Posted by Jim Hurwitz
Since 2004, we at Telecast have been busy enabling the 3D explosion. You saw one notable product in the blockbuster hit Avatar, the production of which relied on the Fusion 3D cameras from PACE, as well as the Telecast CopperHead JT systems that were part of the camera chains.
During the past few years, we've also pioneered in the technology enabling LIVE 3D -- that is, multi-camera live (or "live-to-tape") sports and entertainment events. In this embryonic industry, we've been instrumental in developing fiber optic technology to support the talented technical teams who have produced the following 3D events:
To Date:
- U2 3D (Latin America, 2006). Noted to be "the first ever 3-D multiple-camera setup, and was shot using every digital 3-D camera and recording deck in existence at the time."
- Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds (Salt Lake, 2007)
- NBA All Star game (feb 2008)
- BCS National Championship (Jan 2009)
- NBA All Star pre-game (feb 2009)
- Black Eyed Peas (March 2010)
- Rangers and Islanders (NHL) at Madison Square Garden (March 2010)
Upcoming:
- 2010 Masters golf tournament (April 2010)
- 2010 India Premier League Cricket Finals (April 2010)
- 2010 World Cup (June 2010)
The World Cup coverage will mark the launch of "ESPN 3D," which expects to showcase at least 85 live sporting events during the first year. Among other events planned for 3D broadcast: the Summer X Games, NBA games, college basketball and college football. Initially, it will all be live (no reruns), so the network will be dark when there's no 3D event.
Since each 3D camera is essentially a custom rig with two full 
cameras on it (one for each "eye" of the stereographic signal), we are often asked about how 3D production is handled in prewired venues. Can you use triax infrastructure? Is there fiber installed? If so, is there enough fiber installed to send discrete L&R signals back to the truck? Do they have to compress the signal(s)?
The answer is that with 3D, triax can no longer be used, due to the extreme bandwidth of the signals from (and back to) the 3D camera rigs. But with fiber optics, bandwidth is not a problem. We can multiplex lots of HD onto just a few strands of fiber. If the venue isn't prewired with single mode fiber infrastructure or hybrid fiber, they'll typically pull fiber cable for the event to each 3D camera drop. Either way, the cameras on every major live 3D sports and/or entertainment shoot so far (that we know of) has used fiber optic gear to get the signals from the camera rigs back to the truck.
We have made a variety of custom products for these 3D production companies (PACE, 3ality and others) to make the 3D production possible. In addition to their 3D-specific products, the talented engineers at these top, elite 3D houses also make their own fiber optic solutions, using Telecast's off-the-shelf fiber optic products as "building blocks."
For a sneak peak of our latest solution (for an entire 3D rig with two Dual-Link HDC1500 cameras, along with all of the ancillary bi-directional data streams, and return HD/SDI on a single piece of tactical or SMPTE hybrid cable), come to our booth and ask for me. If I'm not there, ask for Eugene Baker (our CTO) and say the secret word (the astrological sign of the Twins). We'll fetch it for you.
Posted by Steve Nelson
One of our clients here in Boston is
NESN (New England Sports Network) who are a very progressive, all HD regional sports network that broadcasts the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins. NESN is unique in that their entire connectivity is accomplished over dark fiber from their headquarters in Watertown MA to Fenway Park, the Bank North Garden, and their uplink facility in Needham, MA. They needed to add an additional uncompressed 1080i program return from master control to the Garden for the Bruins Sky Suite feeds to minimize latency. All the dark fibers were in use over this 24 mile run.
Our choice was to take the existing program return fiber, add CWDM multiplexing and run both return feeds on the same strand, taking advantage of our newest
6292 series digital video cards. The 6000 series gives an end-to-end performance increase of about 6db over the 5000 series. Two new
TX6292 transmitters and a four channel CWDM mux replaced the original program return module in Master Control. At the Garden, the incoming fiber arrives at the mezzanine level studio connecting first to the CWDM mux. The program return feed then goes to a two way splitter; one leg to the studio receiver and the other to a house fiber which takes the signal to the truck bay.
The separate Garden return feed from the CWDM was also connected to a house fiber which brought the signal to the Garden frame room where the new receive module was installed to feed the HD video to the flat screens in the Sky Suites. No more three second delay between the hockey game in front of you and the picture on the flat screens.
So what about this title referring to tigers? When we got to the
Garden we discovered it was also load-in day for the Ringling Brothers Circus. Garden staff and big signs warned us to “stay off level #3” where the animals were in their cages. In our travels around the Garden to install and test, we made sure we routed well away from the “Land of Big Cats”. However, when we were working at the NESN studio above on Mezzanine level #5, all we ever heard were a couple yipping little dogs who were on the same level as the big animals. It must have been time for a CatNap. (GROAN)
Posted by Rich Cerny
Our recent success with Trio Video at Tennessee’s
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival reminds me that August 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of Woodstock ’94, which was the 25th anniversary of the festival that changed the world.
Telecast wasn’t around in 1969, since Corning didn’t invent low loss optical waveguide until the early 1970’s, and Valtec didn’t introduce the first single mode fiber cable until 1976. But in 1994, we were just introducing the
Adder when Polygram Records asked us to create the fiber optic infrastructure for Woodstock II. We jumped at the chance.
What young company wouldn’t want to participate in something like that? We turned it into a working party. Telecast made a company outing out of this, and everyone in the company got weekend backstage passes, sleeping in the RV or tents. By day, we all were supporting the fiber network between North and South stages and to the TV uplink compound. We supplied the Tac-4 cables, which Ace Audiovisual from NYC strung up on poles, and the Adders for Audio and the Vipers for Video (alliterative, aren’t we!).
We printed up multicolored tie dye t-shirts (“Official Lightpipe Gurus” and “2 more days of Love, Peace and Fiber Optics”), which we gave to the crew and dignitaries, including Al Roker and Larry “Bud” Melman (Calvert DeForest). With an audience of 350,000 people, plenty of rain and mud and not much in the way of sanitary facilities, it was clearly a mess, and we were very happy to be backstage. Yet the music was great, the sound was awesome and the event was an artistic and cultural success.
Since Woodstock, Adder audio multiplexers have become the centerpieces of your major sports broadcast productions, and we have continued to serve the pro audio community and keep our product performance keenly honed. They’re also used to broadcast our country’s top leaders and provide audio for many other high profile facilities and customers. Adders provide AV and broadcast audio for the
New Yankee Stadium, as well as sound reinforcement in opera houses and theaters around
the world. They are even used in recording studios. In 2004, Tony Bennett and k.d. lang’s CD, “
A Wonderful World”, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It was recorded using a Telecast 64 channel Adder system.
Over the last 15 years since Woodstock ’94,
Adders have evolved. They have greater capacity, more modularity, slicker remote gain and monitoring features and even better sound than ever before.
They’ve been around the block and paid their dues. There are a lot of imitators out there these days, some even trying to name their products like ours, but there is only one authentic Adder family, and it stands apart from all the rest.
Posted by Rich Cerny
In AVI-SPL's corporate blog, Jim Stokes, author of Pride of the 
Yankees, mentions the $5.7 million dollar contract for the Bronx Bomber AV project. Download Jim's complete article from Sound & Communications Magazine to see how Telecast is central to the new stadium's HD-broadcast fiber optic video and audio production.
Excerpt: "...transporting HDTV (SDI) signals over the significant distances of a sporting venue required implementation of fiberoptic transport systems
to maintain full signal integrity. Telecast Systems (Worcester MA) products provided much of the fiber transport (audio and video) used to achieve the many requirements associated with transporting video and audio signals to and from the broadcasters.
Audio and video are evident throughout the fan areas.
Benefits Of Fiber
Looking at the fundamental attributes of fiber, McConnell said, “It starts to become difficult to push video around on such long cable runs of 1200, 1500, 1800 feet to maintain HD integrity. It’s really better to transport it over fiber and keep that signal kind of pristine and revert it back to copper for somebody to use at the opposite end.”
Here’s more in-depth information regarding spfx. According to McConnell, each in-Stadium radio booth, along with the television production truck parking areas, is provided with house feeds and effects, including crowd and the aforementioned field effects and crowd noise: up to 48 various discrete feeds over a single fiber, through implementation of the Telecast Systems Fiber Transport.
In addition, the broadcaster is served analog audio in the familiar analog XLR configuration. Input into the Telecast system itself is achieved with A/D converters located throughout the Stadium near the sources, which include dugouts for effects and the PA booth for house feeds, among other source areas. The system provides the benefit of a robust distribution system for effects without the need for analog distribution amplifiers and the lengthy multiple cable counts to all locations.
Summing up, McConnell noted, “The successful outcome of a project is truly the culmination of many things visible, such as the excellent craftsmanship of those performing the work, and invisible, like those who design, engineer and plan the work well away from the jobsite itself. Although hundreds of personnel were involved over several years, it yielded to a single day when the networks arrived and interconnected their equipment for a broadcast, and the word is spread: ‘The cameras have fired and we have audio.’ Speakers are mounted behind the frieze. Play ball!”
Posted by Rich Cerny
Save a million on your athletic facilities, how? A really easy way is to share one control room among big screens in your stadium and arenas, rather than building individual ones in each venue. All it takes is a powerful fiber infrastructure, at a fraction of the cost.
Let's meet to discuss how we helped big and small schools alike; schools like Nebraska, Michigan State, Stanford, Texas A&M, Florida State, Central Florida, Alabama and dozens of others.
On June 9th and 10th college and university video professionals, along with their
conference, television, and online partners, will come together for the
first-annual College Sports Video Summit (CSVS), 
held June 9-10 at the
Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in downtown Atlanta. You will hear presentations and meet professionals from colleges, universities and sports networks.
We'll have a tabletop display there to show you how this gear works and how simple it is to install and operate. Please come and see us at this event that addresses College Sports Video like no other.