Fox Sports Australia First To Use EVS Epsio Graphics System

Fox Sports Australia has successfully operated the first ever EVS sport-graphics system, Epsio, fully integrated to the original LSM replay controller, for live inserts of a virtual offside line during the soccer match between Australia and Indonesia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on March 3.

Epsio is a new sport-analysis tool that adds virtual offside lines and other analysis effects on live PGM. The system is designed to be operated using the existing EVS XT[2]-LSM remote controllers operated for live replays and slow-motion sequences in most OB and live production facilities.

On Site Broadcasting Australia (OSB), in charge of the Football and Rugby Union outside-broadcast production facilities for Fox Sports, used the new graphic solution from EVS for the first time at the Qualifier soccer match for the Asian Cup between Australia and Indonesia in early March. The new system marked the offside positions of the players on the pitch with virtual graphic overlays created during the live production.

The EVS set up in the OB truck included four HD XT[2] servers, connected on the XNet[2] network and controlled by LSM remote systems for slow-motion replay actions and highlight edits. The Epsio graphic system was added to one of the servers and managed using one of the existing LSM controllers, allowing the operator to manually create the virtual graphics in just a few seconds.

“Although several tests have been organised by EVS since the introduction of the new solution in September 2009 during the IBC show in Amsterdam, this was the first time that Epsio was fully integrated to the existing XT[2]-LSM based solution,” says Luc Doneux, general manager, Asia & Pacific & Big Events, for EVS.

Todd Procter, Manager, Outside Broadcast Projects, at Fox Sports, “We needed a simple and efficient system that is able to immediately recognise the playing field during actions and draw the offside line along the borders of the playing field.” He adds, “One of the real advantages of the system is that you don’t need an additional operator or controller to create an offside-line graphic. The graphics-creation operation is extremely simple and can be managed by any LSM operator after a few minutes of training.”

The system is managed through the implementation of the new Epsio software integrated to the LSM systems, allowing operators to manually trigger the offside line with the jog wheel of the remote controller. After a one-time-per event calibration wizard, where each camera sends images of the playing field with predefined angles into the system, Epsio is able to instantly and automatically recognize the playing field during actions and virtually draw the offside line along the borders of the playing field. The configuration allows the producer to automatically see a screenshot with the offside line, so that he can decide whether or not to play out the entire action with the offside-line effects.