SVG Year in Review: January

2012 proved to be another banner year for SVG and the sports video production community, as television ratings for sports properties continued to soar almost across the board, multiscreen viewing matured well beyond its infancy, and the technological innovations behind these telecasts and video streams progressed at an epic clip.

More than two dozen new HD mobile production trucks hit the road in 2012, each seemingly more impressive than the last, as production technology vendors continue to raise the bar for the high-quality, ultra-efficient gear inside those mobile units.

And it was, of course, a year of big events, highlighted by the Summer Olympics in London, which broke ratings records and debuted a host of new technologies that seemed unfathomable just four years ago in Beijing.

This special edition of the SVG Insider provides a month-by-month guide to the top events and most intriguing sports video production stories of 2012. Click on each month’s headline to access links to the full SVG stories.

The year started off with a bang, as a jam-packed New Years Day featured a host of top-flight college football bowls and the annual (errr… not in 2013, but previously annual) NHL Winter Classic, as well as the debut of the NBC Sports Network, which officially made the transition from the Versus brand on Jan. 1. ESPN followed up later that week with a top-notch BCS Championship telecast and one of the highest-profile ESPN 3D productions to date in New Orleans.

ESPN 3D followed up the BCS Championship with a first-of-its-kind 5D production (a workflow in which the 2D and 3D shows share the same trucks, crew, and cameras) at the Winter X Games in Aspen, CO. With plenty of help from Cameron-Pace Group, ESPN and ESPN 3D were able to deliver some of the most breathtaking X coverage ever – and all in 5.1 surround sound.

SVG’s Ken Kerschbaumer once again headed west for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which was dominated by talk of the second screen, mobile DTV, next-generation smart TVs, massive high-resolution displays, 4K technology, and a lingering – but not quite as red-hot as in years past – buzz around 3D, including a live ESPN Sports Nation telecast from the showfloor. Check out Ken’s in-depth reflections on the show HERE and HERE.

SVG finished the month off with its second-annual Sports Entertainment Production Summit in Los Angles, which addressed the ever-growing convergence between the worlds of sports and entertainment production. The event was highlighted by a pair of keynote speeches from former HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg and Jim Steeg, widely considered the father of the modern-day Super Bowl. CLICK HERE for SVG’s full coverage of the Summit.

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