GRASS VALLEY, Calif.—Arena TV employed AJA Video’s FS-HDR, FS4 and Hi5-4K-Plus Mini-Converters as it delivered a simultaneous HDR and SDR feed of this year’s FA Cup Final.
According to Dafydd Rees, deputy director of Arena TV, the broadcast of English football’s showcase event was the culmination of three years of work between the BBC, Arena and AJA. “FS-HDR was the key to unlocking the entire concept, giving us the highest possible quality HDR up- and down-mapping to bring audiences much more dynamic HDR and SDR pictures,” he said.
The workflow began with Grass Valley cameras that output the main feeds in HLG or PQ HDR. 3G-SDI outputs were then fed into AJA FS-HDR for conversion to SDR for shading. For replays, slowed down replay materials were fed through FS-HDR for pass-on for simultaneous SDR and HDR output.
Additional materials that required HD to 4K up conversion were then run through an AJA FS4 to ensure pristine 4K output. Pre-recorded SDR materials were fed from an EVS device to an FS-HDR for SDR to HDR transformations. After the content was routed through other equipment, an AJA Hi5-4K-Plus enabled SDI to 4K HDR HDMI monitoring.
“We picked FS-HDR because we know AJA FS gear is reliable, plus FS-HDR’s dual power supplies also give us redundancy,” added Rees.
Arena TV said it intends to refine its single HDR workflow concept with each new project.
