BeckTV And Ross Video Elevate The Baltimore Ravens’ Fan Experience

BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast media industry, and Ross Video, a global leader in live video production solutions, have joined forces once again to complete another significant project at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. The two companies collaborated on upgrading the Ravens’ content management system (CMS) workflow, which sends graphic content to the venue’s LED scoreboards and vomitory displays.

The original system installed in 2017 consisted of a hybrid Ross CMS and a third-party workflow. BeckTV and Ross designed and built a new system using a full complement of Ross gear to meet the stadium’s requirements for a unified and user-friendly solution with redundancy. BeckTV and Ross completed the project in two phases: the first before the 2022 season and the second before the start of the 2023 season.

The main solution for managing real-time motion graphics on LED displays is XPression Tessera from Ross. As a multifaceted tool for managing and filling video displays in studios or venues, XPression Tessera uses region-mapping to distribute graphics across multiple channels or engines for pixel-accurate rendering, and it allows for real-time animation and content changes. Working in concert with XPression Tessera is Carbonite Mosaic, a dynamic compositing tool that scales live productions to massive displays with maximum pixel accuracy, which is key when dealing with end zone displays close to 13,000 pixels wide.

The new LED content management system drives content to 52 unique displays strategically placed throughout the stadium, including end zone, entry gate, vomitory, and club displays; corner boards; upper and lower ribbons; and concourse TVs. Full redundancy is built into the system to ensure reliability.

To handle video image processing for some of the larger displays, there are nine Ultrix Carbonite switchers. Ultrix Carbonite combines the routing and processing capabilities of Ultrix with the sophisticated creative capabilities of Carbonite, the world’s most popular midsize production switcher.

The new stadium system also includes the Piero sports analysis tool. The Ravens’ use of the Piero system sets them apart from other teams in the league because they apply it not only for live production purposes but also for postproduction and weekly shows. Piero offers a wide range of capabilities, such as first-down graphics, on-field graphics, virtual branding, and virtual sponsorship on the field. With Piero, the Ravens get more robust stats and data management and can feed that information to displays.

Finally, operators have complete control of the productions through Ross’ Unified Sports Venue Control Solution. The DashBoard venue control software seamlessly integrates production control room technology with the LED content management system. Game day operators can trigger video production, the LED content management system, remote cameras, projection systems, sound, lighting, and more – all with a simple button press within the intuitive DashBoard interface.

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