Meeting the challenge: AJA Video Systems on streamlining production workflows to enhance the fan experience
By Bryce Button, director of product marketing, AJA Video Systems.
The continued rise of streaming and the global content boom have resulted in more choices for audiences than ever before, challenging the sports production industry to innovate in order to compete for viewers’ attention. Throughout the past year, industry innovations have helped teams produce more engaging content to enhance the fan experience, while streamlining workflows for more efficient, flexible production. What trends have been most influential in the past year, and how can we expect to see them evolve looking ahead to 2023?
To further support more engaging viewer experiences, demand for 4K UHD and HD HDR content has surged, resulting in more complex workflows in order to maintain colour accuracy throughout complex production chains. For sports broadcasters, creating and delivering high-quality HDR and SDR content from a single HDR master workflow requires powerful colour conversion, leveraging powerful colour science technologies such as those from software development company Colorfront, the Orion-Convert algorithm, and NBCU or BBC HLG LUTs to standardise on looks throughout a single live broadcast. Incorporating the latest colour processing and monitoring tools for colour managed workflows is critical for sports production professionals looking to simplify live production and streamline delivery of the highest fidelity 4K UHD and HD HDR content.
Virtual production in demand
Real-time workflows are also at the forefront, as a result of advancements in virtual production technologies. Virtual production merges real-time rendering technologies from the games industry, such as Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, with traditional live video sources and camera tracking data for a more engaging visual experience.
Virtual production will continue to be in high demand across sports and entertainment markets, providing new opportunities to expand the use and complexity of a combination of virtual sets, CG assets and real-time environments. The end result is not only cost savings, but also limitless control and creative potential. Through the use of virtual sets and real-time technologies, production teams have delivered incredible sports broadcasts that resonate with audiences and have been a draw for new viewers. These and other production innovations also offer new interactive opportunities for audiences to choose custom camera angles during live games or sports matches, or view relevant team data or player statistics while events are in progress, which over the top (OTT) streaming platforms can offer in abundance.
Key to the success for the sports market is having the ability to seamlessly merge signals from virtual sets, camera tracking data from the field and graphics applications into a cohesive final image, delivering an interactive and engaging spectacle to retain and compete for viewers in a crowded content field. To support an uptick in industry demand, new facilities are currently being built globally to expand virtual production capabilities and support new innovations in 2023 and beyond.
Remote remains
Another ongoing trend that will continue to shape the industry is remote production, also known as REMI. While the pandemic initially accelerated the need for remote production, increased workflow flexibility, enhanced collaboration and a surge in cloud services are just some of the many advantages that sports production professionals can continue to take advantage of moving forward.
Remote workflows allow reduced on-site teams to capture content at stadiums, arenas, or broadcast facilities, while globally dispersed support staff collaborate with on-site crew members in real-time from nearly any connected location. This allows production teams to utilise top talent, regardless of location, as well as save on the costs of sending all the needed production gear to on-site locations.
When working with a geographically dispersed workforce, the challenge teams face is tracking and managing media, which has become an increasingly important hurdle as production data has surged. Whether stored locally on a computer or in AWS storage buckets in the cloud, leveraging software tools to manage where all media is located is critical to expediting remote workflows.
To further keep remote teams in sync, expansion of cloud services from providers including AWS and Microsoft Azure has allowed facilities to transition from traditional on-premises infrastructure to a greater reliance on fully connected and secure cloud-based workflows. Cloud workflows that connect data and processes throughout a unified production chain – from camera to cloud, to post-production and delivery – allow global teams to more seamlessly collaborate and track and share data across every stage of production.
Additionally, the migration of baseband SDI production tools into the IP space will continue into 2023 and beyond, offering a range of different protocols and advantages for users. Growth of SMPTE 2110 for uncompressed video workflows is expanding, with more product offerings now available in the market, while NDI has witnessed an uptick, which allows production teams to transport high-quality, low-latency video across standard Ethernet infrastructure. The Dante ecosystem is another popular option that has expanded from the audio market to video, offering support for live production teams to keep video and audio in sync during IP transport.
Production facilities are likely to combine several different IP protocols in workflows, alongside existing SDI and fibre infrastructure. AJA has been at the forefront of developing gateway devices that enable the combining of SDI, IP and streaming protocols together in a unified workflow, with real-time transcode capabilities between different protocols and codecs, and real-time transforms to-and-from the baseband world. Mixing and matching various protocols in production chains helps teams optimise workflows and save costs by leveraging existing legacy tools while taking advantage of the latest IP and streaming technologies. SRT support has further made the wild west of the public internet a relatively secure and reliable transport mechanism, expanding transmission and delivery options.
Throughout the past year, we’ve witnessed strides in workflow advancements to help productions deliver high-quality content more efficiently, and it can be expected for the aforementioned industry trends to continue to develop and enhance the fan experience in the year to come.