LAS VEGAS—EVS brought an effusive fan to the NAB Show this year to talk about their new multiview replay system.
“This took me to super sonic speed from the stone age,” said Mike Carey, former NFL referee turned officiating commentator for CBS. He first used Xeebra—a wordplay on refs’ attire—for the Super Bowl in February.
Xeebra features touchscreen capability for bringing up multiple screen views of continuously synchronized content from up to 16 HD cameras, in real time. A dedicated controller provides extended operations for direct access to actions, tactile jog dial, and the ability to manage marked reviews at any time.
“The most important thing to me is real-time replays in several views… with multiscreens, I can do several at one time,” Carey said.
Live sports is where EVS excels, particularly in the server department. The XS3 is their latest. The XS3 expands from two to 12 channels and features wide native codec and format support for HD, UHD and 4K 1080p operations, plus key and fill functions.
The stalwart XT3 also got a makeover. EVS extended the capabilities of the XT3 6U ChannelMAX mode with a new 4U offering, creating the option to double the channel density to eight or 12 channels respectively, and beyond. ChannelMAX-enabled systems will continue to expand through Multicam engine software updates. It will also come in 4K 1080p.
EVS also brought a virtual basketball court to the NAB Show floor. The “court” leverages eight camera angles, with the feeds recorded on EVS servers and replayed on the Xeebra system. Content is sent over the cloud into devices. The EVS switching operating system will send the content to screens throughout the venue.
EVS is debuting its own OB truck setup this year to demo its latest technology for live sports capture, including its Multicam engine software.
“More than ever, we focus on live….in the stadium, in the broadcast center, in the truck,” said EVS CEO Muriel De Lathouwer.
More recent projects include streaming live multiviews to in-stadium handheld devices, used during the 28th SEA Games hosted in Singapore. Game Creek leveraged EVS technology for NASCAR coverage, and 30 EVS operators were on hand for the Super Bowl, she said.
EVS is showcasing its Ingest Funnel’s multiformat and multicodec content ingest and the DYVI IT-based switcher, upgraded with an intuitive panel, distributed architecture and scalable processor.
On the contribution side, EVS brought its C-Next platform that enables internet connections between existing live tools. The idea was to create a connectivity platform for the gear clients already have. NFL uses it and exchanges 30,000 clips a week now.
C-Next will use Ingest Funnel for ingest and transfers, via Aspera, to the International Broadcast Center in Paris, for the Euro2016 football championship in France.
With regard to IP, EVS said it is taking a hybrid approach, and also using open standards and pursuing interoperability. EVS was one of the first companies in the AIMS Alliance and is demonstrating interoperability with other members on the show floor. The company’s IP initiative is called “IP4Live.”
>
EVS also is featuring the winners of its latest C-Cast APPlied Challenge for app developers. They chose four winners—Cisco with their EMPS mobile platform for on premises viewing, e.g., stadium on handhelds; intellicore for their sports data app; Atos for its 360-degree game imagery; and FanThreeSixty for their fan-engagement technology..
This show is also, for EVS, the introduction of the EVS Live on Tour, starting now and going through November. They will make 20 stops with their magic bus to do events.
Finally EVS and HBS are launching a Broadcast Academy vertical for developing trained personnel for live sports coverage work.
