News
The party’s over: Curtain to fall on ABC Sports' “Monday Night Football”
Dec 22, 2005 11:54 AM
 After 36 years, the ABC Sports' production of “Monday Night Football” will end Dec. 26. The show debuted Sept. 21, 1970, with coverage of the Cleveland Browns defeating the New York Jets show here. Photo courtesy of ABC photo archives. |
Winner of the 2005 Sports Emmy for Best Live Series, “Monday Night Football” is the longest-running prime-time sports series in television history.
Since first airing Sept. 21, 1970, when the Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets 31-21, “Monday Night Football” has been an innovator in the production of football. Under the guidance of producer Roone Arledge, the show changed how the NFL was presented on television. Among his innovations were a three-man commentator booth; doubling the number of cameras used to cover a game, replays and graphics; and of course, Howard Cosell.
“Monday Night Football” will remain under the Disney umbrella when it moves to ESPN next season. Jay Rothman and Chip Dean will take the reins of the show in 2006. The ESPN Sports Emmy Award-winning NFL producer-director duo has worked on the network’s “Sunday Night Football” since 2001.
CBS Sports enlists Harris to support HD college basketball production
Dec 22, 2005 12:00 PM
Harris is sponsoring HDTV coverage of CBS Sports’ NCAA Basketball "Game of the Week" for the first time and the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for a third consecutive year.
The CBS Sports began HD coverage of the "Game of the Week" with Duke vs. Texas game Dec. 10, 2005. It will continue for the remainder of the regular-season. In addition, Harris and CBS Sports will present Conference Championship Weekend March 11-12 in HDTV. Six of those games will be broadcast in HDTV, including the Conference USA, Pac-10, SEC and Big Ten Championships.
HD coverage of the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament will include 24 HD games from four of the eight first round sites on March 16-19. This marks the second consecutive year that HD games will have originated from four first round sites. It also will be the second consecutive time all 12 games from the four regional sites will air in HD.
CBS Sports will air the two national semi-final games and the National Championship Game in high definition for the seventh consecutive year.
The telecasts, which will be presented live by CBS Sports, will be unified productions produced in 1080i HD and downconverted for the CBS Television Network's analog broadcast coverage. All HD games will be broadcast in 5.1 channel surround sound.
In total, CBS Sports will produce 58 regular season and tournament games in HDTV this season.
Teleproduction
NEP to play significant role in HD bowl season coverage
Dec 22, 2005 12:02 PM
NEP Supershooters will help ABC Sports HD cover two of its high-profile college bowl games with two of its HD-capable mobile production trucks packed. Both HD trucks rely on Grass Valley LDK 6000 mk II WorldCam HD cameras, XtenDD and Kalypso Duo switchers, and Trinix and Concerto Series routing switchers.
NEP will send its 53ft-long SS-19 truck to produce the pre-game show for ABC Sports telecast of The Rose Bowl on Jan. 4, 2006, in Pasadena, CA. The SS-19, which hit the road for the first time in August, carries 10 LDK 6000 mk II WorldCam HD cameras and a Kalypso Duo HD switcher, which was upgraded from a Kalypso SD switcher.
The veteran mobile production company will also send its SS-26 HD truck to Atlanta to cover the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Dec. 30 and the Nokia Sugar Bowl Jan. 2, 2006. The SS-25 is a 53ft-long production studio on wheels, which carries 22 Grass Valley LDK 6000 mk II WorldCam HD cameras and base stations, as well as an XtenDD 35 switcher with 90 inputs. The truck is based around a Grass Valley Trinix 160x128 HD video router, a Trinix 256x256 SD router and a Concerto 256x256 analog/AES audio router.
The coverage of these bowl games in HDTV is part of a larger initiative by ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ABC Sports HD to offer 24 of the 25 post-season college football bowl games in HDTV between Dec. 20, 2005, and Jan. 4, 2006. ESPN’s Bowl Road Trip kicked off on Dec. 20 with the New Orleans Bowl and will continue with the Capital One Bowl Week Dec. 26. It will conclude Jan. 4 with the BCS national championship game on ABC Sports HD from the Rose Bowl.
In addition to the college bowl games, NEP Supershooters’ SS-26, SS-20, SS-18 and Silver production trucks will be onsite at Ford Field in Detroit, MI, to help cover Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5, 2006, in SD and HD. All the trucks are equipped with Grass Valley Kalypso HD switchers, except SS26 which carries a Grass Valley XtenHD switcher. In total these trucks will also bring 64 Grass ValleyLDK 6000 mk II WorldCam HD cameras and eight Grass Valley LDK 6200 Super SloMo cameras, though not all will be used by ABC.
For more information, visit: www.grassvalley.com and http://guardian.nepinc.com.
NMT prepares for HD graphics demand
Dec 22, 2005 12:04 PM
To prepare for the expected demand of HD graphics in the coming year, National Mobile Television (NMT) purchased seven Chyron Duet HyperX HD/SD units for regional and national live sports coverage.
NMT will provide the systems for FOX Sports and MSG Network coverage, including special events with the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and Miami Heat.
The most of the seven HyperX units are being installed on MNT’s HD trucks so the company will be prepared when its customers convert to HD. HyperX SD systems can be upgraded easily to HD. Currently, NMT uses 22 Chyron character generators, including 11 Duet HyperX HD/SD units and 11 Duet LEX units.
Currently, all of the systems are run in SD mode; however, NMT anticipates that within a year Major League Baseball and NFL coverage will require HD graphics.
The Duet HyperX HD/SD features HD/SD-switchable channels and 3-D creation and animation capabilities. According to NMT, both ESPN and FOX Sports are using the Duet HyperX during the production of all of their events.
For more information, visit www.chyron.com and www.nmtv.com.
Low-delay HD wireless camera system gets high marks during MNF
Dec 22, 2005 12:10 PM
 AVS demonstrated the low delay digital wireless camera system from Link Research during the ABC Sports production of “Monday Night Football” Dec. 12. |
AVS married the Link Research LinkHD system to a Thomson LDK 6000 camera for the demonstration. The system offered full camera control functionality and was integrated into NEP Super Shooter 26 using the existing Thomson video control panel.
Fastbreak
The latest happenings from around the world of sports
Dec 22, 2005 12:14 PM
Feist launches Vegas Sports
Proline TV producer Jim Feist has launched Vegas Sports TV and Vegas Sports Radio, a new digital media network that will cover sports with a “Vegas perspective,” according to a press announcement.
The new venture will distribute content via Sirius Satellite Radio, online webcasting, streaming audio and podcasting.
For more information, visit www.vegassportstv.com and www.vegassportsradio.com.
Winnercomm names Kidd COO
Winnercomm has named Marc Kidd as executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Kidd, 47, was most recently president of The Kidd Group, a sports marketing and strategic planning consultancy based in Dallas. Winnercomm is an independent sports production, program development, marketing services and sales representation company.
FOX Sports promotes Mulcahy, Jim Burnette to executive VP posts
FOX Sports has promoted Neil Mulcahy to the post of executive vice president of sports sales and Jim Burnette to the position of executive vice president of sports strategy and marketing.
TriggerNews Private Label to provide desktop Olympic alerts
NBCOlympics.com has selected News Technologies’ TriggerNews Private Label as its alerting platform of choice for sending real-time Winter Olympics alerts to user's desktops.
The application will be available on the NBCOlympics.com Web site beginning Jan. 1, 2006. It will let users select only those events they want to receive desktop alerts about and then allow them to click through back to the NBCOlympics.com Web site to read the full story.
For more information, visit www.triggernews.com/pl.
WorldNow chooses TSN
WorldNow has selected The Sports Network (TSN) as a primary source of real-time sports wire services for many of the local media sites across the country supported by WorldNow and the Local Media Network.
The company provides clients with coverage of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, golf, tennis, auto racing, boxing, Major League Soccer, international soccer and horse racing events.
Sports Products
The DR Group designs Final Cut Pro facility for the HorseTV Channel
Dec 22, 2005 12:24 PM
Final Cut Pro facility design experts, the DR Group, have completed a new Final Cut Pro facility for Horse TV Media Group. The new facility allows for up to 12 FCP workstations to run off the channel's 4 Facilis Terrablock SANs.
The facility and workstations, fully designed and implemented in one month by DR Consulting, are the first phase in a multiphase project. The initial design encompasses 10 Final Cut Pro stations interconnected by fiber channel to enable media sharing and serial digital interface cables, which allows for digital transmission of broadcast-quality video and audio between the creative workstations. The 4 Facilis Terrablock SANs encompass 30TB of digital storage space.
For more information, visit www.thedrgroup.com.
Betanews upgrades OB van with Kahuna
Dec 22, 2005 12:30 PM
Italy's Betanews has purchased its second Snell & Wilcox SD/HD Kahuna production switcher to upgrade one of the existing SD outside broadcast vehicles in its fleet to full HD operation. The move follows the installation of a 4-M/E SD/HD Kahuna in Betanews' new flagship OB vehicle, Esterna 10.
Betanews' new Kahuna multiformat production switcher features two mix/effects banks. The switcher's mainframe is a compact 11RU. In addition to low weight, power consumption and heat generation, all of which are key issues for space and weight constrained OB vehicles, the Kahuna features simultaneous HD and SD output capabilities from the same mainframe and control panel. For more information, visit www.snellwilcox.com.
QuStream closes Fortel acquisition
Dec 22, 2005 12:43 PM
QuStream has acquired Fortel DTV. According to the company, its strategy is to expand its product portfolio through development and acquisition.
Fortel designs, manufactures and sells audio and video signal processing products. Fortel's portfolio of audio and video signal conversion and synchronization products, digital processing and integrated control systems are complementary to the sale of routing and switcher products.
Virgil Lowe, a founder of Fortel, is taking on the role of chief technology officer for QuStream. QuStream is the parent company of PESA Switching Systems.
For more information, visit www.qustream.com, www.pesa.com and www.forteldtv.com.
Canopus to offer PCI Express Version of EDIUS NX
Dec 22, 2005 12:46 PM
Canopus has announced a new PCI Express-based EDIUS NX real-time mixed HD/SD video editing solution that takes advantage of new dual-core CPU computer systems with PCIe interfaces.
EDIUS NX offers a tightly integrated NLE software and hardware solution. At the heart of the EDIUS NX is the EDIUS Pro NLE editing software, which provides real-time, mixed-format editing of uncompressed SD, HD, HDV, DV, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 formats. EDIUS Pro delivers increased quality and real-time performance through the company's variable-bit rate Canopus HQ codec.
EDIUS NX with PCI Express compatibility includes professional features, such as real-time HQ batch capture from 1080i and 720p HDV cameras and decks, including the new Canon XL H1 24fps HD camcorder and JVC GY-HD100U full resolution ProHD progressive camcorder.
For more information, visit www.canopus.com.
Panasonic delivers handheld HD solid-state storage camera
Dec 22, 2005 12:48 PM
 The AG-HVX200 is equipped with a MiniDV tape drive for shooting 4:3 and 16:9 images onto DV tape in 60i, 30p and 24p. |
The camcorder captures video in 21 video formats, recording in both 1080i and 720p at 100Mb/s DVCPRO HD. The format offers users cost-effective, intra-frame compression, and full 4:2:2 color sampling. Video is recorded onto P2 cards as IT-friendly MXF files in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; in 50Mb/s DVCPRO50 and in 25Mb/s DVCPRO or DV.
Using two of Panasonic’s new 8GB P2 cards, the AG-HVX200 provides 64 minutes of record time in DVCPRO or DV; 40 minutes in 720p, 32 minutes in DVCPRO50; and 16 minutes in 1080/60i and 720/60p.
The HD and SD video recorded on the P2 card can be downloaded to a nonlinear editing system or server, or edited virtually instantly from the P2 card through an IEEE 1394 or USB 2.0 interface. The AG-HVX200 is also equipped with a MiniDV tape drive for shooting 4:3 and 16:9 images onto DV tape in 60i, 30p and 24p.
With two P2 card slots, a shooter has hot-swap capability and a loop-recording feature. To prevent missing the start of a press conference or event, the camera can be preset to pre-record (up to seven seconds in DVCPRO and three seconds in DVCPRO HD.
The camera captures images at any of 11 rates between 12fps and 60fps. By using the camera to play back the recording at the normal rate, the shooter can preview the off-speed effect right on the spot, without the need for a frame rate converter.
The camera can downconvert off-speed recordings in 720p from a P2 card and copy it to a MiniDV tape. This allows the user to create special off-speed effects during DV production - a technique previously possible only with a complete VariCam system.
The AG-HVX200 offers eight gamma modes including Cine-Like gamma, and for newsgathering, a news gamma curve. This setting assists a news photographer by allowing him to suppress over-saturated highlight areas during sudden contrast changes.
The AG-HVX200 uses native progressive 16:9 1/3in, 3-CCD optical block and a wide-angle, 13X Leica Dicomar HD lens with optical image stabilization. The lens covers a wide range from 4.2mm to 55mm.
In the wide-screen mode, the 3.5in LCD monitor can display images in letterbox, which places vital camera operating information in areas above and below the active image area. In addition, the LCD permits the shooter to view and select thumbnail clips to speed editing, and allows random access to the thumbnail-displayed scenes (from the P2 card) for instant playback and the creation of an in-camera storyboard.
Audio is supported with four-channel non-compressed 48KHz/16-bit digital processing in DVCPRO HD and DVCPRO50 and two channels in DVCPRO and DV. Interfaces include IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0, two XLR audio (with +48 volt phantom power) inputs, a component (D4) output, composite I/O, S-video I/O, audio (RCA) I/O, and headphone. Panasonic also announced that Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Avid’s Newscutter XP, Newscutter Adrenaline FX and Xpress HD, and Canopus Edius HD are supporting the camera with complete P2 editing solutions.
For more information on the AG-HVX200, visit www.panasonic.com/hvx200.
