Blackmagic powers coverage of Italy’s Serie A1 women’s volleyball league

AMS Multimedia, the dedicated production and post-production division of Artistica Music & Show (AMS), is relying on Blackmagic equipment to provide OB production services for the Women’s Serie A1 volleyball championship in Italy, with live coverage available via volleyballworld.tv and a host of regional broadcasters.

“The Serie A1 league is arguably one of, if not the, best volleyball championship, with the strongest players in the world,” said Gabriele Lusco, head of the business unit that cover sports events.

AMS follows the four Piedmont teams, Chieri, Cuneo, Pinerolo and Novara, in their home fixtures, which typically requires that they manage up to three separate crews for three simultaneous broadcasts.

It’s a four-camera production for each game with Blackmagic Design ATEM Studio Television Pro 4K live production switchers used for vision mixing while acquisition employs a mix of URSA Broadcast G2 and Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro cameras, with everything transported in flight cases and built for each match.

“Blackmagic’s equipment is ideal for this configuration which we have to assemble and disassemble quickly. The only challenge is that we operate from the stands instead of an OB van, so we also have to contend with excessive noise from the watching fans,” said Lusco.

“They sit so close to the director that I could ask them to switch the cameras on the video mixer for us!”

The entire workflow uses an SDI signal path, apart from a shoulder-mounted camera in the dock, which employs a Holliland 600 radio link for wireless transmission.

“We position the two 4K studio cameras up in the gantry to cover the long side of the court,” he explained. “Camera one follows the action by shooting long and is on air 85% of the time, while the second position provides the ‘colour’ during a match.”

A third position on the gantry provides a wide shot of the court and close-ups of the net. It also provides coverage of the court’s short sides and is used for replays alongside a fourth shoulder-mounted courtside position.

The broadcast gallery incorporates Blackmagic’s Video Assist 7in 12G HDR field monitors. “Its ability to handle so many different things at once makes it a great bit of tech to have around,” Lusco commented.

“We can use it on camera as a video assist monitor or to record. It can also act as a capture card for a computer and has the tools on board to test and monitor signal pathways for cameras using the Vectorscope or Histograms. It’s even helpful for those last-minute client requests such as converting an incoming SDI signal to an HDMI output for display on a monitor or jumbo screen. It’s nice to always be in a position to say yes.”

Pop up gallery

With space at a premium and the need to rig and de-rig in under two hours, a plug-and-play solution with a small footprint was at the forefront of AMS’ thinking when designing the temporary gallery workflow.

“The ATEM Television Studio 4K Pro fits our needs perfectly with the all-in-one design combining switching and control hardware. We use the ATEM’s stinger transition effect to switch between the on-court action and any instant replays, and it works perfectly,” said Lusco.

“There are eight sources typically, including four cameras, two key and fill, a replay system and the referee’s video referral feed. We then distribute the program signal to the cameras for return and control, while also sending it to an encoder for transmission and to a video assist recorder. In some arenas we also have to feed the LED wall.”

For replays, production relies on vMix Replay, while recording the camera ISO feeds directly from the camera on to SSD hard drives connected via USB-C.

The program mix is output and distributed in 1080i with the same feeds available for local TV highlights: an encoder collects and distributes the signals with content deinterlaced and streamed online in 1080p25.

“Given the logistical challenges, flexibility was an absolute priority for us, as was the ability for our crews to get in and out quickly. The practicality of the flight-case design means we can be set up and packed away in less than two hours,” he concluded.