The 2023 FISU World University Games held in Chengdu, China, in August brought together 6,500 college athletes from around the world for 12 days of competition. To help with live coverage of the volleyball competition, the organisers chose to use a cloud-based REMI set-up to transmit game play to a remote studio. It marked the first time the Games used cloud-based workflows for live content production and distribution.

For the professional broadcast, high-quality video was transmitted from the arena to the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) for production and distribution to OTT platforms and linear channels. The event’s broadcast team used an integrated remote production suite of TVU RPS Link, TVU RPS One and TVU Producer. Onsite, the team set up four separate camera positions around the venue to capture different angles of the competition.

RPS Link and RPS One were deployed at the venue to establish synchronized primary and back up multi-camera transmission to the IBC. The live video was fully produced and distributed in the cloud by operatives at the IBC using Producer software, a laptop and a standard internet connection. The organizers used Producer to mix the audio, add scoreboard graphics, switch cameras and add slow-motion replay to the production.

Paul Shen, CEO, TVU Networks said, “Our REMI systems in particular help reduce the overall cost of live on-location event coverage by limiting the need for extensive production infrastructure.” The TVU RPS One is a compact, battery-powered portable unit that supports frame-synchronized multi-camera capture and transmission with sub-second latency. Weighing approximately 1kg, it aggregates up to 12 data connections, ensuring HD transmission via 4G/LTE/5G, WiFi, Satellite, Ethernet, Starlink and other connections.

The TVU RPS Link encoder facilitates the encoding of up to six synchronized SDI sources for high-quality, low-latency IP video transmission from the remote location to a studio-based TVU RPS receiver. TVU transmitters use the patented Inverse StatMux system for reliable transmission in challenging environments.

StatMux itself combines multiple signals and transmits them over a fixed channel. Inverse StatMux does the opposite, taking a single signal source and then dividing the signal across multiple channels for transmission. The transmission is then re-aggregated at the receiving end. By transmitting the video signal over multiple channels simultaneously, broadcasters can push a larger amount of data over the network and achieve a better picture signal.

TVU Producer complements the workflow with live video ingest functionality from IP sources or VOD content and enabling comprehensive production such as source switching, graphics overlays and custom PIP configurations. www.tvunetworks.com