Vislink has delivered the world’s first 4K live wireless transmission, in partnership with BT Sport and Dorna Sports. The collaboration saw BT Sport, the UK broadcasting partner of MotoGP, produce live coverage of the Octo British Grand Prix at Silverstone over the weekend in Ultra High Definition.
“Vislink has a strong heritage in sports broadcast,” said Vislink’s CTO Ashley Jackson. “Working with Dorna Sports and BT Sport to deliver a world-first for 4K live transmission is another exciting chapter in the company’s history, and the team has worked incredibly hard to develop the UltraCoder system to make this a reality. Our 4K encoding technology has played a pivotal role in strengthening our relationship with Dorna Sports and BT Sport, and the results we’ve seen from the event have far exceeded expectations.”
This is the first time a MotoGP World Championship event has been covered live in UHD. There were more than 140 HD live cameras at the Silverstone circuit at the weekend, allowing for coverage from every angle. Nineteen UHD cameras, including a high speed, super slow motion camera and the world’s first live wireless 4K cameras, provided by Vislink, were also deployed at the Championship, the largest amount ever seen at a MotoGP event.
“We are very pleased to be working with Dorna and to be the first MotoGP broadcaster in the world to bring our customers coverage of the event in Ultra High Definition,” said Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operations officer, BT Sport, ahead of the event. “Through our UHD channel, we will provide a viewing experience that is as close as possible to being trackside at Silverstone. We’ve received a very positive reaction to the 4K coverage from our customers and we are excited that the MotoGP round at Silverstone will be the fifth live event that we are able to offer on our newly launched BT Sport UHD channel.”
Also speaking before the broadcast, Manel Arroyo, managing director, TV and media area, Dorna Sports, commented: “We are really pleased that we have reached a stage where the BT Sport and Dorna production teams are working together to deliver full coverage of the GP in this new format. BT Sport is the first broadcasting partner to take advantage of 4K and Dorna Sports is excited to continue developing our Ultra High Definition offerings as more partners around the world adopt this format. We have been working with our technology partners involved in the Championship to trial 4K during the past couple of seasons. Silverstone will be a milestone event for motorsport and for MotoGP in particular, with the largest number of cameras ever seen at a GP!”
