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.
The machine room features Valley K2 media servers employed in a RAID-protected SAN.
As part of a highly collaborative workflow, every night during the 2009 baseball season, the newly renovated all-HD MLB Network facility will receive multiple feeds of every game, and select material will be ingested with statistical metadata provided by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) automatically. Dozens of production personnel will then use the equipment and networked systems to quickly edit and play to air highlight packages and short clips for a variety of shows. Working natively in HD, editors in some cases will use the Apple FCP workstations and then bring the rough-cut clips into the editing environment for finishing and playout to air.
Several Telestream FlipFactory systems have been deployed to convert files and distribute content to multiple platforms simultaneously.
Long-term archiving is stored on a Sun Microsystems StorageTek SL8500 library with initial scaling of 17,000 hours on LTO-4 tape cassettes. This archive features storage capacity for more than 30,000 hours of HD content at 100Mb/s. Content is stored using MPEG-2 I-frame only compression.
Two-way file transfers
In order to bring fans at home closer to the game, the facility will also be securely tied via fiber to all 30 MLB ballparks in the country, plus league offices and MLBAM (the division that oversees the www.mlb.com Web site). The tight integration between the parks and the network production control rooms in Secaucus will be achieved by having IP control over signal routing, camera control and server records/transfers.
Pioneering a system called “BallParkCam,” three signals from up to 15 live games as well as 48 channels of discreet audio (effect, TV audio, radio calls and foreign-language commentary) will be sent live via MPEG-4 4:2:2 AVC encoded streams to the highlights factory. A clean version recorded on-site in a server will later be sent via FTP at 100Mb/s to Secaucus for MLB Productions use and archiving. In addition, HD content with multitrack audio can be sent from Secaucus back to the ballpark for use in the scoreboard system or in the regional sports network's on-site production truck. Via IP control, MLB Network engineers will be able to adjust the bit rate as bandwidth and monitoring needs arise. HTN Communications is providing bandwidth for the BallParkCam DTM network.
Each ballpark will have between two and five robotic cameras, providing unique POV shots of the dugout, centerfield, the pressroom and both bull pens. These cameras will also be controlled via long-distance IP connection. An Evertz 7800FR HD-SDI router, AES router and signal conversion gear — all built into an equipment rack — will also be available at the ballpark. A K2 server is installed at each park to ingest the designated clean feed and highlight clips for later use.
The network is also using a massive Riedel 2000 series intercom that allows the crew, talent and guest players to communicate over IP between Secaucus and the various ballparks.
Unprecedented reach
According to Scott Griffin, vice president of engineering and technology for The Systems Group, the project became a labor of love. The team worked hard to tie together workgroups and build the necessary interfaces between the vendors' equipment. They were careful to choose scalable systems that can accommodate future growth. Griffin called the wide-ranging multilayered infrastructure, which reaches across the country, “unprecedented,” and said nothing like it has been tried before.
Michael Grotticelli regularly reports on the professional video and broadcast technology industries.
Technology at work
ADC fiber switches
AJA Video KONA3 cards
AJA Video K3Box breakout boxes
Apple Final Cut Pro software
Apple Mac Pro workstations
Apple Cinema HD displays
Autodesk Inferno and Flame image compositing systems
Avocent desktop user station
BDL Autoscript Teleprompter
Belden cable
Calrec Omega digital audio console
Calrec Hydra system
Canon XJ27X6.5BIED/P01-DFS DigiSuper lenses
Canon HJ11eX4.7BIASE ENG lenses
DNF Controls Universal Switch Panel
Evertz Quartz master control system
Evertz X-1202 HD router
Evertz Vizlink modular gear
EVS Spot Box video servers and networking platform
EVS IP Director
Fairlight audio sweetening console
FOR-A SD/HD routing switcher
Harris Nucleus network control panel
Harris (Leitch) time/date displays
Image Video displays
Lectrosonics wireless microphones
Miranda Technologies Kaleido-X multiviewers
Mohawk camera cable
Nesbit Systems MLS Preview ingest negine and proxy generator
NVision 576x1040 router,
NVision NV9605 displays
Panasonic DVCPro VTrs
PanoramaDTV LCD monitors
Probel Morpheus database management system
Probel automation system
Probel infrastucture gear
Riedel Artist digital intercom system
RTS/Telex intercom
Sachtler camera stabilizing system and tripods
Sennheiser microphones
Shure PA821 Microphones
Sony HDC 1450 HD studio cameras
Sony MVS8000G production switcher
Sony BVML230 HD monitors
Sun Microsystems Storagetek SL8500 library
Tektronix waveform audio and video monitors
Telestream FlipFactory transcoding
Thomson Grass Valley Aurora Edit HD editing platform
Thomson Grass Valley K2 HD video servers
Thomson Grass Valley storage area network
Vinten Quattro OB camera pedestals
Vizrt Viz/trio 3-D graphics platform
Ward Beck audio monitors
MLB Network:
Tony Petitti, president and CEO
Mark Haden, VP, engineering and IT
CBT Systems:
Darrell Wenhardt, president
The Systems Group:
Scott Griffin, principal, VP engineering and technology
Belinda Binkley, dir., project ops.
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