MLB Network takes viewers out to the ball game
Feb 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
The network will broadcast 26 games in 720p HD during the 2009 season.
One of two HD control rooms, leftover from the MSNBC days, has been rejuvenated with a Sony MVS-8000G HD video switcher, Miranda Kaleido-X multiviewer running on 13 Sony 42in flat-panel displays in each, and a Calrec Omega digital audio console. Both rooms will be used simultaneously during the baseball season.
Mark Haden, MLB Network's vice president of engineering and IT, said even though the system is complex in terms of its design, it helps to simplify the production process in a variety of ways. Producers and editors have simultaneous access to files stored on the nearline and offline servers, so there's no need to find the right videocassette as they have in years past. Audio and video clips can be searched and retrieved from any desktop in the building by leveraging several layers of metadata. Using Aurora Browse software, the staff can also view clips using proxy video and make rough EDLs at their desktop.
The baseball field studio features four Sony HDC-1450 HD (native 60p) cameras on Vinten Quattro OB pedestals, a mini-cam on a jib and another on a Vinten Artemis stabilized camera system. All will be used in unusual ways to give the studio an innovative look.
HD production control
Two control rooms, leftover from the MSNBC days, have been rejuvenated with a Sony MVS-8000G HD video switcher, Kaleido-X multiviewer running on 13 Sony 42in flat-panel displays in each, and a 56-fader Calrec Omega digital audio console linked by Calrec Hydra networking. Both rooms will be used simultaneously during the baseball season. The creative services department is located on the second floor and uses Vizrt 3-D graphics platforms as well as Autodesk Inferno and Flame image compositing systems. This department produces images for both the MLB Network (lower thirds, tickers, bugs, ID and promos) and its various print properties.
The master control area features an Evertz Quartz system, where bugs, a reality check ticker and commercials are inserted before the programs go out to air. A live ingest area with Thomson Grass Valley Aurora Ingest workstations supports QC as well as the recording of incoming satellite feeds.
Master control includes an Evertz Quartz system, where bugs, a reality check ticker and commercials are inserted before the programs go out to air. A live ingest area with Aurora Ingest workstations supports QC as well as the recording of incoming satellite feeds. There's also an area set aside to ingest audio and video elements that come in on tape, where multiple formats are accommodated.
Because of the massive ingest capabilities installed to handle inbound feeds, the network could have 15 games going on simultaneously. There will be a game of the week, live look-ins of other games and full highlights of all the games combined for highlight shows like “MLB Tonight” on the MLB Network. In addition, Sharp has supplied a massive 108in HD monitor on the set in Studio 3 and more than 40 other LCDs throughout the facility.
Fast turnaround
The facility includes 15 HD edit suites equipped with Thomson Grass Valley Aurora news editing software responsible for turning around content fast. The HD suites are seamlessly connected to a Grass Valley storage area network.
Sports news production relies on up-to-the-minute highlights. At the Secaucus facility, clips can be on the network (and on-air) within seconds after they actually happen. The Aurora Edit systems allow editors to begin working on clips before they're even finished being ingested into the system, making highlight turnaround lightning fast. Thousands of low-res proxy clips will be available at the touch of a button.
A total of 36 K2 media servers are employed in a RAID-protected SAN for editing and accessing/sharing thousands of audio and video clips on a daily basis. The servers are configured in two redundant paths — 18 servers for “X” SAN and 18 for “Y” SAN — with each SAN providing 1000 hours of HD storage at the highest quality (100Mb/s). There are also 10,000 hours of RAID-protected nearline storage.
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