed increasing popularity and the event was broadcast in 80 countries. The broadcast was organized by START.TV.

START.TV Company was established in 2004 and provides video broadcasting of major international and Russian competitions as requested by a variety of sports channels.

At this competition the company used its new 14-channels Full HD OB Van equipped with 2 slomo.tv Simple R servers, capable of working with regular, 3x, 6x and Hyper-Motion cameras.

When necessary STAR.TV adds more company owned Simple R servers. Compact design and light weight of these servers makes them highly mobile and allows the available park of replay servers to be comfortably reconfigured for different production needs.

"Lightweight, compact affordable professional broadcast servers with unique capabilities and excellent customer support!" - Said company president, Vladimir Shirokov, about slomo.tv products.

Technical regulations of the World Taekwondo Championships require the use for replays SuperMotion and HyperMotion cameras, in addition to standard cameras. The slomo.tv servers support 3x and 6x speed cameras, and are integrated with 1000FPS HiMotion II camera. This feature allows you to use the slomo.tv server for showing sporting events of any level. For a detailed presentation of quick moments at production of this event the Grass Valley LDX 86 HS / XS camera was used.

For the third year Slomo.tv's regional distributor, Broadcast Solutions ME LLZ, presented on Cabsat a selection of our products. Highlights this year were the 6 channel Simple R with optional MADI/AES EBU connection. Visitors were also fascinated by the Academy servers allowing to train OB Van crews under live conditions. (Academy is capable to record and play-out an unlimited number of channels, so live recorded events can be used over and over for training sound engineers, visual mixers and certainly Slomo Operators, who can rehears a variety of situations).

But most attention was paid to videoReferee^® – the Middle East with its foible for sports is one of the key-markets for sports officiating products. The well proven in dozens of installations in international sports leagues, videoReferee^® systems are without a doubt the most sophisticated systems on the market for sports video judging.

In Siberia on the ice of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, on Sunday February 22, 2015 viewers of the Russia 2 channel and spectators witnessed very unusual hockey games. The live broadcast in such unusual circumstances was organized by our longtime partner Start TV, using Simple R server.

Despite the extreme weather conditions (temperature dropped to -26°C) the slomo.tv server due to its highly reliable design and use of SSD passed the test with flying colors. It proved that it can work in extremely cold conditions without any interruptions.

To see the stars of the world hockey play outdoors on the ice of lake Baikal was a real treat.

Intercontinental "Bank Ugra" Cup and "Friendship Cup" competitions included several matches, among them between Yekaterinburg "Neoplanu" and Montreal "Three Rivers" and between "Stars of the Night Hockey League" and "Stars of the World" team, with players from Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Finland.

Quite often in sports broadcasting the number of channels used for instant replays is greater than 6-8. In this situation, the solution is usually to have multiple servers connected in a dedicated network. Considering that one operator can work with 4 -6 channels, that also requires a sufficient number of operators.

In broadcasts of gymnastics, wrestling, track and field, where there are always several different points of attention at the same time, the comfortable for the operator number of channels is no more than 4.

An optimal solution for such situations is based on BlackJack server.

The new BlackJack AT/H12 has 12 HD SDI inputs and 4 outputs. It is 19" 56 cm 4U server with a disk subsystem based on SSD drives, providing high speed of operation and instant response to any action of all three operators.

Due to the presence of 4 graphics ports, each operator has an individual monitor with the primary interface and a built-in multiviewer. Each workplace is equipped with a dedicated remote control (Control Z). In addition, the fourth graphics port can be used for displaying multiviewer showing all 12 input channels and 3 output channels.

Each operator can simultaneously do playouts, search across all recording channels and create own clips and playlists without interfering with other operators.

All created clips and playlists are available to all operators. Also, if necessary, each operator can search not only "his", but also any of the 12 available channels.

It is worth noting that analogues solution will require a minimum of 3 servers, rack space of 15U, and still will not provide for simultaneous search across all channels.

The BlackJack AT/H12 provides superior working conditions for the operators, convenience for video engineers and significantly saves time, money and rack space. In mobile applications it also lets save up to 60 kg in shipping!