Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
23/01/2017

Leading The Way In Live Sports Broadcasting

News Image
Qvest Media realised the first 4K live channel infrastructure and will implement the technical construction of the new broadcasting centre "Cube" for the pay TV channel Sky.

With a team of more than 180 employees and locations in Germany, Switzerland, the UAE and Singapore, Qvest Media is a leading international systems architect in the fields of broadcasting and media technology, specialising in the television, media and telecommunications industries. With a powerful spectrum of services, Qvest Media offers 360° expertise in the design, development, implementation and operational support of media technology infrastructures.

Being one of the biggest suppliers of systems solutions for live broadcasting of events, sports and entertainment, Qvest Media has entered into a close collaboration with Sky to mark a new era for Sky's live sports productions and broadcasting offer in Europe. The pay TV channel commissioned Qvest Media with two major projects: The realisation of the first 4K live channel infrastructure and Ultra HD broadcast management as well as the technical construction of a new broadcasting centre called "Cube" at Sky's German headquarters near Munich. By realising this landmark project, Qvest Media will implement one of the largest and most modern broadcast IT infrastructures for all sports-related live productions currently available in Europe.

Spread over more than 1,700 square metres, the new sports production centre "Cube" will offer enough space for two studios with rooms for direction, editing and production as well as for continuity suites and the broadcast IT installation. In the future, live sports content from Sky Germany will also be produced here. This includes, among others, the Sky Bundesliga conference, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the EHF Handball Champions League, golf, tennis and Formula 1 racing.

For this large-scale project, Qvest Media is responsible for the technological construction of workflows and an innovative IP-based back-end as well as the entire system infrastructure. This also includes the selection and definition of appropriate technology and manufacturers. In addition to systems integration, the contract also includes the subsequent delivery of broadcast, IT and audio-visual solutions, equipping the studio and production facilities as well as commissioning and support of the on-air phase.

Since October 2016, the first 4K live channels Sky Sport UHD and Sky Sport Bundesliga UHD have been on air. Qvest Media was responsible for the design and planning of the fully redundant system architecture, the IT-relevant systems integration of the broadcast for the 4K live production infrastructure and UHD broadcast management.

With a project duration of 12 months, Qvest Media developed a fully-fledged 4K production environment with a live broadcast chain. Qvest Media's partner network, consisting of the most innovative and important hardware and software manufacturers, provided the technology for the 4K infrastructure of Sky's new UHD channels.

Available for file and live ingest are a transfer storage from Elements and Venice servers from Rohde & Schwarz, which are connected to the Sky headquarters. As a result, all content is recorded simultaneously and independently from one another and saved in two different places. Due to this completely redundant system configuration, the 4K productions can be implemented and sent without interference or interruptions. During the ingest, incoming files from external sources, such as an OB vehicle, are received and recorded by Sky in the production format. Sky relies on the XAVC-I single file with a class 300 codec and a bandwidth of 500 Mbps. For the playout format, Sky uses the UHDp50 standard.

The ingested material is also recorded on a nearline storage SpycerBox and Rohde & Schwarz processing applications. These have a gross capacity of over 500 hours of 4K material and serve as a central access and processing source for the Avid-based HighRes editing suites, graphic suites by Adobe and Vizrt, quality check and UHD playout. Highlight editing and slo-mos in XAVC-I single-file format are implemented via the EVS XT4K server. An EVS XFILE 3 system, which is integrated in the workflow, allows the ongoing archiving and restoring processes to be controlled and monitored.

www.qvestmedia.com

This article is also available to read at BFV online here, page 40.

(JP/LM)
VMI.TV Ltd

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

21/08/2017
IBC2017: At The Core Of Global Media And Digital Industry Trends
With its Digital Tech Hub, Qvest Media is encouraging the exchange of global trends between the media and broadcasting industry at this year's IBC Sho
23/03/2007
BSkyB Creates London Networked Media Distribution Centre Based On DayPort
Dayport recently secured an order from BSkyB (Sky) to create a Networked Media Distribution Centre – NMDC - to be based at its headquarters in West Lo
11/12/2024
Live Media Group Appoints Senior VP Of Internal Operations
Live Media Group has appointed former NEP Group leader Ryan Jones as Senior Vice President of Internal Operations, effective January 1, 2025. He will
30/07/2024
Sky TV Launches New FAST Channels
Sky TV has unveiled even more content at no extra cost with the launch of six new Sky Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels on Sky Gl
19/06/2019
Sky Deutschland Selects Qvest.Cloud From Qvest Media
Sky Deutschland has deployed Qvest.Cloud from Qvest Media to stream selected parts of an event live. More specifically, the ready-to-use package Q.Liv
09/12/2016
BFV's Big Interview: Qvest Media
Qvest Media is a leading international systems architect in the fields of broadcasting and media technology, specialising in the television, media and
09/02/2024
Sky Brings Together Sky Content And Sky Studios
Sky has announced that all of its non-sports content teams in the UK & Ireland, will come together under one leadership structure, led by Cécile Frot-
09/12/2021
Sky Unveils New Flagship Shop
Sky has unveiled its new flagship shop at Westfield, White City. This will be Sky's second bricks and mortar shop in London and builds on its existing
18/02/2010
Sky Movies Showcase HD Channel
Sky Movies have now announced a number of changes to its channel line-up in a bid to make it easier for viewers to find the movies they want to watch
31/10/2019
Production News : Sky And WarnerMedia Expand Partnership
Sky and WarnerMedia, the home of HBO, Turner and Warner Bros., have expanded their partnership to include new programming and co-production agreements
04/07/2024
Sky Media Announces Sky Zero Footprint Fund
Sky Media, the advertising arm of Sky, has announced that its award-winning Sky Zero Footprint Fund is launching an additional initiative dedicated to
04/07/2019
Production News : Sky Media To Rollout Sky Analytics
Sky Media will rollout Sky Analytics to both media agencies and advertisers, opening-up direct access to plan, report and evaluate elements of their T
01/03/2016
Fairlight And Qvest Announce Partnership
Fairlight and Qvest Media have announced they are entering into a strategic partnership. This will make Qvest Media the exclusive distributor for Fair
13/08/2018
Qvest Media To Unveil Qvest.Cloud At IBC
Qvest Media is to unveil its latest development, Qvest.Cloud, at the upcoming IBC show in Amsterdam, 14-18 September. The company will demonstrate its
03/10/2016
Sky Launches New Virtual Reality App
Sky has launched a new app, Sky Virutal Reality (VR). The app, which is available to download free, features a range of immersive, 360-degree videos f