TSG 1899 Hoffenheim teams with Blackmagic Design for live broadcast overhaul
German Bundesliga football club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, has overhauled its own production and live broadcast capabilities with the implementation of a Blackmagic Design-based UltraHD 4K solution.
Following its third place finish in last season’s Bundesliga, the club achieved an automatic, first-time qualification for the UEFA Champions League 2018-19. Prompted by this, the production team at TSG wanted to overhaul its existing SD infrastructure, and improve its streaming platform, TSG.TV.
Enlisting the help of production partner GBMS, the club’s new workflow was developed around the ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K and a pair of ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panels, used in tandem to produce multiple live programme mixes simultaneously. As well as big screen coverage for spectators in the PreZero Arena, the programme mixes include behind the scenes infotainment, statistics and graphics which are sent to LED screens distributed throughout the public areas and to the business club.
According to Maurice Gundt at GBMS: “Whatever we implemented for TSG had to streamline and simplify its video workflows while improving handling for higher resolution formats and general system usability. That meant a complete modernisation of the club’s existing infrastructure. From a technical and financial standpoint, Blackmagic Design was the obvious choice.”
There are always external broadcasters at the stadium on a match day and so TSG wanted to have a system in place that could match that level of broadcast quality. Gundt added: “And a series of Mini Converter Optical Fibre 12G allows TSG to take a clean feed from those external broadcasters, and seamlessly work those pictures into the club’s own production mix.”
GMBS has also developed a small portable production unit (PPU) for the club, featuring an ATEM Television Studio HD, HyperDeck Studio Mini and Blackmagic Web Presenter, to cover away matches, press conferences, training updates and information, by sending feeds via Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to Facebook and YouTube simultaneously.
The 4K solution now in place at TSG’s PreZero Arena affords far greater flexibility, as external events and corporate clients can now come in and make use of the stadium’s inhouse video resources. “We added an extra edit seat to accommodate a larger team, but the technical specification of the workflow means TSG is fully prepared for any event requirements,” said Frank Briel, general manager at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
“We have been really impressed with the quality of content production that can be achieved with the solution, not only within the stadium but also out on the road,” concluded Briel.
Holger Kliem, head of media and PR at TSG added: “Wherever we are in the world, we can be assured of consistent and high quality production capabilities, thanks to Blackmagic Design, which our fans across the world can immediately access.”