CESNET, Czech Television and UPP introduce a new concept for sports and cultural broadcasts

Prague, 19 December 2014. The academic association CESNET together with Czech Television and Universal Production Partners (UPP) have presented a new concept of a system for controlling and broadcasting live programming from sporting and cultural events using high-speed internet networks. They demonstrated the concept at the expert CineGrid International Workshop held in San Diego, California, on 8–10 December.

The innovativeness of the system consists in its flexibility and adaptability to specific conditions at the time of broadcast while preserving high video quality. The new system is ready for broadcasting in 4K/UHDTV and higher resolutions such as 8K.

The demonstration simulated multi-camera live transmission from three stadiums in Prague and Brno to a transmission control room in San Diego. It used the UltraGrid and CoUniverse systems developed by CESNET, Czech Television’s multi-camera recordings and UPP’s audiovisual systems.

“CESNET has been developing applications for 4K since 2006, and supporting practical applications of these new solutions is one of its long-term targets. Collaboration with Czech Television and UPP shows yet another area in which technologies developed in academia will soon be put to real use,” says Jan Gruntorád, Director, CESNET.

“Czech Television values its collaboration with CESNET in the area of UHDTV video transmission and expects to test the new transmission control system during its routine operations soon. This collaboration builds on the activities of the Forum Ultra HDTV platform, which was established at Czech Television’s instigation with CESNET as one of its founding members,” says Czech Television’s Technology Director Ivo Ferkl.

“4K is a highly discussed term associated not only with post-production work and the restoration of classic Czech films; its TV counterpart UHDTV has also become part of the world of everyday consumer electronics. Because of that, it is necessary to keep looking for new methods for delivering content to viewers with a quality matching the current and future capabilities of distribution platforms,” adds Ivo Marák, CTO, UPP.

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1996. It is engaged in research and development of information and communication technologies and builds and develops the CESNET national e-infrastructure for research and education. With its research activities and accomplishments, CESNET represents the Czech Republic in international projects, most notably the pan-European GÉANT network building project and grid projects (EGI.eu), and contributes actively to their implementation. Among other things, the association deals with the use of high-speed networks for sharing multimedia data both through synchronous video conferencing and shared applications and asynchronous streaming.

Last change: 24.12.2014