Recently, the short track speed skating project of the Beijing Winter Olympics was full of dramatic competitive processes, which touched the hearts of many netizens, "Too exciting, too much need for a strong heart!" "But you know what? For such a thrilling and rapidly changing game, we not only need the referee's golden eye, but also the technical support - a fast and accurate VAR video assistant referee system, which can help the referee make accurate judgments and truly be clear-
It is reported that the SMT SkyHawk Broadcast of Shanghai Oriental Media Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SMG, which went to the Olympic Games for the fourth time, not only provided high-quality broadcast services for the Olympic events, but also provided a set of VAR short track speed skating video assistant referee system, which played a key role in the landing competition of the Winter Olympic Games.
Not only that, the Chinese team and Chinese technology have also achieved more breakthroughs in this Winter Olympics, taking SMT Tianying Broadcasting as an example, the number of its broadcasting systems exceeds one-fifth of the overall number of broadcasting systems for the Olympic Games. In other words, more than 20% of the international public signals of the Winter Olympics are spread from Beijing, China to the world by this broadcasting technical team with rich experience in the competition, and the world shares this ice and snow sports event.
Let the global audience see the "basis for judgment" of the referee
What is the VAR Video Assistant Referee System?
The Morning News reporter learned that this technology was first used in football matches, mainly relying on the distribution of multiple camera lenses on the field, capturing every small action of the athletes on the field with multiple camera positions and multiple angles, and even can be said to be "360 degrees without dead angles". When a dispute arises, the technician will use the VAR video assistant referee system and use video playback technology to help the referee make the correct decision.
In fact, as early as the 2019 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup held in Shanghai, ISU joined hands with SMT Skyhawk Broadcasting to start cooperation on the VAR video assistant referee system. Also after the success of the first cooperation, SMT Skyhawk Broadcasting has almost become the "designated service" team of is the ISU International Skating Federation in domestic competitions. In the short track speed skating project of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, SMT Skyhawk Broadcasting provided a complete VAR video assistant referee system for isu International Skating Federation.
SMT Tianying broadcast told reporters that through the repeated selection and testing of the signal provided by the broadcast vehicle, the team finally selected 6 golden camera positions, 2 half-view camera positions and 2 broadcast signals, a total of 10 signals cut into the slow motion server, realizing no dead angle coverage of the track, recording the athletes and track conditions from a full perspective, and helping the referee to fully grasp all the dynamics on the field.
Not only that, this set of VARs also provides calls for the entire referee team, providing VAR signals to the live broadcast team. In other words, the system can not only better allow the referee to see the various key points of contention of the game, but also bring the referee's penalty basis to the global audience, bringing a stronger appreciation.
This new technology made its debut on the big jump
In the women's freestyle ski jump event, China's Gu Ailing achieved the "zero breakthrough" of china's snow sports gold medal, and also brought the attention of the big jump event to an unprecedented height. So, do you know how the "volley" on the big jump was recorded?
This has to mention SMT's self-developed Multiam Replay 360-degree free-viewing system with multiple patents. It is reported that according to the requirements of the Olympic Broadcasting Service Company (OBS), SMT deployed this system on the Shougang big jump platform, and in the case of limited installation conditions, 40 camera positions were installed at a high altitude, providing a 120-degree viewing angle, and outputting 2 different special effects templates in 5 to 8 seconds for the director team to use in the competition.
In the end, the Multicam Replay 360-degree free-view system made its Olympic debut. The reporter learned that in the previous Olympic games, similar systems were mainly provided by foreign technical teams, but since 2018, SMT has conducted independent research on the project, and after several years of polishing and practical application, it finally appeared on the stage of the Winter Olympics, and in the first day of the freestyle ski jumping competition, the effect was widely applied, witnessing the highlight moments of different athletes from multiple angles, and was unanimously recognized by the Winter Olympics live production team.
In addition, in the curling project of the Winter Olympic Games, SMT also broke through a set of super large 4K HDR ultra-high-definition broadcasting system to complete the broadcast task of the previous four sets of broadcasting systems. The VOB "cloud broadcast" technology with cutting-edge experimental cloud architecture jointly developed by OBS, Intel and SMT makes full use of the advantages of "cloud" to relocate the main resources to the cloud, helping the production team to achieve interaction with the front site in any remote production center around the world, and this "bold idea" has been applied for the first time on the fourth track of curling at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
It is worth mentioning that since the start of the Winter Olympic Games, SMT Skyhawk Broadcast 4 sets of super large 4K HDR ultra-high definition broadcast system has also been officially promoted to "Olympic Gold Medal Broadcast Vehicle", witnessing the birth of a number of Olympic gold medals on the spot, and broadcasting wonderful games to the world.