Bexel and its BBSOne 3-D mobile production facility helped broadcast Canada's first "Hockey Night in Canada" in 3-D for the CBC Dec. 11.
Used at the U.S. Open for its inaugural 3-D production, the BBSOne is a reconfigured production trailer that can be brought onto virtually any site and be seamlessly integrated into all types of projects.
The CBC used Bexel’s BBSOne portable facility parked outside the Air Canada Center in Toronto to capture the Montreal Canadians visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was made available in the United States via the NHL’s U.S. TV network.
Bexel's BBSOne was modified especially for this event with a variety of Panasonic 3DA1 HD cameras and 3-D production monitors. Bexel also used four 3Ality 3-D camera rigs (two TS-2s and two TS-4s) configured to capture game coverage at a variety of vantage points in the arena as well as to capture the action from the corners of the rink itself.
The production also employed four EVS XT[2] six-channel HD servers, one EVS Spot Box, one EVS XFile, two Sony SRW-5800 recorders/players, a Chyron HyperX on-air graphics system and two Panasonic 3DA1 3-D handheld cameras connected via a custom fiber system back to BBSOne. The 3DA1 camcorders had a number of fiber drops set up in team tunnels, the broadcasting booth and hallways.
A 3-D monitor also was set up for on-air talent to use during the broadcast, and a number of discrete transmission paths were configured to accommodate all broadcast outlets, including Comcast and Rogers.
Bexel's BBSOne truck has been redesigned as a fully configurable production environment and can be set up for midlevel 2-D or 3-D HD productions.