Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 3, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
From February 13, Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne will broadcast its sports programmes, including the flagship “Sportschau Bundesliga” with its reports from Bundesliga football stadiums, in HD. For this purpose, the new central HD control room at WDR in Cologne was commissioned in mid-January. The central element in the transition to high-definition television is Quantel’s sQ Server technology, which covers the entire production in HD from ingest to playout.
As a prime television product, sport was the first choice for the “Conversion of VPS Sport to HD” project. From mid-February, the system will reproduce “Sportschau” with reports from the Bundesliga in HD at weekends.
Since 2003, WDR has produced Sportschau Bundesliga for the whole of ARD on Quantel’s tapeless sQ systems. On the basis of its good experience with this solution, WDR also chose the Quantel system for the HD conversion. Quantel was awarded the contract as general contractor for this project last autumn. Quantel was supported by experienced Cologne television outfitter Wellen + Nöthen, which supplied all necessary HD video/audio elements.
In converting to HD, Quantel essentially faced two different tasks. On the one hand, the Quantel systems had to be able to process the higher data density without difficulty. On the other, existing production processes were not to be changed. The existing Quantel structure is ideally suited to this, because the sQ server system is capable of meeting HD requirements at every working level.
The Quantel system was expanded with the necessary HD elements in summer 2009. During the successive conversion from SD to HD, production could continue in SD without difficulty. With Quantel’s completely tapeless sQ Enterprise system, all desired formats can be generated in mixed operation for Sportschau production, which also supplies other ARD broadcasters with material, without conversion problems and storage-consuming copies. The reports can be played out in the desired output format with a simple output command, considerably simplifying workflows across WDR’s entire sports production.
“With our sQ solution, WDR is well prepared for the switch to HD,” explains Thomas Birner, Director of Sales, Central Europe and Middle East. “The system is future-proof and, with the ability to handle every format at every working level, offers the optimum basis for implementing HD. At the end of the day, however, nationwide implementation of HD also depends on many other parties. Alongside acquisition, cable and satellite operators also face major tasks.”
