KBS Adopts NTT Encoder/Decoder for the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Broadcasting of outstanding video to over 200 countries and regions worldwide
October 19, 2011
Broadcasting International Sports Events
NTT Electronics’ HDTV/SDTV encoder HVE9100S and decoder HVD9100S, which are both compliant with AVC/H.264, have been used as video transmission codec systems by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) to broadcast the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics. NTT Electronics is proud to support the broadcasting with our equipment that delivers videos of high quality and stability.
The IAAF World Championships in Athletics is an international sporting event that is almost as famous as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The 13th Championships, which took place between August 27th and September 4th, 2011 in Daegu, Korea, and the international TV feed ( * 1) from the event was broadcast to over 200 countries and regions. KBS was responsible for the creation of the international TV feed and was the exclusive broadcaster for the event in Korea.
To broadcast this event, KBS sent more than 550 employees and staff members, 116 cameras, and 10 broadcasting vans to Daegu. More than 15 NTT Electronics’ codec systems were used in the relay broadcasting.
*1 If television stations from around the world were allowed to broadcast themselves events that attract great international attention, that would mean there would be many hundreds of cameras potentially interrupting the running of such events. For this reason, the host broadcaster for such events creates the international TV feed to be used by other broadcasters throughout the world.
Why the HV9100 series was selected to be used in broadcasting of the Championships
NTT Electronics’ video codec has a great track record at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and other international sporting events that require high performance and reliability.
Mr. Jong-Kap Kim, Executive Director of the Outside Broadcast Department at KBS, made the following comment:
"The decisive factor in our selection of the HV9100 series was the advantage it offers us thanks to low-delay and high quality videos with great stability it makes possible."
“During the Championships, we were able to transmit high quality videos with outstanding support from NTT Electronics’ agent, enabling the broadcasting to go smoothly.”
Tomohiko Arikawa, Director of the Multimedia System Group in the Digital Video Business Group at NTT Electronics, had the following to say:
“NTT Electronics’ codec helped the transmission of the excitement of the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics to over 200 countries and regions after our success at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa.”
“KBS has already introduced the HV91000 series at all its branch stations and is making the utmost use of this high quality series for its daily news and event broadcasting. KBS has expressed its strong trust in the high operability of our product.”
“Our low-delay coding technology enables smooth communication between studio and stadium, while our other coding technologies enable the accurate visualization of marathons and other fast-moving events, and the high stability of our equipment makes it possible to provide extremely high quality videos that are greatly thought of by stations and their viewers throughout the world.”
“NTT Electronics will continue to provide real-time high-quality video and excitement through our video technologies.”
This is a flow chart of the competition broadcasting for the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Broadcasts are relayed from the KBS Broadcasting Center to locations throughout the world via broadcasters in each country. (Click the image to enlarge)
HVE9100S (AVC/H.264 encoder; three units at the top center of the photo) and HVD9100S (AVC/H.264 decoder; two units at the bottom center of the photo) are set up in the center of the broadcasting control panel in a large trailer OB van.
Staff in the KBS Daegu broadcast station control room checking the relayed marathon video taken by cameras on the OB van and motorcycles.
Equipment rack with the NTT Electronics codec installed at the KBS Daegu broadcast station. (four units at the top right of the photo)
OB van used for marathon broadcasting that is equipped with the NTT Electronics codec systems.
Client Profile
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) is a public broadcasting corporation that in 1927 was the first to provide radio broadcasts in Korea, and the first to provide television broadcasting there in 1961. KBS currently runs three television and seven radio channels, as well as four DMB channels (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting: digital broadcasts for vehicles). KBS also actively exports its programs outside Korea, and it is a popular station across the rest of Asia.
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