The NHL's 2007 All-Star Game was broadcast on Wednesday, Jan. 24, live from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, in HDTV with the help of Grass Valley multiformat HD switchers and cameras.
U.S. viewers saw all of the action on cable and satellite via the Versus Network, which hired mobile production company Lyon Video's HD truck. The all-digital Unit 7 HD truck was on hand for the live pre-game and game coverage using 10 Grass Valley LDK 6000 HD cameras — six hard cameras, three handheld cameras and an ENG camera.
Separately, the NHL Network and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) provided nine hours of live and exclusive pre- and post-game content for Canadian viewers. On site, both networks relied on Mobile TV Group's MU 5HDX truck, complete with a Grass Valley Kalypso HD production switcher and 10 Grass Valley Group LDK 6000 WorldCam HD cameras. Because of a strike-cancelled season and last year's Winter Olympics, this year's contest was the first NHL All-Star Game in three years.
In another first for the 55th NHL All-Star Game, Versus brought viewers closer to the ice than ever before. The Rail Cam was rolled out for both the YoungStars Game Tuesday and the varsity All-Star Game on Wednesday. The new HD POV camera, which saw limited use in the first half of the season on the network, was mounted on a rail on top of the glass on one side of the rink and ran alongside the play to give viewers a unique angle.
