8 consideraciones técnicas de la Copa del Rey de Baloncesto 2022

Alfredo Berdún, technical head of mobile units in Telefónica Broadcast Services (TBS) and responsible for the production of the 2022 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, shares 8 technological keys that have defined the competition.

Telefónica Broadcast Services (TBS) has once again taken charge of the production of the personalized sign for Movistar+ and international Basketball King's Cup 2022, one of the main sports competitions in Spain. The 86th edition of the tournament, which was held in the Granada Sports Palace, has hosted a total of seven games who have had an important technical deployment for a competition of these characteristics.

The broadcasts once again have the technological progress that accompany the productions of the ACB League, although certain aspects have been modified to make more immersive, complete and spectacular each of the encounters. Berdún, technically responsible for this production, sheds light on the technical and human elements that have made the competition possible.

1. A defined long-term project

“The broadcast of the 2022 Basketball King's Cup It is not prepared from one day to the next. Since the date has been defined for a long time, it has been carefully planned for a long time. However, over the past few weeks, it has been more intense work. Between camera operators, production and technical staff, we can be talking about 65 professionals by TBS.”

2. An expanded camera array

“The main difference with respect to the regular league is the number and type of cameras we operate in the cup. Among other elements, we deploy a high speed camera o high speed, which records at a much faster speed than is usual; When playing the content, you can see the slow motion images with maximum definition. We have also had several cameras super slow, although we do usually use these in normal ACB productions; two robotic mini cameras which will be at the base of the baskets, which we can control from the mobile unit; a drone for images beauty, and others two fixed mini cameras. The deployment amounts to 18 cameras, an important number for a basketball competition.”

3. The cinematographic camera comes to Spanish basketball

“We have also told a cinema effect camera, which is wireless and has been moving throughout the pavilion. It is a very similar concept to that used in LaLiga. We are talking about cameras that work with a very shallow depth of field. In this way, they blur the background a lot to create that cinematic effect that we like so much. In our case, we will use a FX6 of Sony”.

4. New hidden microphones

“Usually, we create the sound mix using the camera ambient microphones. On the other hand, the pole camera, a CBA classic with which you listen to the coaches during timeouts, has its own microphone. We have also used two microphones in the baskets that are hidden in the wait. With these devices, we can hear when the ball hits the basket or when a clean basket goes in. (…) In addition, during the last weeks we have tried some contact microphones on the rims. With this system, we get a much cleaner sound from the contact of the ball with the rim.”

5. Remote production… reduced

“This production has not been as remote as on other occasions, since we have decided to deploy enough staff and resources to Granada. But there is a remote component, especially for signal transport.. A network has been installed exactly the same as the ones we use for the usual broadcasts of La Liga ACB. In the Granada Sports Pavilion, specifically, we have renovated the fiber circuit so that it adapts to the needs we have in terms of bandwidth and dedication. (…) With respect to technology, we have used some encoders Nimbra for this production made entirely in HD. From this network, we transmit the personalized Movistar+ signal. Then, the international signal, which has graphics in English and other special features, was retransmitted through SDI”.

6. Replay servers for performance and referees

“The mobile unit that we moved to Granada is equipped with XT-VIA of EVS, which is the system we will use to record all the signals we need during production. Among these signs is a master with the clock, to know if there is a shot in the last minute of the game, if the basket goes in or not. From the same mobile unit, we manage the video arbitration system. To do this, we connect several EVS servers in a network, since this production has a very high number of cameras. In this way, referees can access each of the cameras to consult all the points of view that we have in our mobile unit.”

7. Advanced graphics with augmented reality

“Looking ahead to the 2022 Basketball King's Cup, we have a graphics channel dedicated that is used based on repetitions. These replays They go through processing that allows us to introduce graphics or “arrows” to explain the plays. In this way, the viewer can access a analysis of the play with the comments of our experts. We have used this system for the previews and the post, but it could be done practically in real time “If we wanted to introduce it live during the broadcast”

8. Cloud production in the near future

“At Telefónica Broadcast Services (TBS) we are very aware of all technologies, including producción edge o to cloud production. En esta ocasión, hemos decidido no recurrir a esta tecnología, pero sí que es algo que está sobre la mesa. Son técnicas que se están preparando. Creo que, en un futuro muy cercano, vamos a realizar producciones utilizando estos procesos de una forma u otra”.

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez