Blackmagic Design Powers PlayStation Tournaments: XP Live Stream

Blackmagic Design Powers PlayStation Tournaments: XP Live Stream

Brie Clayton February 27, 2025

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New global competition's video workflow built by High Viz Media around ATEM Constellation 8K.

Sony PlayStation is elevating esports with PlayStation Tournaments: XP, a new live competition uniting the global PS5 community. Blending high stakes tournament play with a studio style broadcast, players compete in EA Sports FC 25, Tekken 8, Fortnite, and ASTRO BOT.

Open to players worldwide, the event moves from online qualifiers to a high energy live final, where top competitors form teams based on PlayStation's iconic shapes (Triangle, Square, Circle, and Cross) to battle for cash prizes and ultimate bragging rights.

Meticulously planned and orchestrated to immerse fans, High Viz Media deployed a video workflow built around the ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher and ATEM 4 M/E Advanced Panel for live streaming event coverage to Sony PlayStation's Twitch and YouTube channels.

Working closely with High Viz Media, freelance broadcast producer and director Sam Deans took charge of directing the production and vision mixing, noting a number of challenges, including the high volume of video signals used. We had 42 video inputs actively used in the vision mix, begins Deans. We also had just 36 hours in the venue, including rig and derig. It was an incredibly ambitious turnaround for such a massive and complex production.

Deans cites the ATEM Constellation 8K's ability to not require inputs to be referenced or locked to a specific resolution or frame rate as hugely advantageous when dealing with gameplay feeds. Additionally, the switcher's ability to work with the embedded audio signals of its video inputs is a big deal when it comes to esports and gameplay capture, he notes.

The ATEM 4 M/E Advanced Panel was also a diligent technical partner to the team, enabling them to handle the sheer volume of video inputs while allowing the vision mix to remain fast, dynamic, and ideal for tournament coverage. The mix of downstream graphics and custom control systems made use of the ATEM's API workflow, enabling complicated multi M/E cuts between matches, says Deans.

Featuring a circular stage, the space incorporated 12 custom PlayStation 5 (PS5) gameplay pods, each equipped with video, audio and network systems to capture player action. Furthermore, a dedicated caster studio hosted live commentary, while a co streamer area allowed five Twitch creators to stream with alternative styles, using streamlined production setups with access to the main broadcast's gameplay and camera feeds.

That workflow relied on DeckLink Duo 2 capture and playback cards for ingest into vMix Software to operate an all in one software vision mix, while a Blackmagic Videohub 40 40 12G SDI video router was employed to distribute the host broadcast signals to all five co streamer setups.

Another key requirement was adding graphic overlays to each PS5 feed before it reached the ATEM Constellation 8K. This was achieved using DeckLink Quad 2 capture and playback cards, processing three gameplay feeds across four PCs with vMix. These cards are ideal since any SDI port can be an input or output, making it a powerful and cost effective way to add 12 graphics channels to a production, concludes Deans.

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