Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Altitude Sports To Launch 4K HDR Telecasts on DirecTV Tonight

19/12/2019

Altitude Sports To Launch 4K HDR Telecasts on DirecTV Tonight All productions will be in 1080p HDR and upconverted to 4K HDR By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Wednesday, December 18, 2019 - 7:18 pm

Print This Story

Story Highlights

Altitude Sports will make history tonight when it becomes the first regional sports network in the U.S. to start producing all its home games in 1080p HDR and distributing them in 4K HDR. It all starts tonight when Altitude will team up with Mobile TV Group to produce a 1080p HDR feed of tonight's Orlando Magic-Denver Nuggets NBA game, which will be upconverted to 4K HDR for distribution by AT&T's DirecTV.

43 FLEX in the Mobile TV Group's shop as it underwent upgrades for Altitude's 1080p HDR productions

We want to move Altitude into the future, says Ken Miller, EVP and GM/Executive Producer, Altitude Sports. We've seen how tremendous 1080p HDR and 4K HDR looks, and we want to serve both our viewers and our affiliate customers with the best possible product. We believe introducing this new technology is going to have a major impact.

While other U.S. RSNs have produced and distributed games in 4K and HDR, Altitude will be the first to produce all its home games (including Nuggets, Avalanche, Mammoth NLL, and Rapids MLS games) - in 1080p HDR and make them available for distribution in 4K HDR. It's not the first time Altitude and MTVG have made a major technological leap forward, having teamed up with NBA TV and DirecTV in 2016 to produce and deliver the first 4K coverage (in standard dynamic range) of an NBA Game in the U.S.

Inside the Workflow: 1080p HDR in the Truck, 4K HDR to the Home

MTVG pulled Altitude's 1080p capable home mobile unit, 43FLEX, off the road last week to add the additional infrastructure for HDR. Numerous converters were needed to handle external sources, as well as to handle the requirements of non-HDR visitor shows for dual feed games. Altitude then completed a successful test of its 1080p HDR workflow during last Friday's Devils-Avalanche game.

43FLEX was originally built in the spring of 2017 as a native 1080p truck even though it has been primarily used by us and others in 1080i, says Tim De Lay, Operations Manager, Altitude Sports. It already had the capacity for 1080p, and the heaviest lift is really adding the HDR elements into the truck. I think we can all agree the integration of HDR is a phenomenal offering, and the look of our games is going to be better than anything we've ever seen.

43FLEX's 13 Grass Valley cameras (nine LDX82 Premier and four LDX86 universe super-slow-motion) will provide native 1080p HDR. MTVG has installed 14 four-port AJA FS-HDR conversion units in 43FLEX, which will allow Altitude to upconvert external SDR video signals to HDR. MTVG will also upconvert a handful of 1080i feeds to 1080p for the show, including POV cameras and the Pepsi Center videoboard feed. Graphics will also remain in 1080i SDR natively and be upconverted to 1080p HDR.

This is the first network to commit 100% to producing all its home games in 1080p HDR, say Mobile TV Group CEO Philip Garvin. So, while we have produced plenty of HDR shows over the last couple of years, the consistency will give us an opportunity to really refine the workflow with over 80 games per NBA/NHL season. And adding the visitor's requirements for dual feeds increases the challenge.

Altitude and the visiting RSN, working out of MTVG's 43VMU (visitor mobile unit), will continue to deliver games in HD SDR to its cable partners, but a separate 1080p HDR feed will be delivered to DirecTV. This 1080p HDR signal will be transmitted via AT&T's existing fiber link at Pepsi Center and delivered to DTAGS, which will upconvert it to 4K HDR at its facility in Oklahoma and then pass it onto DirecTV's transmission center in El Segundo, CA, for transmission to homes with a DirecTV 4K HDR subscription.

Changes in the Truck: Minimal Impact on Production, Video-Shading Teams

One of Altitude's top priorities was to avoid any major changes or impacts on the primary production since the HD SDR feed is where the majority of the eyeballs will continue to see its games.

The good news is, there is very minimal impact to our production staff with the exception of the video[-shading] department, says De Lay. Our producer, director, graphics, and everyone else are pretty much untouched by this change.

In addition, MTVG has added an HDR reference monitor in the video-shading area (in addition to the SDR monitors) for the V1 shader to paint the HDR feed. There will also be an LG OLED 55 4K HDR display for people to see what the images will look like at home.

What we've found from everyone that has done HDR so far is, you absolutely must have a good V1 shader, says Miller. And you definitely can't shade just for the HDR show. You have to shade for the SDR show, which is your main bread and butter, and then adjust the HDR show [secondarily]. It's going to take a bit of an education process for the crew.

4K HDR Spots: Commercial Insertion a Work in Progress

Since 4K HDR programming is still scarce on linear television, the majority of other live 4K and HDR sports productions have cut to a wide shot or inserted a slate during commercial breaks. However, Altitude has opted to upconvert its commercial reel from the standard broadcast and integrate the content into the 4K HDR feed on DirecTV.

We felt that we needed to come up with a solution, and we'll continue to experiment with the best way to [insert] commercials, says Miller. Tonight, we're going to hit the ground running with the absolute simplest way of doing it, which is just making the spot reel a source in the truck and dissolving to that source during breaks. We're working on a better solution, but that is how we w
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/12/18/altitude-sports-to-launch-4k-hd...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

04/09/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Dalet Win Prestigious 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year Award

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...

19/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at...

SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company earned multiple awards at the 2025 NAB Show, with two...

19/04/2025

Ateliere Announces CEO Transition

Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, today announced that Dan Goman has stepped down as CEO and David Bortis, Ateli...

19/04/2025

Marshall CV574 Miniature 4K UHD Camera Revolutionizes Off...

As Director of Media and Aerial Production at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, Bryan Moore is setting new standards in off-road racing media coverage thanks to his ...

19/04/2025

Lightware Launches Dual Screen Extended Desktop Taurus

A next-generation collaboration device that redefines connectivity for meeting environments Lightware, an industry-leading manufacturer of signal management so...

19/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for N...

Calrec is today announcing that its True Control 2.0 is a Remote Production winner in the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. This official awards program...

19/04/2025

Appear and NBCUniversal Win Project of the Year at NAB Sh...

Appear, a global leader in live production technology, proudly announces it has been recognised alongside NBCUniversal with the prestigious NAB Show Delivery Pr...

19/04/2025

Deity Microphones Announces The Deity THEOS DIFB at NAB 2...

Deity Microphones, a leader in innovative audio equipment, is proud to announce the expected release of our Ultra-Wide Band IFB to the market. The THEOS DIFB wi...

19/04/2025

LiveU IQ Technology Delivers Breakthrough Network Perform...

A world renowned broadcaster and long-standing LiveU customer has successfully completed a series of live connectivity tests using LiveU's revolutionary, aw...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins 2025 NAB Show Project of the Year and Produc...

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced dual NAB Show award wins at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The company's M...

19/04/2025

BitFire Wins Three Top Awards at 2025 NAB Show

BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced three major award wins at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas. The compa...

19/04/2025

Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group Form Unique Strategic...

AI video discovery company Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group, a leading independent unscripted television production company, are proud to announce a unique st...

19/04/2025

The Infrastructure of Creative Flow DigitalGlues creative...

As the media industry navigates the triple challenge of AI-driven production, distributed teams, and skyrocketing content demand, DigitalGlue s creative.space h...

19/04/2025

Miri Technologies Wins Two Prestigious Awards for X510 Bo...

Network technology startup Miri Technologies Inc. capped off its tremendously successful NAB Show debut by winning two prestigious industry awards for its cutti...

19/04/2025

Tablo Adds 45 New FAST Channels From Warner Bros. Discovery

CINCINNATI Scripp's Nuvyyo USA has concluded a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring 45 FAST channels to Nuvyyo's Tablo TV device....

19/04/2025

Court Overrules FCC's $57 Million Fine Against AT&T

In a ruling that could have broader implications on the legality of regulatory agencies levying fines through administrative proceedings, the 5th U.S. Circuit C...

19/04/2025

FCC Chair Carr Blasts Comcast Over MSNBC Coverage

WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has blasted Comcast over MSNBC's coverage of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in a so...

19/04/2025

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC

Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC This season features faculty member Arun Pandian as the new host and interviews ...

18/04/2025

Everyone Is Cordially Invited to Celebrate Queer Joy in The Wedding Banquet

Director Andrew Ahn, alongside actors Youn Yuh-jung and Joan Chen, takes a photo of the audience after the premiere of his film The Wedding Banquet at Eccles ...

18/04/2025

U.S. Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

TV News Outlets See March Spike in Social Media Usage

Broadcast and cable TV news outlets saw strong social media growth in March, according to new data from the social video analytics company Tubular Labs ....

18/04/2025

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist

Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The drummer secured a spot among the elite winners in this years competition. By Maddie...

18/04/2025

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway

Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway The Latin American immigrant community takes center stage in a new musical featuring Tatian...

18/04/2025

UPDATED: Broadcasters Urge FCC to Hit the Delete Button on Antiquated Regs

WASHINGTON The FCC's call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated, has prompted a slew of fillings from bro...

18/04/2025

Federal Judge Rules Google Illegally Monopolized Ad Technologies

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...

18/04/2025

AMS, VideoAmp Collaborate on Cross-Channel Targeting and Measurement

PEARL RIVER, N.Y. Global media solutions company Active Media Services (AMS) has formed a new relationship with VideoAmp, a measurement company for linear TV, c...

18/04/2025

Netflix Reports Strong Q1 Revenue, Operating Income

Netflix reported generally positive results for first-quarter 2025, with revenue up 13% year-over-year to $10.543 billion and operating income growing by 27% to...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile Units from NEP Group, Game Creek Video

NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile U...

18/04/2025

EVS's Sbastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products

EVSs S bastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products Beyond replay, offerings also target asset management and media infrastructure By Ken Kersc...

18/04/2025

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC

ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC Men's championships to follow Saturday night on ESPN2 By Brandon Costa, Direct...

18/04/2025

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports

Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports This panel discussion featured leaders from ESPN, CBS Sports, Warner Bros. Disc...

18/04/2025

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remote-Production Models in U.S., Canada

NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remo...

17/04/2025

The Ugly Stepsister: A Cinderella Body Horror Story That Will Leave a Crowd in Shambles

Emilie Blichfeldt attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Ugly ...

17/04/2025

Why Resilient GPS (R-GPS) Matters for US Military Superiority: We Must Address GPS Vulnerabilities

R-GPS gives warfighters a decisive battlefield advantage by punching through adv...

17/04/2025

What NAB told us about the future of media tech

This year's NAB Show in Las Vegas marked a noticeable shift in the priorities of media and broadcast organisations. Gone are the days of chasing flashy, or ...

17/04/2025

Changing Sustainable Production in Wales and Beyond

class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt= decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.antonbauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Amy-Daniel-1...

17/04/2025

Roku to Collaborate with Adobe on Real-Time Customer Data

SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku and Adobe have announced that they are collaborating on a real time data platform made possible by a a new integration of the Roku Data C...

17/04/2025

IAB: Digital Ad Revenue Surges 14.9% YoY to $259 Billion in 2024

NEW YORK Internet advertising revenues demonstrated strong growth in 2024, increasing 14.9% year-over-year to $258.6 billion, according to the IAB Internet Adv...

17/04/2025

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show

SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Left to right, Geoff Stedman, CMO, SDVI...

17/04/2025

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions with AJA

Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions ...

17/04/2025

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0

Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0 Brie Clayton April 17, 2025 0 Comments Image: The Calrec True Control 2.o on ...

17/04/2025

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward

In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward From mood boards to live demos, the alumni band gave students an exclusive look at the process behin...

17/04/2025

MyFree DirecTV Adds 8 NBCU Channels

DirecTV's free streaming service MyFree DirecTV has just added another eight channels from NBCUniversal....

17/04/2025

GameChanger Launches in the U.S.

LOS ANGELES The virtual production company GameChanger has announced that it is expanding its global footprint by bringing its virtual production technology to ...

17/04/2025

IBCAP Launches Automated VOD Monitoring and Takedown System

DENVER The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has announced that it has developed a proprietary, automated software-based system to iden...

17/04/2025

Pixalate: Roku Continues to Dominate U.S. CTV Device Market

Pixalate's new CTV Device Market Share report for Q1 2025 shows that Roku has the highest open programmatic CTV device market share in the United States, wi...

17/04/2025

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lewis has more than 20 years of industry experience, leading fundraising initiati...

17/04/2025

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville

The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, ...

17/04/2025

Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV and NOW Lineup

April 17th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV & NOW Lineup World Premieres and Exclusive Cast Panels with Apple TV '...

17/04/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clients, How Industry Trends Impact Workflows

SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clie...