Panasonic AW-HN40H TV Technology: Guide to Sports Production - Page 18

University in Waltham, Mass., which opened its new 2,000seat arena earlier this year. The arena features a Nevco video board and a user-friendly broadcast facility, with its game stream provided via Stretch Internet. "The control room is run by students," said Mitchell, who also works for the NHL's Boston Bruins (and the NBA's Boston Celtics) at TD Garden. "The kids can learn to run replays in 5-10 minutes, which is great, because the challenge in this part of the business is getting the students involved in a learning environment and communicating as a team, with professionals," he said. The game presentation uses up to 10 cameras, with four Panasonic AW-HE130s and 40S, including two over both goals and two at each blue line; and six Panasonic P-2HD robotics for shoulder or tripod mounts, with Fujinon HA Premier series lenses. Fiber is built out to five camera locations, with the setup featuring a Blackmagic Designs 72x72 Universal router and two switchers: the NewTek TriCaster TC-1 for the broadcast and Tricaster 8000 for inside the in-house show. The two replay machines are also NewTek designs, the 3Play 4800 and the 3Play 440. nical producer of the Western Hockey League's (WHL) Regina Pats said setup at the 6,400-seat Brandt Centre is already "the standard of the league for what a video operation should be." The Pats' 10-camera show includes three hard and one wireless Sony PMW 320 cameras, plus one robocam under the score clock for on-ice shots, another in the arena's northwest corner for wideangle shots during camera switches, and two in-board cameras in the northwest and southwest bottom corners, straight back from "The challenge in this part of the business is getting the students involved in a learning environment and communicating as a team, with professionals." -John Mitchell, Digital Multimedia Solutions A production crew at Bentley University operates the robotic cameras during the games. Bentley, a member of the Atlantic Hockey collegiate conference, employs "the higher end of the more affordable equipment," said Mitchell, noting his company has done similar installs at various arenas in the northeast, that don't require more experienced crews to operate. "We used to need racks and racks of equipment to make this all work," Mitchell said. "The NewTek NDI is the largest router in the world­-without having a router. "This," he added, "is all about the future and IP video." 'THE STANDARD' In the hockey hotbed of Regina, Sask., Ryan Borowko and his crew bring junior hockey action to the locals in a broadcast facility he said is "great, and we're making it better." The tech- the face-off circles that are about six inches off the ice. There are also overhead cameras above both goals, which are replay-only. Borowko and company switch the show with a Blackmagic A-10, with the NewTek 3Play 4800 for replays. But what sets this setup apart from other WHL teams is the MotionRocket LaunchPad, an all-in-one clip server and playback source for all graphics and videos, including the scorebar atop the scoreboard, automatically. "It's one of the most unique and versatile platforms available," he said. "If you can't afford a Chyron, MotionRocket is your only other option, because you can control up to five surfaces from each machine, as well as handle data ingest from any source, be it Daktronics, OES [which is used by most WHL arenas] or Nevco." STREAMING RIGHT ALONG While these three arenas feature some of the finer facilities in organized hockey, they are somewhat the exceptions, as teams have varying equipment rosters, according to John Fiore, director of HockeyTV in Waterloo, Ontario, which streams the games from teams in about two dozen leagues. "Some teams do multicamera shoots with as many as five cameras," Fiore said, "and others just have the one camera at center ice. Some teams offer elaborate broadcasts with pre- and postgame shows, and various bonus content. That all depends on what each team can pay or how many volunteers they have available." The job of HockeyTV is "to provide the teams with necessary hardware, which is proprietary, for them to be able to stream from their buildings," he said. "No two venues are the same," Fiore said, "so whatever they are allowed to do and can do varies from team to team, venue to venue." [18] GUIDE TO SPORTS PRODUCTION | MAY 2018