Australian Football League airs from new file-based studio

Systems integrator, Videocraft, recently completed one of its biggest projects to date – a new studio for the Australian Football League (AFL). The League invested in the facility as a result of a new rights deal, which gave scope for a forward thinking solution. AFL Media produces content for the AFL’s website, AFL clubs, corporate partners and a variety of internal departments.

The project integrates acquisition and ingest through to editing and playout in a file-based workflow that includes virtual sets and editing suites. Production uses XDCAM HD acquisition (SD is upconverted) that includes XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD 4:2:2.

The system is based around 6-channel EVS XS and 8-channel EVS XT3 servers for ingest and logging. In a big change to the AFL’s existing workflow. Videocraft also installed an EVS IP Director to control all the ingest, logging and playout, replacing and old bespoke logging system. AFL Media will use the EVS Clean Edit System for fast turnaround highlights editing,  with users sharing media across the network using EVS XStore NAS.

The EVS network itself is the key part of the entire system design, as the EVS servers manage all the studio recording and playout. A Sony XDSPD1000 professional media station is used to feed content from card-based and optical media to the EVS network.

The system also includes a 128x128 Ross Video NK3G128 router and uses a combination of Ross and Blackmagic openGear modular products.

The new studio has a Ross Carbonite 2 M/E production switcher with in-built multi-viewers, Sony HXCD70 studio cameras, Sony PVM1741 OLED monitors, RTS comms with Chromus matrix and KP32 and MKP12 keypanels and Ross XPression for on-air graphics and the virtual studio.

Videocraft integrated the signal distribution throughout the existing facility migrating incoming feeds through the new router, whilst managing the move and integrating the AFL’s existing FCP editing suites into the new facility.