IBC 2016: Korean Baseball Organization enhances video replay across nine stadiums with Grass Valley
For the past two years, the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) has been relying on third-party broadcast feeds to review close plays and make important decisions that can affect the outcome of each game. With little control or consistency in this process, KBO was looking for a way to improve and standardize its video replay process across the entire organization. After evaluating its options, KBO selected nine K2 Dyno Universe Replay Systems with K2 Summit 3G media servers from Grass Valley, a Belden Brand.
KBO worked closely with SAMA GVC, Grass Valley’s channel partner in Korea, for purchase, training and service. The systems have been installed in all nine KBO stadiums across Korea and are being operated from a single remote control center in Seoul where baseball officials can review any plays as needed with complete control.
“Until now, we’ve had to ask our broadcast partners to show us the replays so we can review close calls,” says Jongwan Lee, team manager of the SPOTV operations group in charge of KBO project management. “This often caused significant delays as we requested different views, speeds or angles. Now, we can control the video feeds ourselves and use the slo-mo capability to get the necessary views. The process is much faster and the calls are more accurately reviewed, so the fan experience is much better.”
With up to five games on any single day, KBO is able to manage all the video feeds with ease. Each K2 Summit media server can ingest 12 video feeds, including a multiviewer feed and multiple channels of video, which will be patched to the central control center via an IP encoder/decoder. The central control center has access to the video sources from every stadium and can control all the feeds with fewer operators, who select any of the incoming sources for replay.
Lee adds, “The new system is enabling us to more accurately review disputed plays quickly and make the right call so the game can continue with minimal delays. By centralizing it all in one control center, we can have highly trained K2 Dyno operators who are experts at finding the right video clips and angles to make the call.”
SAMA GVC is providing service for all locations and will be able to ensure that everything runs smoothly. “This is the first sports organization in Korea adopting the server and slo-mo replay technology and it will affect all other professional sports such as basketball and volleyball,” noted Kiwhan Inn, president of SAMA GVC Inc. “I expect that all of our national sports organizations will be watching our results very closely.”
The K2 Dyno Universe is available in a 4 RU system with 24 channels or a 6 RU system with 36 channels. Both systems are optimized for 6X or 4K operation and are fully 6X and 4K switchable, using the same number of operators to reduce OPEX. What’s more, the K2 Dyno is remarkably easy to learn and use. With a highly intuitive touchscreen interface, shuttle knob and Grass Valley T-bar, operators can create engaging replays and highlight packages or play action back for officiating review. Plus, sharing content is easy with the K2 media server infrastructure and increased content/metadata integration, while K2 Dyno’s AnySpeed technology enables the smoothest playback no matter what speed.
“KBO’s needs were very specific and the K2 Dyno Universe replay system combined with the K2 Summit servers is an ideal solution for the group,” says Andrew Thornton, vice president of sales, Asia Pacific, Grass Valley. “Working with our channel partner in the area, we’ve been able to supply the perfect replay system for KBO’s centralized solution that provides exactly what is needed in all nine stadiums at any given time. It’s going to be an exciting baseball season in Korea.”