The Vendors Powering NBC’s Winter Olympics

NBCUniversal is providing coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing from Feb. 2 to 20, featuring a Winter Olympics-record 2,800-plus hours of coverage across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.

Among the many tech vendors making the coverage possible are:

Avid, providing media creation and storage solutions. NBC Sports’ broadcast teams are using Avid’s MediaCentral platform, Media Composer editing software and shared storage solutions from its International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., to drive remote and on-site production workflows for its production across multiple platforms.

Calrec, providing remote audio workflows.

Chyron, providing systems for live, on-air graphics with integrated data as well as systems to drive graphics displays to studio video walls.

EVS, providing LiveCeption Signature solution.

Grass Valley, providing a range of IP and SDI solutions. NBC Sports has been using a suite of IP and SDI routers and Densité signal management products for the last seven Olympic and Paralympic Games. To manage the intercontinental scale and complexity of a production of this size, Grass Valley’s IP technology, including its Dynamic System Orchestrator, will power NBC Sports’ coverage of the Winter Games, including remote production from its International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. NBC Sports maximizes the benefits of the IP technology through this unique configuration, control and monitoring solution specifically designed for the dynamic orchestration of broadcast media networks across SDI, hybrid or pure IP. NBC Sports’ solutions pair with the provider’s IP technology providing agile and responsive processing in the demanding environment of live sports production.

Harmonic, providing its Edge media processing solution that NBC Sports is using to deliver live 4K HDR broadcasts with immersive audio to its owned stations and affiliates. The Harmonic-enabled broadcast distribution at scale in UHD HDR spans the full course of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from Beijing. Harmonic’s XOS Edge solution streamlines all Olympic feeds from Beijing, enabling live 4K HDR broadcasts of the Opening Ceremony and nightly primetime coverage of the Winter Games, while ensuring the highest possible quality for HDR audiences. It is deployed at participating affiliate stations for automatic switching between UHD HDR for Olympics coverage and HD for local news reporting.

Leader Electronics, providing waveform monitors and rasterizers, along with rack-mount hybrid rasterizers, for quality control operations at NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., and on-location throughout the Winter Games. Accommodating all the latest signal types, including 4K/UHDTV and HDR, across both SDI and IP-based workflows, the Leader gear will enable NBC Sports’ comprehensive measurement and quality control for all variety of audio and video signals.

MediaKind, providing video contribution and distribution solutions. NBC Sports is using MediaKind’s range of video processing and advanced modular receiver technologies to support NBC Sports’ high quality, low latency, and reliable video distribution to viewers throughout the United States. MediaKind’s specialist engineers will also assist NBC Sports with the installation of equipment and system setup, and be present on-site to offer multi-site support throughout the event.

Planar, providing fine pitch LED video wall display technology.

RTS, providing intercom hardware that leverages RTS technologies including OMNEO IP high-quality audio for local communication, RVON for international comms, RTS Trunking and VLink.

Signiant, providing intelligent file transfer software to move petabytes of HDR and 4K footage from Beijing back to its headquarters in Stamford, Conn., immediately upon capture. Signiant’s patented acceleration technology enables seamless transfer of the footage over standard IP networks, eliminating latency and packet loss, so that NBC Sports’ editors in Stamford can begin creating highlights almost immediately as the action is happening. The software also allows for content to be transferred quickly, easily and securely back to the International Broadcast Center in Beijing.

Sony, providing production gear including more than 100 Sony cameras to capture footage at event venues and record athlete interviews, press conferences and other assignments that require studio and portable recording and capture in Beijing. A selection of the Sony cameras, including the HDC-3500, will be used for IP-enabled transmission, while the rest will operate in SDI.

NBC Sports is also incorporating more than 300 of Sony’s professional monitors, including the BVM-HX310 4K HDR master monitor for critical picture evaluation and PVM-X Series 4K HDR TRIMASTER monitors for on set and location monitoring. Additionally, other HD LCD monitors from the lightweight LMD series are being used in the studio and field.

NBC Sports is also using Sony’s Professional Services Group, offering an extensive network of resources to provide 24/7 support for all broadcasting equipment and operations, as well as the integration of the International Broadcast Center in Beijing, reinforcement for the competition venues, and studios at NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Conn.

TAG Video Systems, providing MCM MultiChannel software-based monitoring and multiviewing solution for complete end-to-end monitoring of their video network, delivering ultra-low latency of uncompressed ST 2110 and JPEG-XS signals in Beijing for live production, monitoring and probing of the transport between the host nation and the United States, and monitoring of the broadcasts over the Peacock OTT platform and CDNs.

Telestream, providing media capture, automated media processing, closed captioning, and test and measurement equipment. NBC Sports is using Telestream’s Lightspeed Live Capture and Vantage to deliver a unique, mixed HDR/SDR conversion workflow for  content produced in HDR. The NBC Sports Advanced Technology group worked with Telestream to develop custom color LUTs (Look Up Tables) that are used within Vantage to ensure the most accurate color processing pipeline throughout the production and postproduction process. NBC is also using Telestream’s caption authoring and editing product in conjunction with Telestream Cloud’s Timed Text Speech service — an AI-powered transcription service — as well as Telestream 4K/8K HDR waveform monitors that support easy alignment and confidence monitoring with both local and remote operation.