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Imagine a live broadcast in which an onboard camera was attached to a motorcycle tank. It's easy. You see it all the time. A small so-called sports camera. A shooting axis... An image as close as possible to the live action. Take a breath... Now imagine that a camera allows you to see the biker in front, then the biker next door getting passed... and finally the biker who has passed... So there would be a movement in the image from the front to the back from the motorcycle's tank. LIVE during the Le Mans 24 hours race?!
Some time ago we proposed this to you thanks to the treatment of a 360° image in post-production. At that time it was not possible to do it live...
Our goal for more than a year is to make this idea lie so that we can bring novelty to live broadcast productions.
Here, we will tell you about our work in this field.
A 360° camera to change our viewpoint
Some time ago we showed you our use of small 360° cameras to make innovative embedded images. We had fixed the 360° camera on the tank of a racing motorcycle and then cut this spherical image into a 16:9 TV format in post-production. We used it in reports broadcast on France 2 and France 3.
Our goal today is to provide these new points of view live, from places where a cameraman can't stand: a motorcycle during a race, a skydiver during his jump over Paris on July 14th, a cyclist in a peloton of the Tour de France ...
The proposal is to position one and only one 360° camera, and then offer several different points of view around the camera. As it films all around it, we exploit this image by choosing the axes we want. It is also possible to create movements in the image. Pan, zoom, tilt up/down ... All the movements you usually make with a classic 16:9 camera or any other shooting tool (smartphone, camera). For example, in a Formula 1 race, having a 360° camera placed somewhere between the driver and the track and taking advantage of it to make a movement that would go from the driver's point of view to an image of the driver himself. We start from the track, we see the track which is swallowed by the race car, then we turn around to see the pilot in his driving and his concentration.
The Elements of Success
For this to be possible live it requires several elements:
-A 360° camera with a minimum quality of 8K.
-A 5G transmission medium capable of transporting this 360 8K image with the same 360 8K quality on arrival.
-A program that allows to cut the 360° image into 16/9 streams (images).
-The reception of the 16/9 stream in the mixer of a control room in order to mix it with the other video streams coming from the "classic" cameras used for the usual production on your TV programs
The Medialab team started working with the Idviu team to develop a 360° image cutting program. Today, Idviu's work allows to cut this 360° image in 16/9 live. The program even allows to make 4 16/9 cuts. That is to say that one can choose 4 different shooting axes at the same time from the original spherical image. Imagine this 360° camera on the Formula 1. I can have at the same time a 16/9 image that shows me the driver, another one that shows me the track in front of him, a third one that allows me to make a movement of the driver towards the track in front of him and a last one that can film the car that overtakes the Formula 1. It's as if I had 4 sports cameras in the same place but which film in all the directions that I want.
As these 4 video streams are like so many additional cameras, a director can mix them with the usual cameras found in live shows
Phase 1: Tests de la prise de vue 360 jusqu’à la régie en 16/9
Nous avons avancé en validant les point un par un.
Nous avons programmé des tests sur un plateau à France.tv pour pouvoir confirmer le fonctionnement de la chaine entre la prise de vue 360° et le mélangeur d’une régie qui permet la réalisation d’une émission TV.
We used a set from an existing show on France Télévisions. And we deployed the camera and equipment to cut the 360° image. We cut 4 times. The four video streams were sent to a switching grid. It's as if you have a lot of takes that allow you to transport the image to the switcher. This switching grid allows you to send the video streams one by one in channels that you can then choose to put on the air. But before that, like all the images from the cameras on a TV set, the streams go through a color corrector that harmonizes the colors, contrast and brightness of all the cameras. This was an important step since 360° cameras do not provide the same images as the usual set cameras.
To choose the 16:9 cuts, we had a joystick that allows us to manage each of the 4 streams one by one. By selecting a stream, we can do what we want with it. Wide shot. Tight shot. Movement in the image. And each stream can then be used on the air via the mixer. You can use all 4 streams at the same time. We can have different plane axes on each of the streams.
Phase 2: 5G transmission
To go further, we have done additional tests including the 5G transmission in partnership with Orange and the FFT during the fortnight of Roland Garros.
A 360° camera was positioned on the Suzanne Lenglen court. A 5G antenna located above the court was able to provide a signal to transport a 360° image in 8K quality.
The Idviu team was in the "TV zone" of Roland Garros in the Innovation and Development department of France.tv.
They had a 5G Orange box at their disposal to retrieve the 360° live video. They cut the 360° image coming from the Suzanne Lenglen course into 4 streams 16/9. As in phase 1.
These 4 video signals were sent by wired link (SDI) in a France.tv coach that was at Roland Garros. The Jumeau 2 bus from Lyon to be exact (the internal means of production of France.tv, also called the factory, has 7 HD control units with complete teams of technicians in operation notably on international sporting events such as the Tour de France, the Tournament of the VI nations or Roland Garros). This bus also received the feeds from the "classic" cameras installed all around the Suzanne Lenglen court.
In the same way as in phase 1, a video operator was in charge of correcting the colorimetry of the 4 images coming from the 360° camera in order to homogenize them in relation to the other cameras of the Suzanne Lenglen court of Roland Garros. Knowing that in this case, we were outside and that we had to manage the sun or the clouds. During phase 1 we were on a stage where the lighting is defined and does not change.
In the end, the complete chain between the shooting and the live broadcast could be executed, piece by piece, for a result that could be used on air in several shot values.
At the end of phase 2, our project was taking more and more shape.
Conclusions of the experience
Of course, we cannot neglect that it will take a 360° camera quality higher than 8K to get good results on tighter shots. To do better we will need an original 360 picture quality of 16k or 32k. The cameras will have to be smaller and lighter. And above all it will have to be mobile (with a battery that lasts for hours) with a 5G transmission capacity of quality and stable in motion.
And then, we haven't told you about the sound yet. We are working on this important point which will make the realization of the project even better.
All these tests lead us to conclude that the project is promising and that it has a bright future ahead of it.
The icing on the cake? We have validated the possibility of using 16/9 images coming from a 360° live camera. Especially the Little Planet (round image on the picture above) that a set camera cannot provide. This can allow new writings during live programs. Several directors who have attended the tests say they are interested. There's nothing left to do ! If you have any questions about this project, do not hesitate to write to us ✍️
