Dejero app paves way for high schools to stream broadcast-quality live sports
Dejero apps have enabled The Lovett School in Atlanta to deliver its live sports event broadcasts despite the many safety protocols in place due to the ongoing pandemic.
By incorporating four Dejero LivePlus mobile apps and a WayPoint 104 receiver into its live-streaming production workflow, and connecting to the existing campus Wi-Fi infrastructure, the school is able to reduce its production crew at games from fifteen students to just two or three, meaning they can adhere to social distancing regulations while covering sporting events, a feat that could not have been achieved with their pre-pandemic setup.
The new technology was initially incorporated so that viewers of The Lovett Network, including students, parents, relatives, faculty, college recruiters, and the wider community could continue to watch Lovett games live without physically attending.
“Although social distancing was a driving concern at the time, we immediately realised that the Dejero gear could be set up in a fraction of the time versus our traditional setup,” explained parent-volunteer and coordinating producer for Lovett Network, Jim Claussen. “The students can now set-up and strike a game in one-tenth of the time it used to take because they don’t have to pull coax, power cables and haul heavy equipment up and down the countless steps at all these various stadiums and arenas. Now it’s just smartphones on lightweight tripods.”
Prior to the pandemic, their traditional production workflow required Lovett students to physically move all their technical equipment (switchers, audio boards, graphics generators and other gear) to every venue in order to produce the live stream for each event; from the swimming pool to the football field, to the baseball diamond, to the basketball courts, and so on. Now, all of this equipment stays in the school’s press box ‘control room’ where the Dejero WayPoint receives the live feeds from four smartphones using the Dejero LivePlus app. This also means that only students capturing the content need attend away games, rather than the entire production crew.
The app uses Dejero’s smart blending technology to aggregate available networks, including wired (cable/DSL/fibre broadband) and wireless (3G/4G/5G cellular, Wi-Fi, satellite) networks from multiple providers, delivering the bandwidth needed for high-quality live video transmission.
The LivePlus smartphone app is also enabling students to produce more engaging content for the viewers at home. Utilising low-cost, handheld gimbal stabilisers in conjunction with their smartphones, camera operators can now get inside team huddles during timeouts, follow players from the locker rooms to the field and track swimmers alongside the pool.
Claussen added: “Using smartphones with the Dejero app, the students not only instinctively know how to operate them, but are also unintimidated by the easily grasped LivePlus app interface, compared to the complexities of operating a semi-pro video camera.
“From a mobility perspective, the Dejero gear has opened up a world of opportunity. We’re considering using the LivePlus apps’ ability to blend cellular networks in order to produce formerly impractical programming like cross-country running and golf. From an ease of use perspective, it also encourages more of our students to hone broadcasting and journalism skills for potential college scholarships in those disciplines.”