Host broadcaster HBS captures World Cup in 3-D for international broadcasters
Jun 10, 2010 6:23 PM, By Michael Grotticelli
HBS will oversee production of both 2-D and 3-D HD telecasts of the World Cup tournament, although they will be handled separately.
Switzerland's Host Broadcast Services (HBS), the official host broadcaster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (as well as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil), is producing virtually all of the high-definition coverage and providing unilateral HD production, transmission, commentary facilities and associated services for world broadcasters.
This year, it has designed, built and installed most of the equipment at the 30,000sq-ft International Broadcast Center (IBC) and the multilateral and unilateral broadcast facilities at every venue in South Africa. More than 30 HD cameras will be used per game for the 2-D production (only 25 cameras were used in the 2006 World Cup).
For most of the 3-D coverage, which will be used by a variety of international broadcasters, including ESPN in the United States, HBS is working with 3-D production specialists Can Communicate, which will deploy dozens of Sony HDC-1500 HD cameras and a total of 32 Canon HJ22ex7.6B portable HD ENG lenses mounted on Element Technica 3-D rigs. Sony 3-D processors will be employed to manipulate the convergence of the dual-camera (left eye/right eye) images.
Can Communicate will use a minimum of seven 3-D cameras for each match, supported by production trucks from Telegenic (UK) and AMP VisualTV (France) that were airlifted to South Africa.
Canon lenses, like the HJ22ex7.6BIRSE-IASE, will be used for 2-D and 3-D content acquisition.
Two redundant 3-D signals will be sent via satellite to European theaters and homes via London using eight International Datacasting encoders (two at each of four venues) with integrated Sensio Technologies 3-D processing.
These rigs will be placed within strategic venues, including the newly renovated Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg where the opening ceremonies will take place.
HBS' entire operation will involve more than 2000 staff from 50 countries, and more than 1000 will be employed locally in South Africa. More than 350 interns will benefit from a significant investment in training.
As the host broadcaster, HBS will produce 15 distinct feeds, generating 2200 hours of 3-D and HD coverage combined.
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