Automated Production 101 – What’s It All About

It’s been around for a few years now and is being employed more and more in sports. Chances are that you have already seen sporting events that were produced on automated systems. But what is automated production exactly? Where did it begin? How does it work? Is it really fully automated? Who actually uses it? Where is it going? Stay tuned for the scoop on this fascinating technology that is bringing more and more sports to the fans.

How did it begin?

Pixellot pioneered the concept of automated sports production solutions as an affordable alternative to traditional video capture, production, and distribution systems.

It started out when one of the company’s founders, frustrated by continually missing his sons’ games decided there must be a way to record games and see them from afar or later on. That led to the technology that today produces, and streams games, data and highlights to any device, live or on-demand. Today, automated production uses fixed or portable cameras to capture entire games, following the action and giving a similar viewing experience to what you are used to seeing on TV.

So, how does automated production work?

The easiest way to explain automated production is by comparing it to what it is replacing. Today, in order to capture a live sporting event, you need several camera operators and a production crew to shoot the action on the field or court. All of those feeds go to a production studio or booth or OB van (short for Outside Broadcasting van). An OB Van is essentially a mobile studio that mixes everything, from sound, to visuals, special effects, graphics and commentary live as the game is occurring.

If you get the picture, in order to produce a typical sports event that we watch on TV, many people need to be directly involved in making it happen. Employing numerous people and expensive equipment costs a lot of money. So basically, your average live sports broadcast ends up costing a lot of money to produce. That is the reason why live broadcasts are mainly available only for the top league games and high-interest sporting events that have huge budgets and can afford the production costs. But what about all the many, many games of lower leagues, women sports, niche sports and amateur and little leagues?

Pixellot’s end to end solution

Pixellot is one of the few vendors who offers a complete A to Z live sports solution that is cost effective. This begins with cameras that capture the action, AI software and machine learning that adapt to over 17 different types of sports to deliver a real-life production feel, technical optimizations that make it easy to capture high quality HD video no matter what the lighting conditions are. Our proprietary video compression provides stable, low-latency streaming and even with low bandwidth. Pixellot recently launched their newest generation OTT platform that makes it easy to stream and monetize games. Additional tools include full analytics for coaching and team and player improvement.

The 17 different sports type covered including: baseball, basketball, soccer, American football, rugby, ice hockey, field hockey, roller hockey, futsal, handball, volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, beach volleyball, lacrosse, snooker, softball floorball. And the best thing of all is that all the work is done automatically, without the need for a single operator!

Pixellot Solution sets

Pixellot solutions cover three major areas:

Capturing and Streaming – Pixellot has two types of cameras: installed cameras that are permanently installed at a venue and provide a panoramic view of the whole venue, and portable cameras that can be taken from pitch to pitch and easily set up using a tripod.

Monetizing – Pixellot developed an OTT (Over the Top) sports broadcasting solution that provides live and on-demand streaming enabling each team and club to centralize videos and share with players, but also to charge per views to bring in greatly needed revenue. The system also incorporates graphics and advertising seamlessly into the production.

Analysis and breakdowns – A rich set of coaching tools for team and player development are provided through our VidSwap solution among them; game breakdowns, heat maps, live tagging, team and player analytics and more.

Who uses Pixellot equipment?

The markets employing Pixellot technologies include: broadcasters and distributors, production companies, leagues and federations, rightsholders, venue and facility owners, and clubs and teams at all levels, from pro to grassroots.

The company’s solutions sets are available for both B2B and B2C applications, and are utilized by professional, semi-professional and amateur sports teams, high school, college and grassroot leagues, women’s and niche sport leagues. Examples include: NFHS streaming network, SE – SportsEngine, California Collegiate Athletic Association, Nike High School Basketball Tournament in china

Some examples of leading sports clubs such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea Football Club, and FC Bayern München. Every second-division Scottish Professional Football League match will be broadcast internationally, Polands 2 Liga, The Football Association of Ireland FAI, Liga MX, NBA summer league, MLB’s Draft League and Appalachian League Broadcasts, full coverage of all top league Hungarian ice hockey Hockey, leagues in Canada, basketball leagues around the world… All told, there are thousands of installed systems in indoor and outdoor stadiums in 57 countries around the world.

The world of sports

Today, Pixellot is the largest producer in the world of live sporting events. With over 100,000 live games produced last month and over 1,1000,000 games broadcast, Pixellot produces and streams more sports than networks such as: ESPN, FOX, CNN, Sky Sports, etc.

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