Telestream Wirecast live video streaming software is being used to connect online sailing fans worldwide with the Extreme Sailing Series.
Now in its ninth season, the adrenaline-fueled global Series has given the sport of sailing a healthy dusting-off. Bringing the action to the public with Stadium Sailing, putting guests at the heart of the battle and dramatically increasing the pace on the water, the creators of the Extreme Sailing Series have set new standards, both in terms of high level competition and sporting entertainment.
Top teams including Olympic heroes, world champions and record breakers go head to head on 40 foot, high-performance catamarans, racing just metres from the spectators on shore, while fans around the world can follow online through live HD video streaming and dynamic SAP sailing analytics.
This year, with events being staged in Singapore, Muscat, Qingdao, Cardiff, Hamburg, St Petersburg, Istanbul and Sydney, the live video streaming is an essential requirement for fans who want to keep up with all of the action on the water.
Using Telestream Wirecast, the event’s organisers stream live HD content from each race over a dedicated YouTube channel. To further enhance the visual content, 3D sailing analytics provided by SAP are embedded within the live stream.
Wirecast software enables capture, live production and encoding of live streams for broadcast to multiple servers and platforms simultaneously.
At each event, the production team has a multi-camera setup on shore and on the water with cameras capturing every moment of the racing. These feed into a central control room where the TV production takes place.
A dedicated streaming operator receives two feeds from the video production crew: one of SAP 3D Graphics and another of the live TV production of the race. They use capture cards to bring the feeds into a computer running Wirecast and then stream the event with the graphics to a Wowza cloud server and YouTube.
Liam Lavers, IT support specialist at OC Sport, said, “When we evaluated the various video streaming platforms Wirecast was the stand-out choice for us. The key for us is the ability to stream more than one HD channel to more than one location. In some of the countries that we visit, securing sufficient bandwidth is difficult and in this situation Wirecast actively monitors the output. It continually shows us our bandwidth usage and flags when we need to lower the bit-rate to improve the performance of our streams and prevent them from dropping out. Overall this leads to a much better viewer experience.”
Lavers continued, “Wirecast live streaming helps us massively since it allows us to showcase our event to a global audience using stunning quality live HD pictures, which can be accessed anywhere via the internet.”
Stand: 7.G30
