The freestyle event of the year

Launched in Rhode Island in 1995, the X Games brings together the best of alternative practices, such as skateboard, mountain bike or rollerblade in summer, and snowboard, slopestyle or snowmobile in winter, for top-level competitions. The Winter X Games is a competition compiled of the greatest winter action sport athletes from around the world. Each year, thousands of fans gather around the event spots and hundreds of thousands of viewers follow their favourite athletes live all over the world. This winter, and for the very first time, Winter X Games were organized outside the United State. The first edition of the Winter X Games Europe, held in Tignes, France, included eight different competitions, including Ski and Snowboard SuperPipe and Slopestyle as well as a Snowmobile demonstration.

NewTek TriCaster™TCXD300 and 3PLAY™ replace live TV trucks at ESPN Winter X-Games in Aspen

Fans of extreme winter sports making the trek to Aspen, Colorado for the ESPN Winter X Games 14 could enjoy an in-venue video experience powered, for the first time, by two NewTek TriCaster integrated switcher and production unit. “Instead of having a production truck”, says Philip Nelson, SVP, strategic development, for NewTek, “they used a TriCaster, our 3 PLAY replay system, and Live Text for character generation”.

Three people worked on each TriCaster, with two units serving video out to video boards at three venues. The system included the two TriCaster, two 3PLAY systems, the Live Text character generator, and an SDI router. The TriCaster’s three inputs handle three incoming sources: one from the SDI router; one from an ENG camera used to interview athletes after a run or for other unique content; and the third from the 3PLAY system. The TriCaster integrated iVGA scan converter was also used to deliver social-networking content to the scoreboards, converting it from PC-friendly resolution to scoreboard-friendly resolution.

Bringing the audience closer to the action

“Winter X Games is the world’s premier action sports event and our fans expect us to push the limit not only in sports but in the fan experience,” said Kate Nelligan, live event programming producer, ESPN X Games. “NewTek TriCaster and 3PLAY allow us to produce more live exclusive content for each venue, bringing the fans even closer to the action.”

“NewTek TriCaster TCXD300 and 3PLAY give venue and event management the ability to provide audiences with HD live venue video and instant replay coverage of the highest quality, without incurring the expense and resources of traditional live TV trucks,” said Philip Nelson. “At the same time, this maintains the network-quality that audiences have come to expect from large broadcasters, such as ESPN.”

NewTek TriCaster™ TCXD300 powers venue video at the first edition of Winter X Games® Europe

NewTek TriCaster TCXD300 high definition/standard definition (HD/SD) portable live production system was also chosen to power all of the venue video at the first edition of the Winter X Games Europe, held in Tignes, France.

On the spot, the audience cannot fully visualize the performances of the athletes as they ride down the slopes or half pipes. In the control tower, the TriCaster team directed the screens show, allowing the fans to get closer to the action.

“On the heels of Winter Games 14 and the Vancouver Winter Olympics, we anticipate highly skilled competitions as we unite our world-class X Games organization with Canal + Events - France’s leading pay TV broadcaster - and local expertise of Tignes for the first Winter X Games Europe”, said Kate Nellingan. “With NewTek TriCaster, we can create exclusive live content, delivering the ultimate experience to fans attending this premier event”.

“Using NewTek TriCaster TCXD300, Winter X Games Europe can deliver HD live venue video, maintaining the network-quality coverage that audiences expect from this world sports leader,” said Philip Nelson. “They can achieve this with just one portable live production unit, instead of having to incur the expense and space needed for multiple pieces of equipment.”

With TriCaster TCXD300, ESPN and Canal+ Events could simultaneously produce, live stream, broadcast and project HD and SD network-style productions. A single operator or small team can create sophisticated productions while switching between multiple cameras, virtual inputs and live virtual sets, while automatically inserting clips, titles and motion graphics with multichannel effects. In addition to Winter X Games Europe, TriCaster is used by sports organizations, broadcasters, schools, houses of worship, government agencies and others to provide a new level of extended programming and content to their audiences.

The Setup at Tignes

One TriCaster XD300 - TriCaster input 1 - Canal + broadcast linecut TriCaster input 2 - Scoring & Timing feed (Leaderboard) - TriCaster is feeding the LED video screens in the venues - DDR in TriCaster is feeding Logo loop, Music Videos, Commercials, etc..