Volleyball World worked with LiveU to bring tournament coverage to viewers globally through a managed IP distribution service based on Matrix video contribution and distribution and multi-cam LU800 transmitters.
Volleyball now ranks among the top 10 most watched sports around the world, and its popularity continues to grow rapidly. Volleyball World maintains an integrated system connecting all volleyball stakeholders – including fans, athletes and corporate partners -- together through digital and live events, and recently completed its first beach volleyball tour event of the season in Mexico.
To bring cost-effective coverage of the tournaments to viewers around the world throughout the year, Volleyball World worked with LiveU, who supplied a managed, end-to-end IP distribution service using LiveU Matrix video contribution and distribution platform and LiveU multi-cam LU800 field production transmitters. LiveU is now supporting multiple tournaments across 2022.
LiveU Matrix is a cloud video system that organisations can use to share and receive high-quality, low-latency live feeds with, and from, broadcasters and other stakeholders located anywhere – inside or outside their organisation.
LiveU Matrix
Roy Hasson, Director of Solutions Sales with LiveU, said, “We delivered an end-to-end workflow, supplying the feeds from the event locations to the various collaborators. We provisioned and routed these via Matrix, using LiveU Reliable Transport, as well as SRT on the output side. We also integrated a remote sports commentary service, Spalk, which made it possible to set up a completely smooth all-IP workflow, while maintaining very low latency from the camera to the final taker.
“This type of delivery allows significant cost reduction and flexibility to our clients compared to the previously used traditional methods. This was one of the first of its kind at this magnitude for a sports event and depended on great collaboration by all parties involved.”
LiveU deployed LU800s as multi-camera encoders on-site, connected via both LAN and WiFi, with cellular connectivity for backup. The company’s system can switch between these networks resulting in a high level of resiliency. Roy said, “With LiveU, you control the main and the backup transmissions via alternative network connectivity, as well as the redundancy from using a second LU800 encoder.”
LiveU LU800
Finn Taylor, CEO Volleyball World, said, ‘’Beach Pro Tour tournaments are held all over the world, and consequently the look and feel of each competition can change each week. LiveU has helped us to solidify the event presentation and ensure consistency for viewers watching the broadcast at home.’’
Many of the takers were already LiveU users, and a cloud server could be quickly established for new clients. During the event, several new broadcasters and others requested a feed as the tournament progressed. LiveU was able to distribute the signal beyond broadcasters in other formats as well.
Motasem El Bawab, Head of Digital, Volleyball World, said, “From the start we wanted the Beach Pro Tour to be an end-to-end digital event for the fans and our stakeholders, using LiveU and their fully managed service. Those working across sports are aware of the complexity and impact of traditional distribution methods. LiveU overcame many of those issues, at a considerable cost savings over traditional distribution methods.’’ www.liveu.tv
