Benefits of 8K Remote Capture and Personalization Demonstrated
One of the demonstrated benefits 8K remote capture of using an 8K camera in sports is the ability to do extreme zooms and create HD or 4K cut-out for direct-to-air broadcast. Now, a new case study of this technique for a philharmonic concert has been documented. The event also allowed customers to choose which HD camera angle they wished to see. All this production was done remotely during the Covid pandemic.
The case study was published recently by Astrodesign, a maker of 8K cameras and related production equipment. It describes a performance of the “Valentine of Love and Combat: a symphony for the two” by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Held at Sumida Triphony Hall, the concert was planned by Yamaha Corporation as part of their “Project to Enhance the Profitability of Culture and Arts”.
The objective was to showcase the concept of multi-perspective switching + high-resolution live distribution. Astrodesign cooperated with Korg Inc., Internet Initiative Japan Inc., and Nekojarashi Inc., to achieve this objective.
Complicating the effort was the need to do this under COVID-19 restrictions which required avoidance of the three Cs (crowded places, close-contacts, and closed places). As a result, the number of staff involved in the shooting was reduced as much as possible.
In terms of the configuration and workflow, one fixed-position 8K Camcorder (AA-4814-B) was used to cover the entire stage from the audience point of view. A second 4K camera was on the stage for shooting the conductor. The two cameras were remotely controlled from the editorial booth.
Video captured by an 8K camera was segmented into HD cut-outs using Astrodesign’s Tamazone Workstation (AW-8800). For broadcast, 4 perspectives were sent out to viewers with the production team switching over the following 5 perspectives: (i) a bird-eye view of the stage, (ii) 3 segmented images, and (iii) HD camera on the conductor. This is a system that can be operated by one staff member and without the need for a cameraman at the venue.
For distribution, a 4K video composite frame was created using the Lumiere platform offered by Nekojarashi Inc. Viewers were able to access the video from their own devices such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones, and to select their preferred viewpoints. The “Live Extreme” uncompressed audio coding technology from Korg Inc. was used as well. This enabled the distribution of complex multi-instrumented compositions in quality close to the original sound.
Astrodesign noted they received positive comments from viewers. The company also thinks viewers will continue to want to freely select images. Many in the creative community are not so sure of this, however, as controlling the point of view is a key element in storytelling.
On the other hand, sports may be just the application where choosing different points of view or displaying multiple games on a single screen may offer value to the end-user. This is exactly the capability that was just introduced by TiledMedia. Their new Mosaic solution allows up to 8 video streams to a phone, tablet, TV or VR headset. There is a main screen and smaller tiles with the other video streams the user can choose from. These can be different camera views of the same game or different games altogether.
It will be interesting to see how consumers react to this capability.
