France TV delivers coverage of Paris 2024 Olympics in UHD with Imagine Communications’ SNP
France TV’s temporary MCR combined an SDI router for HD with the Selenio Network Processors to establish an ST 2110 infrastructure for UHD broadcasts at the Olympics
In the past for its coverage of the Olympic Games, France TV has built a dedicated facility at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in the host city and delivered signals back to its headquarters in Paris for distribution to viewers via over-the-air TV. However, with the 2024 Games taking place in its own backyard, the broadcaster saw a unique opportunity – it could forgo the IBC and instead use its own facilities for the event. Furthermore, to enhance the viewer experience, France TV committed to delivering its Olympic coverage in UHD.
Ahead of the Games, France TV had already decided on a major technical upgrade at its headquarters. The broadcaster planned to transition its master control room (MCR) — which runs on an SDI routing system — to a SMPTE ST 2110-based IP infrastructure. The project called for a number of gateways to bridge existing SDI equipment to the IP network, and France TV selected Imagine Communications’ Selenio Network Processor (SNP) for the task.
“We published a tender to purchase 2110 gateways for the new MCR, and after testing all the players, we had confirmation that the SNP was indeed the best tool for the job,” said Yannick Olivier, technology engineer at France TV. “The decision to utilise the platform for the transition to IP in our MCR was an easy one to make, but even more than its capabilities as a gateway, what really stands out about the SNP is its versatility.
“With four processing engines in each unit, it’s an extremely flexible solution that can be used for a variety of applications. From conversion and synchronisation to connecting facilities via JPEG XS, it can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. And to change between these applications, all you have to do is click on the UI and it automatically redoes its whole setup for the selected function. It couldn’t be easier.”
Utilising the SNP for the Paris Olympics
It’s the SNP’s versatility that made it the perfect solution for France TV’s coverage of the Paris Olympic Games. Given the sheer amount of equipment that goes into a production of this size, it was more cost effective for the broadcaster to put its MCR transition project on hold, and instead temporarily utilise the SNPs it had purchased for its Olympic broadcast.
At its headquarters, France TV created a temporary MCR for the Olympic Games, combining an SDI router for HD with the SNPs to establish an ST 2110 infrastructure for UHD broadcasts. Thirty units were deployed at the MCR, while another four were included in the playout system, and one was located at the IBC.
France TV’s Olympic setup also included two OB trucks. The UM1 truck, stationed at the broadcaster’s headquarters, was dedicated to UHD production and featured 10 SNPs. The UM2 hybrid SDI/2110 truck, located at the Stade de France, was used for coverage of athletic events and featured seven units.
The SNPs were used for a wide range of applications across the MCR, OB trucks, and IBC. Some performed conversion between SDR, HDR, UHD, ST 2110, SDI, and other formats. Some were used to downscale 2160p HDR/HLG to 1080p. Other SNPs were used for synchronisation of the wide variety of signals, including HD-SDI to ST 2110, ST 2110 to ST 2110, MADI audio to ST 2110-30, 1080p ST 2110 to SDI, 2160p ST 2110 to 12G-SDI, and more.
France TV’s Yannick Olivier receiving the Selenio Network Processor ahead of the buildout of the broadcast production facility for the Olympic Games in Paris
In the playout system, France TV also leveraged the SNP’s automatic changeover (ACO) functionality, which uses content-aware metrics to determine the health of each feed in terms of video presence and quality, caption presence, audio levels and more. The ACO function switches seamlessly between A and B feeds to maintain a consistent on-air output.
Because the link from the IBC to the Stade de France was only available in 10G, France TV took advantage of the SNP’s support for the JPEG XS codec to transmit and receive compressed UHD signals. Two units each in the UM2 truck and MCR were used for encoding and decoding JPEG XS, enabling the broadcaster to reduce latency to the bare minimum while maintaining production picture quality.
“I’m not sure how a production of this scale would have been possible without the SNP,” added Olivier. “All the units across Paris performed flawlessly and the ST 2110 infrastructure they enabled provided us with a great deal of flexibility in terms of formats and resolutions, while dramatically increasing the efficiency of our workflow. And the video quality offered to our viewers with JPEG XS was exceptional. Delivery was very fast with no latency, and it was impossible to see the difference between the native and uncompressed video.
“Furthermore, deploying this massive number of units couldn’t have been easier, as the SNP is basically plug and play. With its support for API, we were able to develop a script that could configure the units in a matter of minutes. And now that the Olympics are over, we can continue with the project of transitioning our MCR to IP. When the day comes that we no longer need the SNPs as gateways at our facility, we’ll simply push a button and put them to use for something else.”