European outside broadcast production company Alfacam is working with Panasonic, Eurosport and the French Tennis Federation to broadcast all of the French Open tennis matches from the Roland Garros Centre Court live in 3-D. The renowned tennis tournament runs from May 22 to June 5.
Alfacam will use Kronomav mirror (“beam splitter”) 3-D camera rigs, equipped with Grass Valley LDK 8000 HD cameras and Canon HD lenses. The production will also make use of the Panasonic AG-3DP1 and AG-3DA1 3-D camcorders.
Satellite TV providers Astra and Eutelsat will deliver the 3-D signal to Canal Digital (Scandinavia), Cyfra + (Poland), Swisscom (Switzerland) and Virgin Media (UK), which carry Eurosport 3-D. DirecTV will carry the matches in the United States.
As one of the largest production companies in Europe, with over 30 HD production vehicles, Alfacam said it helps produce more than 2500 live events each year — of which more than 80 percent are in HD and an ever-increasing number in 3-D.
