CRICKET

Thousands of miles away Tendulkar played a cover-drive and the very next moment (actually it’s 4 seconds after he hit it) you saw it on your screen. Have you ever thought how it happens? Ever thought how the pictures travel millions of miles and comes to you?

These days we take it for granted that whenever/wherever any cricket match is played we can enjoy it in the comfort of our living room couch. The kind of technology that goes into making this possible is not funny, and not to mention the human skill and effort required along with it. Here’s how it all happens:

The Cameras



Starting with the video capturing, there are at least 16-21 cameras used on the cricket field placed at different locations to bring you the various views. These could be as small as a stump camera and as advanced as the super slow motion camera used behind the bowlers arm to provide high quality replays. All cameras are connected to a video mixer inside the Out-Broadcast (OB) van. The director and the operator sitting on the mixer can switch to any of these cameras while broadcasting.

	Virtual advertising In future, ads you see on stadium billboards may not really exist, but are inserted virtually Cricket: From Stadium to Living Room (pdf format) Inside the OB Van This plays a key role in gathering video feed from various cameras and audio like the commentary and finally broadcasting it How Hawk Eye Works This technology uses a special image-processing system that helps umpires take LBW decisions Virtual Spectator Using 3-D graphics to broadcast additional match information Analyzing Team Performance Complex information-management systems are used to analyze each player’s performance in a match Of Bats and Stumps There’s a bit of IT added to cricket equipment as well

The Graphics



Graphics is one of the most exciting parts of the whole match production saga and uses computers in more ways than one. A skilled data entry operator records each ball bowled in a cricket match on custom made software, made specifically for a broadcast company. For instance, ESPN Star Sports uses a software called Namadgi. It typically uses 3-4 machines. One is a laptop PC running Win 2K for keeping track of the score. It’s connected to a MS-SQL Server backend back-end database via TCP/IP. The other computers are an AD-HOC machine and Score-Ticker Machine.

The laptop-scoring machine is generally run off battery for power fail safety and connected either over a LAN or WAN link.

A very skilled operator, having sound knowledge of cricket and scoring handles this machine. For every ball bowled, the score keeper may need to do 14 to 16 mouse clicks on the notebook. These clicks are on the custom made software’s screen, capturing various aspects of the game starting from the runs scored, where the ball was played, did the ball swing, was it a defensive shot, where the ball pitched on the pitch, the fielder who fielded the ball, runs saved by the fielder etc. One of the most interesting things in data capture is the way ball speed is calculated. The speed gun is connected directly into the scoring machine using a USB input. As soon as it is clicked the software captures the data.

What if the system crashes in the middle of the match? Oh yes, it can happen! In such a case, there is a manual scorer capturing the same data on paper. Using this data the chap on the scorer laptop plays catch up with the game and the score till he has the data synchronized. Some work!

From data capture, we move onto data interpretation. This is done using two different machines. One is the AD-HOC machine (which also serves as the server) and the other a Score-Ticker machine. Both are Windows 2000 based workstations. The score machine is used to give the most generic graphic information to be displayed on the screen. This may include all information you see in the corner of the screen (Runs/wickets/target etc). The layout for these graphics is pre-decided and the information updated dynamically from the database on the server. The other machine i.e. the AD-HOC machine gives you the entire special graphics that you see on the screen. These may include player statistics, wagon wheels showing where the player scored his runs, etc. All these graphics are generated dynamically from the data captured by the scoring laptop. Not only that, but the operator can key in the data and make an Ad-hoc graphic based on the data provided to him by the scorer. The graphics are then sent to the Vision mixer in either analog or digital format. This is then superimposed on the live action happening on the field. The systems can also use a moving graphic instead of the live broadcast.

The Sound



Imagine a match without Siddhuisms. The sound in the broadcast of a cricket match is as important as the video if not more.

There are various sound sources that are controlled by a sound controller using an audio mixer, in various channels located in the OB van and then broadcasted. The sound sources may include: the commentators, the stump microphones, the sound from sparks (e.g. graphic displayed when a wicket falls etc., or CG when a new batsman comes to play), microphones on the field etc. The person controlling the sound also has access to the final feed which is being broadcasted.

As we have seen above there is a lot happening altogether. The cameras giving the video feed, the graphics machines providing all the indulging graphics, replays, super slow motions, historic database management etc.

Who manages all this?



Here the director is the boss, and managing all this is no mean feat. In reality he is the man who decides what you see. All people involved are in direct contact with each other using headsets for communication. An interesting fact here regarding being in touch:Harsha Bhogle may be listening more to director’s remark than he is actually commenting on the match. Can you believe that?

From the OB van the feed including the graphics are broadcasted to a satellite, not to your house; not yet. They are sent to an “Earth Station”. The station can be nearby in the same vicinity or could be millions of miles away. You may wonder why cant they directly broadcast it to your home. Among others, there’s one simple reason: The broadcaster needs to do business and the business comes from advertisements. So the Earth Station takes care of this task. Other tasks may also include inserting the logo of the channel on the screen. The feed is then fed to various cable operators through a satellite again. And finally the feed comes to your house.

And you thought a flick of a switch on your remote would start a cricket match!

Geetaj Channana