Latin America. Blackmagic Design announced that the Capture and Playback Devices DeckLink Quad 2, DeckLink 4K Pro and UltraStudio 4K Extreme are part of the videoReferee® platform, a sports arbitration system created by the company Slomo.tv Inc., of great popularity among broadcasters, which has been used in various competitions, including the Rio Olympic Games.
Slomo.tv's Referee-IIM3® system works with three DeckLink Quad 2 cards and was used for refereeing canoeing competitions during the Olympics. The performance of these devices in real time was a key factor in these instances.
Slomo.tv is a company that manufactures high-end products for recording professional quality images across multiple channels. These include the successful videoReferee® line, a specialized multichannel system for the arbitration of sports competitions that allows to analyze dubious plays or situations and offers the possibility of documenting the entire event. This product supports the use of data from digital scoreboards and control systems, such as official time and score, and is used in various sporting events and broadcasts around the world.
During the last edition of the NAB fair, Slomo.tv presented the new videoReferee-4® product line, which includes the first sports arbitration systems with 16/18 channels. For its creation, the company used two PCIe DeckLink Quad 2 cards and a DeckLink 4K Pro. These allow images to be captured and reproduced instantly and provide a solution not only for broadcasters, but also for referees, who sometimes have to make a decision in a matter of seconds. Also, Slomo.tv unveiled a new videoReferee Jr. model, based on the DeckLink Quad 2 card, which offers the possibility of capturing content from eight cameras in real time.
This type of technology has begun to be used in various sports to facilitate decision-making in highly discussed situations. Football is a clear example of this.
During the FIFA seminar held in Zurich recently, a presentation of the videoRefere-4A® server was made to the attending referees. Unlike the systems unveiled during the NAB fair, this includes the UltraStudio 4K Extreme device and has an additional HDMI/SDI output that allows images to be transmitted through these interfaces simultaneously.
"We have used Blackmagic Design products for over 11 years. Our first server for instant replays was based on one of the original DeckLink models, and we have since employed this technology," said Igor Vitiorets, Chief Technology Officer of Slomo.tv. "Over the years, we've learned to trust Blackmagic Design to get exactly what we want. The DeckLink Quad 2 card allowed us to design the new videoReferee Jr. We are very grateful to Blackmagic for always being at the forefront and providing the tools this industry needs."
The DeckLink Quad 2 card is a capture and playback device that combines the capabilities of 8 DeckLink cards into a single circuit board and occupies a single PCI Express slot on the computer. It offers four independent capture and playback channels, plus four additional channels that can be used by companies as a Slomo.tv to configure the card according to their needs, in order to obtain up to eight capture or playback channels. On the other hand, the DeckLink 4K Pro model is a PCIe card with 12G SDI technology that allows you to capture and play back images in UHD and DCI 4K format at a maximum frequency of 60 f / s.
The videoReferee-IIM3® system consists of three DeckLink Quad 2 cards and was recently used during canoeing competitions at the Rio Olympics.
