Qatar has prepared broadcasting excellence for the World Cup that was never seen in any previous World Cup. The ‘HostBroadcast Service’ working under FIFA’s World Cup division has prepared the latest systems to bring this audio-visual magic to the audience. And working with a team of around 2,500 people is enough to get a rough idea about it. Some of the advantages may be known:

∙ Six world renowned directors in the leadership ranks

Production teams are divided into two competitive clusters. These teams will travel to all eight stadiums. They are led by six world-class directors. François Laneau, Grant Phillips, Jamie Oakfed, Laurent Lachond, Sera Cheadle and Sebastian von Friberg are in the lead.

∙ Stadiums are camera friendly

The standard camera plan has 42 cameras. This includes super slow motion and ultra slow motion cameras. All the movements of the key players will be captured by these cameras. In addition to this camera setup, there are several RF cameras. Additional cameras can be used to track fan movements, show teams arriving on the field, conduct VIP interviews, player interviews, etc. inside and outside the stadium.

∙ UHD/HDR transmission

The biggest change this year in terms of broadcast quality will be in the single unified layer capture/transmission workflow. This applies to all 64 matches. UHD/HDR coverage is provided. A multilateral and dual layer approach was taken for the 2018 competitions. But now, with the advancements in technology, it has become possible to combine many things. Shooting and broadcasting footage is now consolidated into a single workflow.

In terms of HDR, things are made easier by using Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). HLG has also been used to solve color contrast problems between standard definition and high definition. UHD/HDR video is streamed from select cameras. It has a frame rate of 50 per second. Whereas 1080p video will shoot at 150 frames per second and above. Replay and recording are in HDR. All such cameras utilize the HDR opto-electronic transfer function. Shading is in SDR. The SDR signals are then down-mapped from the HDR material and transmitted.

At the heart of live content distribution is the multi-feed system. This is used to provide feeds to the companies that have acquired the broadcast rights. This will facilitate the broadcast of the game and pre- and post-game interviews. Multilateral feeds will also be broadcast along with it. It will also include video from select cameras. It is available in various formats. This feed is provided in 12G-SDI, UHD/HDR bt.2020, up to 2160p/50. This will also include an extended stadium feed. All such feeds will be provided to broadcast rights holders. It will be offered in 3G SDI-HDR (BT.2020), 3G SDI SDI (REC.709), 3G-SDI SDI (REC.709) and HD SDI SDI (REC.709), all featuring 16 embedded audio channels.

∙ Lineup of feeds

1. Extended stadium feed

2. Extended Basic International Feed

3. Tactical and additional content feed

4. Team A and Team B feeds

5. Player A and Player B feeds

6. Fanfeeds

7. Action clips

8. Emotion clips

9. Permanent Highlights

∙ Service via cloud

With the introduction of cloud-centric media servers, things have been made even easier. Feeds will be provided through FIFA Max (Media Asset Exchange) to companies that have purchased the broadcast rights. This means that such companies have a large pool of content to choose from. Its 2022 version can accommodate up to 6,000 hours of content at a time. All of these will be available to anyone with FIFA’s content interface.

In addition to this, companies that have purchased broadcast rights can access content even if IBC does not have an office at the International Broadcast Centre. Leverage great content created by production professionals thousands of miles away. Content is stored in XAVC-1 1080p/50. Servers can also ingest and deliver HDR. The preview will also be available in standard definition.

∙ Audio

One of the things that makes this broadcast stand out is the excellent audio. A stereo mix will be made available to companies that have purchased the broadcast rights. Also, 5.1 surround sound will be provided. Apart from this, there will be 5.1.4 ImmersiveMix sound. Two sound galleries have been prepared at the International Broadcast Center for this purpose. Each stadium is lined with an array of 8 capsule microphones to capture the best sound. Also, there is a 3 dimensional microphone array near the audience.

This excellent audio package has appropriate premix layers and audio objects for each audio channel. They also have various presets. Better formats such as MPEG-H and AC-4 are also offered to broadcast rights holders. By utilizing these, one can listen to the audio according to the individual’s interest. It even allows you to control the volume of each component in the audio differently.