In largely prerecorded sessions, SMPTE’s annual conference this week has drawn about 1,300 attendees and had a focus on esports. Using the cloud for everyday production was another emphasis. Above, the Virtual Tour of Flanders esports event, produced by race organizer Flanders Classics, cycling simulator firm Bkool, cloud production vendor Kiswe and VRT’s sports channel Sporza, featured 13 professional riders racing a simulated course on stationary “roller” setups at home.
Broadcasters such as Sinclair and Vice are increasingly shifting playout functions to cloud platforms, seeking more flexibility and agility there and testing the waters with disaster recovery strategies, OTT channels and diginets. “In the cloud, you can build up a whole separate system in parallel, test it, then cut over to it,” says one consultant.
