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Blackmagic & Sky TV Broadcast Live Water Polo Junior Olympics
Sky TV webcasters handled a live broadcast of the 2012 USA Water Polo Junior Olympics 
using a workflow based on Sony HD cameras and Blackmagic Design ATEM switchers.
| On July 31 and August 5, Sky TV live streamed the Gold and Platinum Division Championship games from two separate pools in Stanford University’s Avery Aquatics Centre in California, where the USA national water polo team plays. Spectators were able to watch the action on various screens and a jumbotron throughout the Stanford facility, and remote viewers viewed the games as they happened via Sky TV’s online portal. | |
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| As well as managing the broadcast, Sky TV shot both complete championships in HD, with each camera equipped with Blackmagic Battery Converters HDMI to SDI and connected to Intensity Shuttles to capture ingested video feeds. They used Sony NX5s and two Contour+ cameras to capture a wide angle behind each goal in a five-camera set-up and overlays from a separate graphics generator. | |
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| An ATEM Television Studio was used to broadcast and stream the Gold Division games taking place in the smaller of the two pools live to the Internet. The Platinum Division games were broadcast via the ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher, adding time and player statistics graphics, plus picture-in-picture close ups of fast break action and live shots of the crowd’s reaction. Both ATEM switchers were used to patch play by play audio commentary into the broadcast, for remote viewers. | |
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The Intensity Shuttle is a portable, external capture and playback card for 10 bit HD/SD editing on USB 3.0 computers. Broadcasters have access to 10 bit HDMI, analog component, composite and s-video capture and playback. Because input connections are on one side and outputs are on the other, the card can be plugged inline with the system cables. It also powers from the USB 3.0 connection so extra power supplies are not required. Sky TV has also captured the HD recording of both games with the HyperDeck Shuttle in order to create Blu-ray and DVD discs for distribution. As a water polo veteran himself, Derek Byrd of Sky TV regards the broadcast as a way to increase awareness of the sport, which has been gaining followers. www.blackmagicdesign.com |
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