Exclusive: a look around ESPN's 3D Master Control room
By Darren Murph 
posted June 11th 2010 2:08PM
posted June 11th 2010 2:08PM
One important piece that has yet to be revealed to the public is exactly how this material is getting from the field to the consumer, with Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T (U-verse) signed on from day one. During our shooting for The Engadget Show (don't worry -- we'll be cutting it up and getting it live as soon as possible!) we were able to stop by ESPN's 3D Master Control room, a box no larger than the average American kitchen but infinitely important in the grand scheme of things. Amazingly enough, the room pictured in the gallery below didn't exist six weeks ago, and in an insanely short period of time ESPN has managed to create a control room that sucks feeds in from all over the world, adds graphics (along with a specialized ESPN 3D "bug"), ensures that everything is aligned properly and then pipes it out to the aforesaid carriers.
We sat a spell in the room, which mainly consisted of a few computers to handle the processing, a monitor that displayed the left and right feeds individually and a 3D display for sampling what's going out to the glasses-equipped world. What struck us as most incredible was just how much magic was happening in this single room. We're confident that ESPN's 3D control room(s) will grow in size as more and more events are shot in 3D, and if our initial impressions of its fantastic handling of a feed that wasn't even shot by ESPN (all of the 3D World Cup matches are fed in by HBS, in a European format to boot), we doubt it'll be long before that uncontrollable expansion begins.
Would have expected more...
@plbelanger There is a whole room full of computers in the basement where the magic happens
@(Unverified)
still, it definitely looks like they put this together in 3 weeks.
@plbelanger
(this is the field I work in) and believe it or not, some of the best productions, and greatest things you watch come out of rooms that look pretty much like this. Some may be a tad bigger and have amenities like game consoles and couches, but overall, many look like this.
@plbelanger Video please.
@plbelanger
Yeah their is more in a magic 8 ball than this room.
http://fashionablygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/magic-8-ball-shirt.jpg
@bohoy2k True. You should see the room that serves TV and Radio to our troops overseas ;)
@plbelanger
I think the word you're searching for is Underwhelming...
mmmmmm screens, buttons, flashing lights, I'm in heaven.....
@(Unverified)
I especially love those chairs.
@Crazy J
Actually those are the cheapest line or "style" that company sells. I, however, sit my ass in one of the top of the line versions at work. They are very nice anyways
Do I see a D1 player?
try hdcam-sr.
And its a good thing that everyone already HAS 3D TVs in their homes so they watch this huh?
@Sil Yea, ESPN 3D will fail just like ESPN HD for doing HD even though most people didn't even have HDTV's!
@Center Well i have yet to see 3D tvs in stores, they are still being made and are supposedly coming out in the fall. Seriously no one will want to have to put on glasses just to watch sports or pay the very CHEAP price of buying a 3DTV.
@Sil
Where do you shop? Best Buy has 'em. Even Sears has 'em.
@nickthej ok they sell them but its still good that people have the money to buy them right?
Only PC's.
@furquanatique My thoughts exactly. Where are the Mac's?..oh...wait. This is high end technology.
@Rennis
Live broadcasts are usually channeled through AVID (which is Windows-only) and many hardware video editors only go through AVID. Some use linux.
Many post-edit works are done in Final Cut/Adobe. Including sports.
@Rennis High end technology huh?...........so why are there PCs in that room?
@furquanatique
I was going to troll with a "Heya, Windows 7" comment, but for all we know, they could be using Apple hardware to run Windows 7.
Heya, Windows 7!!
@whiskers
"for all we know"
This statement nullifies your comment entirely. But I will not troll for something that is universally understood.
@Rennis The amount of hardware available for PCs and the cost of Macs is a pretty big factor. Post facilities use Macs plenty.
@furquanatique
HI I'M ESPN 3D; AND WINDOWS 7 WAS MY IDEA :P
@whiskers it's vista... look closely
@furquanatique Yeah, apparently Apple blocked Nielson rating stat tracking, so they had no choice.
@furquanatique did you forget the 3D thing? 3D? mac?
@furquanatique At least they aren't Windows XP....
@Rennis
Shut-up, we all now Macs are the best, just ask Jobs and the iclowns zombies.
Avid...Windows-only? Most live b'casts channeled thru Avids?
While the last part may be partially true, Avid now also runs on Mac and EVS with/without IP Director is a huge part of how live b'casts are cut these days, e.g. instant replays, highlight reels, etc.
If at all, NLE's (Avid & FCP) are primarily used downstream of the EVS-IP Director workflow for cleaner transitions & effects, etc.
Hooray for 3D!!
I love 3D, it's great!
...thought I'd buck the trend, everyone calling it a gimmick is doing my head in.
lol
Guess the equipment isn't Windows 7 ready....
That's got to be annoying...wearing those glasses all day. But I guess as an editor on all the latest 3D movies, they have to do it too. That must suck for them.
I thought all these fancy places use macs?
@Excalibur Every control room I've ever worked/been in has used PCs. I think you're thinking of post facilities, a lot of those use Macs.
I believe it's because of the amount of hardware available, and cost.
@Skootles This will probably change in a few years. Considering that Steve Jobs and Disney are in a committed relationship and ESPN is part of Disney's vast empire, it's probably fair to say that ESPN will become Apple-lized soon enough.
hey ESPN, 1997 called and they want their white keyboards back...
@Philip Han
You have no idea what master control is, do you?
That is entirely too bright for master control.
And that guy looks way too well employed.
Master control is a cave, and the master control op should look like the hermit who lives there.
I miss tape switching.
@c w j We forced the lights on for these images -- as soon as we left it became a cave again.
@DarrenMurph
Ah, carry on then. Still a bit clean, but I can excuse do to newness.
And where are you +/- buttons young man?
They still use PCs in broadcast controll rooms because most broadcast equipment uses a serial interface which Apple dropped some uears ago. It is not a cost issue, it's just the way things are.
That MC room will not get any bigger. It is all about optimizing space. That's just the way things are.
The feeds are sent via fibre optic path to the distribution points such as Direct, Comcast etc.
6 weeks is an eternity when it comes to building broadcast areas. This actually represents some forethought compared to other networks.
Even more impressive is that they apparently got all of this to work by running it on Windows Vista. Who needs Windows 7? Apparently not ESPN.
Trash waiting to happen. Soon as the fad passes and all the morons stop calling stereoscopy, 3D.
@Philip Han have you heard some word that pronounce /prəˈfeʃ.ən.əl/ ?
A glimpse to the future.
These are sexy chairs. Anyone have any idea what they are?
@kthoag http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Aeron-Chairs
And here are the chairs used in CTU on the 24 T.V. series: http://www.humanscale.com/products/product_detail.cfm?group=FreedomTaskChairWithHeadrest