Avid's Deko 3000
Nov 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY L. T. MARTIN
For its coverage of the X Games 12, ESPN chose the system for its eXceptional graphics.
This summer's X Games 12 continued the tradition of living on the cutting edge of sports. After all, that's why this spectacular display of speed, skill and daring produced by ESPN is called the X Games. (The “X” stands for extreme.) But as exciting as is to see someone doing a double backflip on a motorcycle or taking a header off a vertical pipe, the video production behind this four-day sports spectacular pushes the envelope of broadcasting possibilities.
From Aug. 3-6, ESPN and ABC provided 18 hours of live programming. X Games fans could also tune into 19 other delivery outlets, including wirelessly over ESPN Mobile, online at EXPN.com and in Spanish on the ESPN Deportes network. There was even a pay-per-view post-games special, “X Games Xtended,” that exclusively presented a new medal event, the BMX Big Air competition. Fans could even monitor the event interactively for two hours each night on the DISH Network's DishHOME channel 100, where they could choose from six camera feeds in a mosaic format to select the angle they liked best.
Almost 17 million viewers tuned into this summer's live X Games telecasts on ESPN. That's up 3 percent from the 16.4 million viewers who watched it last year. Portions of the X Games were also televised live on ESPN International to more than 78 countries and territories in the Pacific Rim, Middle East and Africa.
High-intensity SD
The complexity of the live BMX freestyle, Moto X, skateboard, surfing and rally car racing competitions made this the second biggest televised sports event — right behind the Olympic Games. Most of the competition's events took place in the Los Angeles area, including at the STAPLES Center and the Home Depot Center, with surfing from Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Paul DiPietro, senior director of remote operations, developed the technical plan to execute ESPN's production needs with the help of his team of 400 operators and technicians. All of the production infrastructure shoehorned into the Home Depot Center stadium broadcast operations hub was provided by National Mobile Television (NMT). This included a 96 × 96 Grass Valley Venus SDI router, with 40 external intercom panels; an Adams Digital Intercom Matrix, with 25 external intercom panels; and a 28-channel MATV system. NMT also provided the production with complete monitoring of feeds from all three event venues, as well as incoming material from the Super Shooter 25 remote truck provided by NEP.
Even though many of the cameras were shooting high definition for archiving and future repurposing, this year's X Games 12 broadcast was all standard definition. It was simply too large an undertaking to upgrade the more than 70 cameras, 50 tape decks and EVS servers, and 14 linear and nonlinear edit bays.
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