The FIFA World Cup is fast approaching in early June this year, and is set to be the summer of sport. This will leave broadcasters with hours of content, needing to be manually reviewed to compile any post-game edited production. For both recorded and live transmissions, the ability to quickly identify key events would significantly increase time and cost efficiency. However, in the current broadcast environment this is mostly done manually, which can be very time-consuming for content producers, and due to human error some key events could be missed.
The solution to this problem is Suitcase TV’s Aqua Range, uniquely catering for fast turn-around productions. The Aqua ShotLogger module is designed for the quick identification of shots and creating quick metadata tags.
The user can swiftly locate key events, clips and interest points and save them to a recognisable timeline. This course of annotating the media content increases the video’s relevance and gives content greater repurposing possibilities; for example, all goals logged in a live TX could be pulled straight into a highlights feature. The smart GUI features user-defined, categorised templates of colour-coded keywords for easy on-screen recognition; and is particularly suited for touch-screen technology.
The beauty of the Aqua modules, including ShotLogger, are their functionality to permit multi-user and multi-region access; by generating ‘browse’ or ‘proxy’ quality content for review or quick ‘offline’ rough cut editing using another Aqua module, Splice. Trans-Atlantic tests have been carried out, streaming successfully to L.A. from Suitcase TV servers in the UK. When completed, content can be conformed to ‘online’, at full resolution suitable for TX.
This summer will be important in sports production, but with the London 2012 Olympics looming around the corner, it is more important than ever that broadcasters are prepared with the most efficient and cost effective production solutions integrated early into their workflows.
Placing Suitcase TV’s Aqua Range into a broadcast system provides an ideal end-to-end, global solution for broadcasters. The advantage to ShotLogger’s use of ‘browse’ content is the flexibility it provides for worldwide interaction, keeping television production moving continuously and seamlessly.
