The coverage of the 2013 World Series by Fox Sports included live 4k camera feeds. Their output, including zooming to HD, was included as part of the standard EVS server workflows.
Video equipment rental company VER provided Fox Sports with an eight channel 4k XT3 server with the EVS Epsio Zoom option. It also provided two standard eight channel XT3 networks and four six channel servers, two of which were primarily used for super slow motion replays. This was all in addition to the EVS servers carried on the outside broadcast trucks (Game Creek in Boston and NEP in St Louis).
4k functionality is a field upgrade to existing EVS XT3 servers, and provides ingest and live replays of camera feeds. Epsio Zoom allows users to scale any 16:9 region within the 4k frame to HD in realtime.
“EVS systems give us the ultra-reliable and highly efficient workflow we need for the World Series,” said Jerry Steinberg, senior vice president for technical operations at Fox Sports. “With a simple upgrade, the 4k XT3 with Epsio Zoom gives us greater clarity in replays, and enables us to zoom into a shot and still get a very high quality image.”
The additional servers were managed by the existing control networks in the two trucks, including the new LSM Connect app. This provides indexing, browsing, clip selection and playlist management on a tablet. Fox and the outside broadcast teams used multiple LSM Connect tablets alongside conventional Multicam LSM controllers.
The workflow was completed with the EVS XFile3 application for file transfer and archive. That enabled the production team to find, restore and transcode archived content, and automatically back up new material during production. All file transfers are monitored and managed from a single workstation for control and visibility.
By Dick Hobbs
