Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/491572
B r o a d c a s t e r s S h o w D a i l y W e d n e s d a y, A p r i l 1 5 , 2 0 1 5 2 2 BEXEL CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF SUPPORTING NBA ALL-STAR GAME For the past 20 years, the NBA All-Star Game would not have been the same spectacular televised experience without the innovative equipment, fiber infra- structure and technical support provided by Bexel. Having supported some of the most watched sports broadcasts in histo- ry, Bexel is equipped with the technology and solutions needed to capture com- pelling content for a worldwide audience. As Turner Sports' involvement with the NBA All-Star festivities has grown, Bexel has been entrusted each year as the primary facilities provider, supplying all the necessary resources to deliver maxi- mum coverage using the most innovative broadcast systems available. Working with TNT, NBA-TV and NBA Entertainment, Bexel provides the latest technology coupled with the strongest engineering support in the industry. This year's NBA All-Star Weekend involved Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Madison Square Garden in Manhattan; each facility required a full TV production installation. Between the two compounds, Bexel had a team of 18 people on site, ranging from engi- neers and edit technicians to operations specialists. The Madison Square Garden televi- sion compound was the larger of the two, serviced by BBS #1, Bexel's 53-foot expandable edit truck featuring numer- ous non-linear edit bays working around- the-clock, along with full-time engineer- ing support for TNT. At Barclays Center, Bexel deployed BBS #2, a 28-foot multi- purpose edit and fiber support trailer out- fitted with three edit bays and supported by expert technical engineering. For both compounds, Bexel provided four Grass Valley LDX 86 XtremeSpeed cameras coupled with K2 Dyno Replay Systems, and two Sony HDC-3300R "Split Block" camera systems to capture unique slow- motion replay shots from "above the backboard" via 8 channel EVS XT3s. In addition, Bexel managed and supported the multi-level fiber infrastructure in each venue for video distribution throughout the compounds. An incredibly robust 20-channel "shared" IPTV system was deployed at both sites and provided connectivity via existing dark fiber. At this year's NBA All-Star Game, Bexel employed a new dimension in vir- tual graphics with the Ncam camera tracking system from Ncam Technologies Ltd. An Ncam-enabled Steadicam provided real-time data in collaboration with its tracking server, providing an augmented-reality 3D effect that was layered within the images captured. Turner Sports wanted to bring fans watching from home closer to the game this year and put them virtually on the sidelines with the coaches. To serve that goal, Bexel provided a Sennheiser lava- liere microphone and a Zaxcom TRX900 digital wireless transmitter, a collaborative system that Bexel and Zaxcom designed together. Bexel was also the official provider of QT5100 PlayerMics, manufactured by Quantum5X (Q5X), which feature a unique, low-profile transmitter sewn into a spe- cially designed pocket in a player's jersey. A wire is run from the transmitter up to the collar of the jersey, where a Countryman B6 lavalier micro- phone is clipped. Turner Sports' coverage of NBA All- Star Weekend 2015 delivered significant audience totals, with more than 27.5 mil- lion viewers. With Bexel's extensive his- tory of supporting large-scale sporting competitions, clients can depend on Bexel to help bring the most exciting sports action to an ever-growing audi- ence. Discover Bexel Global Broadcast Solutions at booth #C6025. For more information, visit www.bexel.com or call 800.225.6185. CINEDECK: FNTECH OWNER'S RECORDER OF CHOICE An interview with Curt Fuglewicz, Owner, FNTECH. BSD: What projects have you used Cinedeck recorders on? CF: We've built our business around Cinedeck recorders. Our success is a direct reflection of Cinedeck's ability to push the technology curve. Cinedeck has been used on a range of popular TV pro- grams: Big Brother Canada, (Global Television), several seasons of the come- dy series The Ron James Show (CBC Television), figure skating competition Battle Of The Blades (CBC Television), cooking shows Chopped Canada (Food Network), Pressure Cooker (W Network), game shows such as Match Game (Comedy Network), award shows such as the Juno Awards, Canadian Country Music Awards and the presti- gious Canada's Walk of Fame which pays tribute to renowned Canadians' achievements. BSD: Why choose Cinedeck? CF: We have worked closely with Cinedeck for many years now, and rec- ognize that they have much better prod- ucts than many other companies today. Either their rivals don't do as much, or you might need to pay ten times the price to achieve the same functionality. Ultimately, Cinedeck's top-of-the-line products give producers the speed, effi- ciency and security they demand as they entrust their multi-million dollar produc- tions to us. BSD: Care to discuss any of specifics? CF: We're very proud of the workflow on Chopped Canada – it's very much our own unique workflow. We observed the U.S. version was still being recorded to XDCAM DISK and realized we could do much bet- ter. We invited the Canadian producers to examine our Big Brother Canada workflow, and they immedi- ately recognized the time and cost sav- ings by using Cinedeck at the core of the workflow. BSD: What was the process? CF: We built a custom equipment room and deployed 10 Cinedeck RXs + 6 Cinedeck EXs, recording 1080psf at 29.97fps from Sony 1500s. The RXs recorded XDCam50, and native Avid DNx45 direct to a custom built 96TB SAN. As with Big Brother Canada, the RXs were used in conjunction with Pronology asset management. Along with the dual recordings for editorial, the RXs were also used to simultaneously create streamable H.264 for the Pronology's web compo- nent. Throughout the day, the DNx45 proxies were copied to mobile drives while continuing to record incoming footage. Transferred proxies were dispatched to the editorial and copied to a local ISIS to be edit-ready the following morning. The speed at which we are able to have 16 camera's with 160 hours of total footage indexed and ready for offline editors the very next morning continues to astound producers and post supervi- sors. The high-res footage remained on the 96TB SAN, and was archived to LTO. When production wrapped, the SAN containing the master high-res, was relocated to editorial to support the final edit on the series. For more information about Cinedeck, stop by booth #SL15714. INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING POWERED BY ENSEQUENCE Since 2000, Ensequence has worked with nearly every major network and distribu- tor in the television industry to bring interactive advertising onto their plat- forms. According to Ensequence, interac- tive advertising has not only proven to be more effective than traditional advertis- ing, but also provides many other advan- tages with viewer response methods as well as detailed metrics. "We are fortunate to have had exten- sive experience working across multiple distribution platforms for over a decade," stated Peter Low, Ensequence President and CEO. "It is those learnings, combined with the many successful relationships developed, that gives us the credibility and knowledge to successfully execute inter- activity across all platforms." Ensequence has worked with Comcast, Dish, Verizon, Cablevision, Viacom, Turner, HBO, Showtime and many others since 2000. The company currently offers three products, all in the area of making televi- sion content more engaging and more measurable. RATINGS+ allows the view- er to interact with programming content, creating a more immersive viewer experi- ence. "The viewer is more engaged with the content and stays tuned longer as a consequence," Low said. With RAT- INGS+, a viewer might be watching a favorite program and see an icon come up that asks if they would like to learn more about a particular character. If the viewer clicks yes on their cable or smart TV remote, then a character's bio will appear. Another Ensequence product, PRO- MOTIONS+, provides programmers with a powerful set of capabilities that remind viewers of an upcoming television program or sets their DVR to record it without ever leaving their television screen. Ensequence's advanced promotion products help the pro- grammer boost ratings by making it easier for the viewer to stay in tune with their favorite programs. "What we're doing is taking the ads that they use to promote their upcoming programming, and we're making them interactive. It allows viewers to push a button on their remote when prompted by an enabled spot, automatically reminding them when that show's coming on. For example, five minutes before the show, they'll get a text reminder," said David Kline, Ensequence COO. "That's valuable to show producers, because they want people to see their programming. People that ask to be reminded are much more likely to tune in and watch that show." The third Ensequence product is ADCONNEQT+, due to launch in the first quarter of 2015. This product upgrades tel- evision advertising so that it's actionable, with an interactive prompt during the spot that can offer the viewer a brochure, a coupon or more information. This gives tel- evision advertisers the best of two worlds: they deliver to viewers the immersive and engaging advertising message that will motivate them to act, and with ADCON- NEQT+, they also get the rich metrics that digital advertising offers. "It makes that ad work more like the Internet, with rich met- rics, and we can provide that information back to the advertiser. We're making that 30-second ad much more powerful. It's giving the viewer at home a chance to respond immediately," Kline said. The opportunity to offer advertisers a marriage of viewer engagement and detailed metrics can help cable networks staunch the flow of advertising dollars leav- ing television for online media, Kline said. "This is the time now when more and more money is moving from traditional television to online video, and the reason for that is that online video gives the opportunity to interact on the computer, and it's more tar- geted. You can do those same things on the TV, and it's more potent on the TV." For more information, visit Ensequence at www.ensequence.com.