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The main challenge in modern sports TV production is the lack of resources – financial, equipment and personnel – while there is a high consumer demand for a wide variety of sports events to be broadcast.
In the past only a limited number of major broadcasters covered all sporting events, focusing on top-level competitions. The small and medium size companies due to the high cost of equipment could not fully participate in this market.
Today, even large companies are struggling, yet the number of sports competitions and market demand continue to grow.
SLOMO.TV offers solutions for sports broadcasting with reduced resources:
- Reducing the cost of equipment and increasing its productivity. A standard server from major manufacturers takes up a lot of space, only works with 10-12 recording channels and requires two operators. SLOMO.TV has a wide range of affordable servers for every need - from 4 to 32 channels in a compact unit (1U - 4U). Their high performance and ease of use allow one operator to work with, for example, 14 3G recording channels, thus saving on human and financial resources.
- Remote production – a new feature available for all SLOMO.TV systems. This innovative solution allows video specialists to work on the live production of the sporting event from a remote location over a 50-100 Mbps bandwidth Internet channel. Ultimately, remote production allows a single specialist to cover multiple sports competitions taking place at different venues on the same day, reducing equipment transport and staff travel costs.
- The Academy. With the SLOMO.TV Academy training system for directors, broadcast producers, cameramen, replay operators, VARs and AVARs you can easily put the training of your video production specialists on stream. Live broadcast technicians are rare; it takes both a high level of responsibility and artistic vision to master all the skills required for this narrow specialization. The Academy gives you access to a large talent pool at a much lower cost than traditional training.
Thus we allow the TV companies to budget their resources while producing more high-quality sports content for consumers.
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Every year, the Sports Video Group Europe (SVG Europe), an industry association that supports the professional community that uses video, audio, and broadband technologies to produce and distribute sports content, interviews media persons and representatives of major companies in the sports video production industry about implemented projects and updates over the past year. The companies are also invited to share insights and opinions on technological trends that will affect the industry in the coming year.
Igor Vitiorets, CTO of slomo.tv, talked about the company's achievements and plans for 2024 and shared his vision on technologies development in live sports video production in the near future. You can read the 2022 interview here.
a) Please describe a couple of your sports production highlights since September 2022 – please include information about your involvement, any measurements of success, and also what it meant to your company.
Our company is confidently expanding its presence in football with VAR (Video Assistant Referee). Together with the Tajikistan Football Federation we worked on the implementation of VAR in the national championship. In addition to supplying the VAR equipment, slomo.tv specialists carried out intensive training on how to work with the system for VARs/AVARs/ROs. Thanks to the cooperation between slomo.tv and the Federation, the project was successfully completed and the VAR was officially implemented in Tajikistan.
After the official implementation of FIFA Quality certified videoReferee® VAR equipment, the Georgian Football Federation has expanded its VAR Van fleet by two more vehicles, equipping them with a full VAR sets produced by slomo.tv.
Since spectators and TV viewers want to follow the VAR reviews, all videoReferee® systems provide the video output of the referee’s interface to the broadcasters. Last year, we added RRA-MIDO - a venue information graphics function - to our VAR servers. The videoReferee® outputs VAR graphics to broadcasters and to the arena screens to keep the spectators informed of the VAR team's actions.
For basketball competitions we have developed and started production of a specialized mobile Instant Replay System (IRS). The IRS hardware in the mobile rack is installed next to the OB Van or in a technical room, and the compact videoReferee® Box is placed in the arena creating a complete workplace for a replay operator. Both units are connected via Fiber Optics cable, which allows the system modules to be installed up to 20 km apart from each other. This provides the customer with a flexible solution that works with any OB Van and allows the IRS to be installed in any arena. The referee review can be easily set up in compliance with IRS technical regulations and is also convenient for referees. A total of 14 kits were already sold.
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The pandemic and economic recession continue to reshape TV production and the television industry. During the pandemic, the entire TV industry was forced to turn towards remote production. If before 2020 industry stakeholders were aware of all the pros and cons of remote production, then in 2021 they all decided to ignore the cons, adapted and benefited from its advantages.
In the vast majority of cases, the remote production was based on H.264/265 codecs and streaming protocols like SRT, RTMP, RTSP, etc. Such solutions worked fine in those cases where video delivery time was not crucial. Some of the solutions are still in use today, even though pandemic-related restrictions have already been removed in many countries. This can serve as proof that these solutions were really needed and matched the price/performance expectations of users.
When it comes to sports video production, one of the most important parts of the modern TV world, solutions based on Long GOP MPEG-based codecs and SRT, RTMP, RTSP protocols are not suitable for use in live broadcasts because of the high latency. Using SRT/H.264 is a good example. For comfortable operation with relatively unnoticeable latency, both with control interfaces and with live two-way communication, the latency should not exceed 300 milliseconds. In fact, working with interfaces, a comfortable latency, determined by human physiology, is no more than 150 milliseconds.
In this case, a simple enough solution seems to use an intra frame codec, preferably with line-by-line coding. Such a codec is JPEG-XS, which is characterised by a very low latency: up to 32 lines. However, on the other hand, being a lightweight codec, it has a low compression rate and, therefore, a larger stream.
In order to maximise the benefits of JPEG-XS, a broadband and ultra-low latency data connection is required. Actually, the solution can be the use of network data transmission technology DWDM/λ. The Lambda (λ) is a point-to-point DWDM service, which can replace the dark fibre service and eliminate the need for repeaters between the service end-points.
The Lambda does not use TCP/IP technology or routers. This ensures that the data delivery latency is actually determined only by the speed of light propagation in the fibre optic. When using the JPEG-XS video coding standard, it is almost always possible not to exceed a comfortable latency of 150 milliseconds. For high-level video production, an important benefit is the reliability of the data transfer when using protected Lambda (λ) technology. In this case, data transfer recovery is guaranteed in no longer than 50 milliseconds.
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The idea and development of remote workplace technology began quite a long time ago. For optimal locations of the video referee workplace and the server, a proprietary system for a remote workplace was developed. It included a Full HD referee monitor with a remote console connected to a Linux-driven box. The server and remote workplace were connected using standard IP technology via gigabit LAN. When sports leagues wanted to have a centralised location capable of remotely serving sports arenas, this solution had to be modernised.
First of all, the DCT-based i-frame codec was replaced by H.264 compression, significantly reducing video data flow, which allowed for painless switching from LAN to internet. It also defined the criteria for comfortable operation of the system – ping should not exceed 200 milliseconds.
In this case the video referee does not feel the difference between working remotely or on site. (The 300 milliseconds ping is the maximum value for comfortable work). In order to meet the requirements of football VAR systems, the next step in the development of the technology was providing the signal for two monitors in the command centre from the server.
In fact, from this moment on, the technology has become fully capable of setting up a remote replay operator workplace for sports broadcasts. A Linux-driven box, which is the basis of a remote workplace, two monitors, a keyboard, a replay remote console and a high-speed internet with acceptable ping are all you need now to enable the replay operator to work from any place.
The work is possible even if ping is high enough. In this case it is recommended to do replays using GPIO interfaces.
How does it benefit the user?
During the pandemic, broadcasting companies are able to continue working while reducing the number of staff present in the studio, OB van or at the broadcast site. It also reduces the possibility of infecting personnel or those people staff come into contact with on the way to the workplace. The only requirement at the moment is to provide a fast internet connection with minimal ping from the arena to the operator’s location.
Another benefit is avoiding the usually limited space in OB vans. Sometimes it is just impossible to provide two large monitors for each replay operator. In the case of remote replay production, it is easy to place two monitors of any size at the operator’s location, while the operator works in comfortable conditions.
With this set up, the same replay functions remain available for broadcasters as with all members of the creative team in person, however the requirements for remote work are observed, there is no need to come to the studio or to the site, travel expenses are reduced.
Does this technology have a future?
This technology is not just a temporary solution while there are limitations; it will not lose its relevance after the pandemic. The idea of sending employees to remote work to reduce traffic volume, reduce costs associated with flights and hotel accommodation, rental of large OB vans, office maintenance, payment for business trips for staff is not new.
It is also worth understanding that remote replay production provides the possibility of using the same operator on the same day on two or more different events taking place in different parts of the world.
The pandemic unexpectedly contributed to making a huge step forward in remote workflow and creating the necessary infrastructure in various industries.
Switching to remote replay production allows making broadcasting and video-refereeing more cost-effective without sacrificing quality and operational speed.
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The international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling, United World Wrestling (UWW) has selected slomo.tv as its technology partner for video-refereeing in all its matches.
Based in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, UWW includes representatives from 176 national federations and its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling for men and women, as well as others.
For the last two years, UWW has been cooperating with slomo.tv on implementation of video-refereeing at its international competitions. To date, the systems have been deployed at more than 20 world competitions and will be used for Olympic cycle through 2024.
After making the decision to implement video-refereeing, UWW tested systems from various manufacturers before selecting the videoReferee®-SR. The system's compact size and lightweight was a significant factor needed to transport between competitions in many different parts of the world.
Greco-Roman, freestyle and women's wrestling competitions have unique features, so the requirements for video judging differ from other sports, such as ice hockey, basketball and handball that use the technology. It is frequent for competitions to have simultaneous matches on nearby mats, so the video-refereeing system needs to cover two mats, each with four cameras. In response, slomo.tv modified the videoReferee®-SR system, designed to work with 8 HD cameras, adding the ability to cover two independent matches with four cameras each by one compact 1U server.
