Bexel Brings Hockey to Life for Canadian Viewers with First Ever NHL Game Broadcast in 3D
BURBANK, CA, December 16, 2010 – When the puck dropped on Saturday night, December 11, Bexel and its BBSOne 3D Mobile Production Facility were there to broadcast Canada’s first ever “Hockey Night in Canada” in 3D for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The CBC, which serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster for Canada, wanted to make Canadian television history and so it turned to Bexel, a unit of the Vitec Group’s Services Division, to help make its monumental live 3D production go off without a glitch.
With its custom-equipped BBSOne 3D Mobile Production Facility parked outside the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, to capture the Montreal Canadians visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bexel made Canada’s first live hockey game broadcast in 3D come alive for millions of passionate hockey fans at home. The game was made available in the United States via the National Hockey League’s (NHL) U.S. television network.
Craig Schiller, vice president and general manager of Bexel, says, “Bexel was very excited to be asked to participate in such a revolutionary television event for Canada. There’s nothing more Canadian than hockey and the fact that Bexel helped to bring this kind of ground-breaking experience to Canadian hockey fans nationwide is exceptionally rewarding for our company.”
Produced using mostly Panasonic equipment, including rigs, 3D HD cameras and 3D production monitors, Bexel’s BBSOne was modified especially for this event. Bexel utilized four custom-integrated 3D 3Ality rigs (two TS-2’s and two TS-4’s) configured for capturing game coverage at a variety of vantage points in the arena, as well as to capture the thrilling action from the corners of the rink itself. Also set-up were four EVS XT[2] 6 channel HD servers, one EVS Spot Box, one EVS XFile, two Sony SRW-5800 recorders/players, a Chyron HyperX³ On-Air Graphics System and two Panasonic 3DA1 3D handheld cameras connected via a custom fiber system back to BBSOne. The 3DA1s had a number of fiber drops set-up in team tunnels, the broadcasting booth and hallways. A 3D monitor was set-up for on-air talent to use during the broadcast and a number of discrete transmission paths were configured to accommodate all broadcast outlets, such as Comcast and Rogers.
Sherali Najak, senior producer of CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada,” says, “This was our first venture into 3D production and Bexel’s crew did a great job with organizing us. Onsite they were professional and their expertise truly surpassed all of our expectations.”
Bexel takes pride in creating cutting edge, state-of-the-art, modern solutions for its customers and CBC’s first venture into 3D live sports production was a huge achievement for the company.
CBC’s director of mobile production, Dale Smith, says, “We chose Bexel for this project because of the level of commitment it gives to its customers. The engineers on-site were dedicated to helping us and to working to find the perfect 3D integration for our system and our fans.”
Bexel’s BBSOne truck has been redesigned as a fully configurable production environment and can be set-up for mid-level 2D or 3D productions.
About Bexel
Bexel is the pre-eminent worldwide provider of broadcast services including video and audio equipment rentals, fiber services, new audio sales, used equipment sales, and repairs/maintenance. Bexel provides brilliantly designed and flawlessly executed systems and solutions to all customers – including producers of the biggest and most important televised events in the world. For more information, visit www.bexel.com.
A Snapshot of The Vitec Group
Vitec is an international Group principally serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military, aerospace and government (MAG) markets. Listed on the London Stock Exchange with 2009 revenue of £315 million, Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers worldwide rely. Vitec is organised in three divisions: Imaging & Staging, Videocom and Services.
Imaging & Staging designs, manufactures and distributes equipment and accessories for photography, video and events.
Videocom designs and distributes systems and products used in broadcasting and live entertainment, film and video production and MAG.
Services provides equipment rental, workflow design and technical support for camera, video, audio, fibre optic and wireless technology used by TV production teams and film crews.
More information can be found at www.vitecgroup.com.
