It wouldn’t be a world-class live sporting event without Grass Valley equipment to share it with the fans. Fans watching the event will witness plenty of exciting action on the fields in Qatar, but the action off-field is as exciting – well, at least for Grass Valley!

GV solutions are used at the stadium, in the remote broadcast centre, and to create localized versions at studios around the world.  

For an outstanding broadcast, media companies involved in the production and distribution of the event are using GV cameras, switchers, as well as processing and cloud technology. 

GV equipment during the action  

All the stadiums are equipped with GV K-Frame switchers and Kayenne panels to produce the in-venue video and provide the main feeds of the matches. 

Half of the stadiums have K-Frame XP C switchers fully loaded with 80 inputs, 40 outputs, and 5 M/E plus multiviewer, and the other half of the stadiums are equipped with fully loaded K-Frame XP S switchers which have 196 inputs, 96 outputs, and 9 M/E plus multiviewer.  

GV equipment for non-match content 

A centralized control room is used to produce all non-match content in 1080P. This includes match day -1, training footage, fan stories, and interviews. The feeds are coming in from various locations over fiber with a 10GB/s capacity. For this reason, 48 Grass Valley LDX 150 cameras with built-in JPEG-XS would bring the signals back to the central control room.  

The Densité platform XIP-3901 JPEG-XS modular card is used to decode these streams to SMPTE 2110 for display in the multiviewer, camera shading, and use in the production switchers.  

The final production of all matches will use three more fully loaded K-Frame XP S switchers also located in the centralized production room. Grass Valley’s Independent Suites functionality enables sharing resources in one video processor frame across four different production suites while completely isolating the resources in one suite from the other. Taking advantage of this unique ability, the three switchers in the centralized control room have each been split into four suites for a total of 12 suites. Each suite is being used for a different type of production. The main six suites each have a 2 M/E Kayenne panel, and the others are using a 1 M/E Korona panel as well as KSP software panels.   

International broadcast  

In the US, Alchemist (see Alchemist X) is used to perform frame-rate conversion of the main feeds. LDX-150 cameras and K-Frame XP production switchers are used to produce the studio shows around the world cup.  

In the Caribbean, AMPP-based GV Playout will work alongside Tata Communications’ Media Cloud to provide versions of the matches with localized commentary and advertising. Tata Communications will broadcast and stream World Cup games to over twenty countries for their client CSport: a premium OTT, cable, and FTA provider of sports and general entertainment content in the region. 

In addition to playout, the AMPP production and distribution platform accepts the outputs from the broadcast centre and makes them available to a wide range of applications running on the platform including monitoring, live commentary, video and audio mixing, editing, as well as master control. Designed specifically for live production, AMPP makes it simple to provide customized feeds for all audiences.   

For an outstanding world-class live sporting event, media companies are continuing to put their trust in Grass Valley, leading media technology provider for the media and entertainment industry.