The R8 offers the same intuitive user interface that has become a landmark of the ViBox product range. Along with the touchscreen interface, the operator has the dedicated replay controller that offers the best experience for jogging and lever control with the interaction of the touchscreen. The full video available within the replay UI allows for a minimal footprint without the need for additional monitoring. All the action exists in front of the operator for multi-angle control and review to quickly find the best replay angles.

The new R8 is designed in a compact but powerful 1RU server with 8-Channels for up to 6 camera inputs for instant replays and highlights along with options for exporting all clipped media content. The R8 does not sacrifice on quality with the 120/145 Mbps DNxHD codec and video formats up to 1080p. The R8 includes flexible I/O options with SDI, NDI, TS UDP, TS RTP or SRT configurations and up to 16 channels of embedded audio per video channel.

“The Simplylive ViBox replay systems have become powerful, industry leading solutions with our networking capability and high channel densities, including UHD HDR, for large scale productions. The R8 will bring the same level of replay power in a compact, efficient chassis designed for shipping optimization and robustness. We designed a revisited user experience in this compact, multi-channel solution at the right price.”

Luc Doneux, Simplylive Managing Director,

The new R8 is expected to be shipping in June!

Learn more about Simplylive here!

At Simplylive we are remote production experts; in fact, you could say that it is in our DNA. Every one of our ViBox systems are designed at their core for remote production. Its modern, forward-thinking architecture allows the UI’s to operate independently of the server, enabling an unparalleled level of workflow flexibility.  For example, the ViBox server can be located in-venue with your cameras, while your operators work from your production center – or even from home.  What’s more, your remote operators don’t need to be in the same location; they can be in different rooms, buildings, or in completely different cities!  And by significantly reducing the bandwidth required, our new UI Gateway adds the missing link to making these remote production workflows affordable.

ViBox remote production workflows allow you to:

• Operate safely and effectively in todays new production reality by significantly reducing the number of people required on-site.
• Increase productivity by allowing your operator(s) to produce multiple shows or games consecutively without ever leaving home.
• Reduce travel, shipping, and venue costs by reducing the amount of equipment and space required.
• Maintain production quality by realizing gains in simplicity, flexibility, and costs savings with no trade-offs in the high-quality look and feel of your productions.

Unique Benefits of ViBox Remote Production

• UI operates independently of the backend server – From its ultra-intuitive UI to its common backend software architecture, every aspect of ViBox was designed with remote operation in mind.  By having the UI separated, your operator(s) can be located literally anywhere; in the control room, at the broadcast center, or even at home.  And, with the ability to log-in to ViBox servers at multiple different locations without the need to reconfigure the system, the potential productivity gains are massive.
• Redundant operation – Because the backend server is not dependent on the operator UI to function, if the connection between the two is ever lost your program is not stopped.  Another user can simply log-in to the backend and pick-up the production right where it was left off.
• Small footprint – Unlike other so-called remote production solutions, ViBox requires an extremely small footprint.  In fact, it’s literally just a PC and touchscreen.  No large control panels or racks of gear required!
• Future proof – Our modern software-defined architecture is incredibly scalable and intrinsically migrate-able to the cloud – so your investment is future-proofed.

ViBox Remote Workflow Examples

All ViBox systems by default have remote production capabilities built in. With setup only taking a few minutes, your operators can now be anywhere on the same LAN as the Backend server. By simply logging in, your operators can produce the show in the control room next door, at their desk, or across campus.  Operationally, the Backend sends compressed proxies of all required video sources to the User’s software (that software being the All-in-one, SloMo, or Refbox). That software then sends back the User’s commands for switching the show and the Backend server generates the program feed.

​Remote Production with the UI Gateway

​With the addition of our UI Gateway, the amount of bandwidth required for remote operation can be reduced 20X to as low as 5Mb/s per user. This makes the connection between the Backend and the operators possible over the public Internet. Productions at stadiums, venues and OB trucks with limited network connectivity can now be produced totally remotely, either at home or at the office, with operation being perceptively indiscernible to the Operators.

Networked Servers with the UI Gateway

With the ability to network together V8 and V16 servers, all video sources from one system are available to the users on the other. By pairing with the UI Gateway, it allows for two multi-user productions over the Internet simultaneously. With both V16 servers at the stadium, in this example two operators are working at the Broadcast Center, while a third is working from home.

Learn more about SimplyLive here!

Check out these SimplyLive Tutorials here!

Broadfield is the US Distribution partner for SimplyLive and we are always looking for new resellers. Call 800-634-5178 to learn more.

Check out some highlights from this article from sportsvideo.org to learn more.

After a months-long shutdown, major sports leagues suddenly snapped back into live action in July with MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, WNBA, and others resuming live play for the first time since the pandemic began. As the largest sports rightsholder in North America, ESPN was suddenly forced to deliver hundreds of live events from new venues with myriad new challenges.

Get an inside look at how ESPN’s remote traffic operations department was able to develop new tactics on the fly and create a new transmission scheme to bring live sports back to the masses from the network’s Associate Director, Remote Traffic Operations Adam Whitlock.

Learn more about SimplyLive HERE.

Check out the full article HERE.

One such even is the US Open, which will return this year being streamed by ESPN, with a slightly different workflow than in the past. ESPN will be relying on SimplyLive production systems.

Check out some highlights from an article on sportsvideo.org to learn more.

In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the first big challenges was to make sure that everyone could get onsite. A key technology partner for ESPN is Gravity Media, which provides the equipment and integration support for the Open.

“The Gravity Media team is from the UK, and all of the equipment comes from the UK,” says Cleary. “There were a lot of unknowns about whether we would be able to get their engineers and personnel into the country when there was a travel ban.”

The USTA faced a similar situation and worked closely with various federal, state, and local government agencies to get the necessary clearances.

“Until we knew that we could get people in,” Cleary explains, “we needed a plan B where we would bring in mobile production units to cover Ashe, Armstrong, and Court 17 because we wouldn’t have enough engineers available to build the flypack.”

Gravity Media ultimately was able to get its crew in place, but August brought another challenge: preparation for the US Open had to occur while the Western & Southern Open was being held on the same courts.

“Gravity Media has been a great vendor for us as they were also the provider for ATP Media at the Western & Southern Open,” says Cleary. “The turnaround time from Western & Southern to the US Open was one day less, and we also have maximized the facilities that were being used at the Western & Southern, like the NCP VIII truck, which was used for our ITV coverage.”

ESPN worked closely with the USTA team to draw out the spacing needs to the inch so that every operator could work in a socially distanced way. International rightsholders are not at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, and many personnel who would usually be onsite are working remotely. Those two factors allowed the ESPN and USTA teams to work more safely.

“Wherever there was a seat for an operator in the EVS area or the control room, we would draw a 6-ft. bubble around that position,” says Cleary. “And we did the same thing with those who were in the office space.”

One dramatic change is the expanded space needed for the ACES production team. Last year, for example, nine two-person ACES production teams produced all of the outer-court action from an expanded production area on the second floor of the ESPN administration building. Each two-person team comprised a director/operator of a Simply Live ViBox system and a camera operator controlling four cameras, two of which are automated via the Fletcher Trace player-tracking system. Those nine teams were co-located with two audio rooms crammed with audio operators handling audio needs for coverage of multiple courts.

“This year, we have 10 ACES courts and have socially distanced everyone.  Last year, we fit everyone working the ACES courts inside one large room; this year, we need to spread them all out over the entire second floor of the administration building. Each ACES court has a dedicated, socially distanced workspace with the robo operators and directors sitting 6 ft. apart. The video operators are in their own room, all socially distant, and the two audio operators are in their own dedicated rooms mixing the 10 courts.”

One great thing about ESPN having its own building for domestic- and world-feed production is that the control rooms are larger than the space typically afforded in a production truck.

“Most of those control rooms had only three people in them: the technical director, someone in the director/producer combo role, and a graphics person,” says Cleary. “So we basically spread the SMT graphics people into other areas. Everybody has a home.”

The long days at the Open also mean multiple shifts of production personnel, adding another layer of complexity to sanitizing workstations as well as having relief staff available.

“You unplug your headset and wipe down your equipment, and then the relief or next shift comes in,” says Cleary. “They plug their headset in and know that it is sanitary and clean.”

The biggest production change is that there are only three TV courts: Arthur Ashe, Armstrong Stadium, and Court 17. All the others are produced using the Simply Live ViBox because of the requirement to limit the production team to as few people as possible.

“We’ve also added eight more robotic cameras and a jib camera to Armstrong and changed some of the angles by moving cameras from being on the court to being in the stands,” adds Cleary. “This is a one-year opportunity to try something different that we can’t [do] when there are fans in the stands.”

A four-point camera system is also new in Armstrong and two-point system that has flown from Armstrong across the plaza has been repositioned to fly from the practice courts across the plaza. This helps the team capture a revamped plaza that now features entertainment areas for the players, given that fans are not present.

Check out the full article HERE.

Learn more about SimplyLive HERE.

“We took great pride in being one of the very first networks to come back with live sports. “We never put the ‘gone fishing’ sign up. We have done five remotes since [the pandemic began], and we’re happy with that accomplishment. If we weren’t producing live tennis on our own, we took in live world feeds from Europe. And, if we weren’t doing that, then we had a live studio show where we incorporated some of our talent in studio and other talent via Skype.”

Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel

To make sure the Network was following all safety measures for the WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington, KY they reduced the size of their onsite crew to 22 people. Normally the crew would be 50-60 people. Instead of the 53-footer they usually work out of they used Gravity Media’s Polaris midsize mobile unit. They were also able to reduced bodies onsite because of its Lose Angeles production facility. In L.A the Tennis Channel’s production team used a control room to supplement the feed with graphics, studio inserts, match commentary, and other storytelling elements. Back in Lexington, the Polaris was built around a 16-channel SimpyLive ViBox all-in-one production system.

“[The SimplyLive ViBox] takes a little bit of getting used to because it’s relatively new technology, but it has worked out great so far. Our operators in there have been doing a great job, and it’s accomplishing exactly what we need to accomplish, which is a nice, clean world feed.”

Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel

As the tennis season continues, the network is looking forward to the real “Super Bowl” for the Tennis Channel, The French Open. The French Open will take place in the U.S for the first time at the end of September.

“Most of our focus right now is on the French Open. I think I could speak for everyone in saying we’re really excited to be a part of it. We will fall underneath the [French Tennis Federation] protocols when it comes to safety, and we’ll be scaling back in terms of people. But we’re in a good place, and we’re ready for it. You don’t know what tomorrow brings, but, being in production, we’re used to having to be flexible. So we will be ready, no matter what.”

Bob Whyley, SVP/executive producer, Tennis Channel

Check out the original article here!

Learn more about SimplyLive here!

Simplylive has recently put out a great overview of their UI gateway workflow! Broadfield recently did an entire webinar going over their Varsity Bundles for Remote Production.

See why the UI Gateway is the essential link in the SimplyLive platform to enable flexible and optimized remote workflows for live multi-camera productions.

Watch the original video here!

Check out this Broadfield Webinar about Simplylive here!

Check out this highlight from an article from sportsvideo.org to learn more.

When the coronavirus pandemic brought the sports world to an abrupt halt two months ago, ESPN quickly formed a “Live From Home” committee to evaluate options that would allow on-air talent and crew to produce live studio shows from the safety of their own homes. In the months since, efforts by the committee — led by the Remote Operations department and comprising 30+ staffers from several ESPN departments — have resulted in the launch of more than 60 at-home studios for talent, five remote-commentary kits for live KBO League (Korean Baseball Association) telecasts, and a full REMI production workflow for several ESPN studio shows.

ESPN MLB analyst Eduardo Perez prepares for a KBO telecast using the a remote commentary system at his home (credit: Eduardo Perez/ESPN)

“Obviously, we all continue to plan for live sports to return,” says Chris Calcinari, SVP, remote operations, ESPN. “We’re on calls every day with our production partners and our league partners trying to work through scenarios and plans to come back once it’s safe to hold sporting events. But, in the meantime, we’ve been keeping busy coming up with homegrown, innovative solutions that allow our production teams to work from home. And we believe these innovations will prove to be extremely valuable once live sports return.”

‘Live From Home’ Studios: Keeping Commentators Active
ESPN’s Live From Home studios have become the backbone of the network’s studio operations since reduced staffing measures were put in place at ESPN’s Bristol, CT, campus. Although several shows are still being hosted out of the Bristol studios, nearly all analysts and reporters have been outfitted with robust studio facilities at their homes to enable them to contribute to ESPN programs.

ESPN college hoops analyst Jay Bilas using his remote home studio (credit: Shea Byram/ESPN)

“We had a pretty strong network of home studios even before the pandemic happened,” says Shea Byram, senior remote operations manager, ESPN, “but we’ve taken it to the next level now. Thankfully, we had a good system in place, which allowed us to get things done as quickly as possible and get the [studio kits] out to our talent.

When the sports world suddenly shut down on March 12, Byram and her team anticipated an increased need for at-home studios and ordered gear for an additional 30 studio kits.

A three-person team composed of Byram, Senior Remote Operations Coordinator Ryan Bastek, and Remote Ops Coordinator Leah Morgenstern constructed the kits and deployed them to talent throughout the country. In addition, Byram relied on the entire ESPN remote-operations team to perform the installations at commentators’ homes, walking them through the process via Facetime.

ESPN FC soccer analyst Frank Lebeouf’s at-home studio in Paris (credit: ESPN)

“That has been a lifesaver,” says Byram. “Normally, we are out on the road every week installing home studios at different locations. But, as soon as we got our travel ban, we had to enlist the help of everyone else in remote operations. At this point, we have a nice network of installers that are able to help us. We’re still [installing at-home studios] in the Tri-State area ourselves, but we are getting as much help as we can around the country from the rest of the team.”

The sophistication of the kits varies from a simple system comprising an iPads, lighting lights, and a transmission app to higher-end systems that are equipped with an IP-based PTZ camera and a more advanced transmission device for hosts who are on-air for several hours at a time. The 60+ systems installed over the past two months are in addition to ESPN’s pre-existing installations, and the team will continue to deploy more in the coming weeks.

Check out the full article HERE.

Learn more about SimplyLiv HERE.

Currently, SimplyLive is also shipping their UI gateway. This represents an essential link in the ViBox Platform.

The UI gateway allows for low bandwidth, flexible, and optimized remote workflows for live multi-camera productions.

Sportsvideo.org recently released a great article on SimplyLive. Check out some highlights from that article, below.

Simplylive is now shipping their UI Gateway. The “Gateway” represents the essential link in the Simplylive ViBox platform to enable low bandwidth, flexible and optimized remote workflows for live multi-camera productions.

Background
Producers have long been looking for solutions to reduce location production costs. Finding ways to reduce the amount of crew they take on location has been something customers have requested from equipment manufacturers for years. To date, large sports networks have utilized REMI (remote integration model) systems to feed cameras back to their “at home” production center, thus reducing the number of crew members needed at event venues. But for many producers, a REMI workflow can be prohibitively expensive.

Competitive pressure continues to increase for producers to create more niche sporting events for more niche audiences. Whether programming is delivered through traditional broadcast methods or via the internet, the need to reduce production costs, location costs, and the ability to produce programs with smaller crews located in diverse locations has never been greater. The need is compounded in the current Covid-19 environment. Producers want to work with crew people wherever they may be located.

Simplylive Solution
The Simplylive Vibox platform is the world’s most intuitive and flexible multi-camera production system. With it’s easy to use touch-screen user interface, small footprint, and scalable workflow configurations, every Vibox system is natively remote production capable. By design, the ViBox I/O hardware, the cameras and the switcher or replay operator UIs can be located in entirely different locations provided they are connected to the same network.

The UI Gateway takes the remote production concept one major step further. The “Gateway” manages the bandwidth of the information being sent between the ViBox hardware and the operator UI’s. UI information data can be reduced drastically before being delivered to the operator UIs over the network. With the Gateway, data feeds are user adjustable to between 5Mbps and 50Mbps per UI. The net result is that Simplylive applications can be run remotely over standard, affordable internet connections.

Check out the full article, HERE.

Learn more about SimplyLive HERE.

Check out today’s webinar below!

Demo Videos

We also recorded several live demos with the SimplyLive Varsity bundles, including the RefBox, SloMo and All-In-One Bundles.

RefBox Varsity Bundle Demo:

The RefBox Varsity Bundle is a high quality, compact 8-camera review solution for referee review, sports teams and coach analysis.

SloMo Varsity Bundle

Look like the pros wtih the SloMo Varsity Bundle and boost your program’s production value by adding extensive replay and highlights to your show including super slow motion effects.

All-In-One Varsity Bundle

The All-In-One Varsity Bundle is a portable and compact 6-camera video mixing – with audio mixing, NDI graphics overlay, replays & highlights with super slow-motion recording/playback

Learn more about SimplyLive HERE

The Varsity Sports Bundles include:

• The ViBox All-In-One Varsity Bundle – an all-in-one production solution with applications for video mixing, camera switching, live NDI graphics overlay, super slow-motion replay, audio mixing and content export
• The ViBox SloMo Varsity Bundle – A super slow-motion replay system for in-game production and highlights creation
• The RefBox 4 & Refbox 8 Varsity Bundles – Cost-effective video review solutions for official replay and post-game coaching analysis
• The ViBox Micro Varsity Bundle – A single-channel production controller for adding audio or graphics to a downstream program feed

All bundles include a compact hardware unit optimized for 4- or 6-camera setups, and support baseband, IP and hybrid workflow. A simple setup requires adding just cameras and touchscreen monitors to get started.

Benefits to schools include:

• Schools can easily train anyone to produce live sports in a few minutes. Anyone who uses a smartphone or a tablet can learn the touchscreen commands of a ViBox system to produce live sports.
• Schools can hit their budget requirements by only adding the modules needed and expand later. System bundles also include extras capabilities like audio mixing software and content exporting software for additional value.
• Schools can grow their audience engagement with professional video features like super slow-motion replays in both the All-In-One and SloMo bundle.
• Schools can live stream games as they happen for remote audience, with simultaneous recording and export for on-demand or offline viewing.
• Schools will own their own content production and control their video assets so they can reuse video for future programs, recruitment videos and player skills improvement.
• With RefBox, leagues and schools can be ready for official replay from all angles as play review is adopted. They can leverage the same system for post-game coaching analysis and player development.

“I recognized before joining Simplylive that ViBox and RefBox would be perfect for High Schools and Colleges needing to produce high-quality sports programming,” said Chuck Silber, Chief Revenue Officer, Simplylive. “With its intuitive touch screen interface, small hardware footprint and system flexibility, plus the added features included in these bundles, this will be the easiest way for schools to produce truly professional-quality content at a price they can afford.”

Check out the full article HERE

Learn more about Simplylive HERE