Blackmagic Design and XV-Tech Chosen to Capture the World Cup for Argentina

For the millions of Argentinean soccer fanatics, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is as exciting as every major holiday and festive event all wrapped into one. The World Cup is the most important event of the year, and there is a burning desire to see every minute of every game. To see and hear countless news stories, to get instant replays, and to be able to view it all over and over again! In South America, broadcasters have the challenge of taming the appetite of their ravenous viewers. With so many viewers tuning in to every single second of the game, South American broadcasters can’t afford to miss a beat.

Argentinean broadcasters TyC Sports, Telefe and Torneos y Competencias are making sure they won’t miss a single moment, and have teamed up with XV-Tech and Blackmagic Design to deliver the latest and greatest in World Cup games and highlights. All three broadcasters are using Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink Studio capture and playback cards in conjunction with XV-Tech’s SQUID broadcast workflow software to air coverage coming directly from South Africa to over 60 channels throughout Argentina.

SQUID and DeckLink Studio

The joint XV-Tech and Blackmagic product combination allows broadcasters to record and playback both SD and HD audio and video of games, interviews, and other highlights from satellite feeds. The broadcasters can ingest feeds and integrate signals from all World Cup footage for post-production, future playback and editing. All footage recorded over the course of the World Cup is then made available through XV-Tech’s archiving systems as soon as the games conclude.

Using XV-Tech’s SQUID solution, all three broadcasters are given a tapeless system that handles the management of video clips for open air and cable stations. It is designed to broadcast programming and distribute workflow across a variety of different structures and includes XV’s LoopRecorder feature. This feature enables broadcasters to constantly record feeds and manage them for immediate and future use, with media being edited and recorded directly in LoopRecorders and then sent to playout servers.

A key component of the LoopRecorder feature is Blackmagic’s DeckLink Studio capture card, which is being used as the primary capture and playback device for both SD and HD signals. With the DeckLink Studio, all three broadcasters are able to capture and playback using a massive range of their in-house equipment, which can include everything from HDCAM, HD-D5, HDCAM SR 4:2:2, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, HD receivers, HDV cameras, televisions, VHS recorders, analog broadcast monitors, and mixers. The DeckLink Studio is the perfect combination technology to the XV-Tech LoopRecorder because it has a massive range of options built right into the card, such as SDI, HDMI and analog video, analog and digital audio, keying in SD and a hardware down converter - and plugs into any PCI Express Windows, Linux or Intel-based Mac Pro computer!

“The opportunity to shift seamlessly between SD and HD workflows was a very attractive feature for us when we were deciding which system to use with SQUID. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink Studio affords us ultimate creative flexibility, and at hundreds of dollars less than standard definition solutions, was the obvious choice,” said Ariel Mindiuk, President of XV-Tech.

Proven Technology

While recent use of the joint product is largely concentrated on World Cup coverage, the blended solution is not new to Argentina. Previously, TyC Sports used SQUID and DeckLink Studio to cover the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

“Blackmagic has been a key partner to XV-Tech for a number of years, and the combination of its products with XV is already in many of the stations here in Argentina and across South America. DeckLink Studio in particular has provided reliable and affordable capture and playback capabilities that allow our broadcast customers the freedom to work in any number of formats,” Ariel said.

“The combination of XV-Tech’s SQUID solution and Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink products is spreading beyond Argentina. Other Latin American countries are catching on, and we’ve been working with broadcasters in Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay.”

TV Rennes 35

French TV station TV Rennes in conjunction with local station TyTélé is a unique television station run entirely from an outside broadcast van using affordable, simple to use and high quality equipment, including a full range of products from Blackmagic Design.

Fuel

The acclaimed documentary Fuel is shining a light on high oil prices, environmental pollution and America’s foreign oil dependence, makes the move to DVD and NetFlix with the help of DNA’s Darius Fisher and a host of Blackmagic Design products.

Budrus

With the help of DNA’s Darius Fisher, filmmaker Julia Bacha's film Budrus tells the true story of the successful, non violent protest movement that began with community organizer, Ayed Morrar, and his 15 year old daughter within the Middle East in 2003.

Being Michael Madsen

Being Michael Madsen is the story of a movie star who exacts revenge on an abrasive paparazzi photographer by hiring a documentary film crew to follow him 24/7. Sunrise Pictures was able to rework the film with UltraScope before deadline and pass quality control - on the first try.

L’espace

Tokyo's L’espace Vision is a mid-sized boutique postproduction company, which is famous for its foresight and for quickly introducing the most advanced system in their facility. Working mainly on live music video production, L’espace Vision have improved their efficiency with Videohub.

Solsidan

DaVinci Resolve system and Stockholm Post Production's Carl Skaff brings the ambience of summer time to Sweden's biggest hit comedy on TV today. Played by some of Scandinavia's best-known actors, the first episode attracted over 2 millions viewers.

Cinepost

Blackmagic’s Mini Converter Optical Fiber converters were the right solution for Cinepost, based at Barrandov Studios in Prague. Being one of the largest studios in Europe, the campus spans 1.4 kilometers, needing to convert signals over long distances daily.

Mariner's Church

Video technology has become a cornerstone of how the fastest growing church on the West Coast communicates. Like many new churches, Mariner's Church is very sophisticated in its use of pro video, audio and lighting, with the help of Blackmagic Design.