With the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors set to face off in the NBA Finals, it’s déjà vu all over again for the ABC/ESPN production and operations team. Not only will the same two teams face each other for the second straight year, but ESPN will once again use the occasion to debut a brand-new Sony high-speed camera on the hardcourt. Having rolled out Sony’s HDC-4300 camera for last year’s Finals, ESPN will launch the brand-new HDC-4800 4K 8X slo-mo camera for this year’s series.
Sony HDC-4800 Headlines Cutting-Edge Camera Arsenal
ABC’s 14th consecutive NBA Finals, which tips off Thursday night, will be yet another colossal production for ESPN and feature an extensive onsite presence at both Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and Oracle Arena in Oakland.
“One thing we learned last year was that we have very good building-management people in each city. They are, without question, some of the best,” says ESPN Operations Manager Pete Rintelman. “They help us do anything that we need to do to put on our show, and we’re excited to be working with them again this year.”
The HDC-4800 high-frame-rate camera with cut-out zoom will be paired with the PWS-4500 server at the Finals. Accompanied by a choice of telephoto Canon and Fujinon PL-mount lenses, the camera system and server will be used to capture the fast-paced Warriors-Cavs action in 4K at a high frame rate.
The HDC-4800, which debuted unofficially for CBS Sports at Super Bowl 50 and was officially unveiled in April at NAB 2016, offers 4K recording at up to 480 frames per second in 4K or 960 fps at HD resolution. Coupling it with the BPU-4800 baseband processor unit/replay server creates a fully networked, 4K live ultra-high-speed production workflow. The HDC-4800 makes use of a new Super 35mm CMOS sensor and wide color space (BT.2020 and BT.709) and also supports PL-mount lenses.
The HDC-4800 headlines a massive 40-camera complement that will feature a total of 13 high-speed cameras. The NBA will also provide high-speed above-the rim cameras on both backboards.
ESPN’s production in Cleveland, handled out of Game Creek Video’s PeacockOne (A and B units) for the game production and Spirit (A and B units) for the onsite studio show, will feature all HDC-4300s. In Oakland, NEP’s EN1 (A, B, C, and D trucks plus an E support unit) will serve both the game and studio shows.
Intel’s 360-Degree Replay Back on the Court
Intel’s 3D 360-degree replay tech returns for ABC’s NBA Finals, following its use during ESPN’s Eastern Conference Finals. Their tech creates 360-degree replays from UHD data, letting viewers virtually fly around and view plays from any angle. Intel 360 replay stitches UHD camera feeds into one seamless shot that can be rotated and viewed from any angle.
Connecting Both Cities with Bristol
ESPN also continues to evolve its file-transfer and content-sharing workflow between its Bristol, CT, operations and its NBA remote productions. The effort began during the regular season, following deployment of a similar workflow for Monday Night Football remotes. ESPN uses a variety of trucks for NBA games, unlike MNF, which relies solely on EN1. To support this, the network created custom kits to make the workflow work consistently across different setups.
“CMSI [Creative Mobile Solutions Inc.] is a big vendor for us on that because one big difference for NBA vs. [Monday Night Football] is, we don’t have the same truck every single show. So we have had to build kits that work for any truck that we use,” says Rintelman. “It’s an initiative that we started this year, and it’s been very successful, so we definitely want to keep advancing [it].”
ESPN uses CMSI hardware kits and remote management to synchronize highlight, program, and melt footage between cities. CMSI’s 10Gb software and hardware give EVS operators and editors full access to all media in both locations.
Plenty of Onsite Studio Presence
Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Doris Burke will call their record-setting seventh NBA Finals together. Former NBA official Steve Javie will provide analysis from the NBA replay center in Secaucus, N.J. ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Tim Corrigan will produce the NBA Finals on ABC, and Jimmy Moore will direct.
All NBA Finals games will air live on ESPN Deportes TV, called by Alvaro Martin and Carlos Morales. Reporters Claudia Trejos and Sebastian Martinez-Christensen will provide coverage, with a 30-minute NBA Previa show airing before each game. Paul Pierce, 10-time NBA All-Star and 2008 Finals MVP, will join Countdown as a guest analyst. He will appear during selected games throughout the series. SportsCenter will take its 6 p.m. show on the road for most NBA Finals games. Lindsay Czarniak will host. The show will also air onsite postgame coverage following each matchup. The Jump, ESPN’s daily NBA show hosted by Rachel Nichols, will broadcast live from the Finals each weekday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
All NBA Finals games will air live on ESPN Deportes, called by Alvaro Martin and Carlos Morales, with reporters Claudia Trejos and Sebastian Martinez-Christensen. A 30-minute NBA Previa show, featuring Ernesto Jerez and Fabricio Oberto, will air beforehand.
Source : Sports Video Group
