Amplifying the Fan Experience at the University of Kentucky

A new dynamic, dual-LED display solution powered by Renewed Vision software is now driving all scores, player statistics, live video and instant replays for women’s sports at Memorial Coliseum, home of the Kentucky Wildcats NCAA women’s basketball team.

Formetco Sports, the systems integration division of LED display maker Formetco, Inc., managed the custom design and integration of the end-to-end systems inside the gymnasium on the campus of University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Formetco Sports installed Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter® Scoreboard and PVP3 multi-screen media server software to drive game-day displays on two new Formetco displays: A 60 x 30ft Formetco LED video scoreboard, and a 3.5 x 100ft ribbon board.

The integrated Renewed Vision workflow interoperates with existing control hardware and software, including Stat Crew, a scoring and statistics application from CBS. The Renewed Vision workflow also utilises NDI IP video networking to deliver multiple video and data signals from a single network interface and eliminate multiple SDI components and cabling from the infrastructure.

Todd Heller, Formetco’s Vice President of Digital Products, said:

As replacements to older scoreboards and monitors that had reached end of life, our major, turnkey scoreboard upgrade dramatically enhances the fan experience for those attending these University of Kentucky women’s games. What’s remarkable is how seamlessly and cost-effectively the Renewed Vision product suite works within the university’s existing video infrastructure to drive content to our displays.

The main LED video scoreboard—a massive video wall filling one side of the gym—primarily receives live video feeds and instant replays from a production switcher and instant replay systems in the existing control room. PVP3 arranges each display into zones earmarked for certain content, such as advertising, game stats and crowd prompts like “Great Play,” “Match Point,” or “Ace.” With strict rules prohibiting the display of moving video during game play, the PVP3 user interface adds value by allowing operators to switch from moving to still imagery with a single click.

The ribbon board, which runs 100ft along a wall opposed of the main LED video scoreboard, primarily displays statistics and scores for women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics.

Renewed Vision Workflow

The workflow utilises ProPresenter® Scoreboard to ingest scoring, game clock and in-progress game data in real-time from a Daktronics scoreboard console/controller, as well as XML-formatted player data, live and recorded video, and other sources for big-screen LED display. ProPresenter Scoreboard expands the video playout, graphics and CG text, and other live presentation capabilities inherent in the ProPresenter media presentation software on which it’s based.

The PVP3 media server ingests the data from ProPresenter® and combines it with live and/or recorded video, backgrounds/stills and other visual content. PVP3 operators can also harness its more sophisticated video toolset, including digital video effects and graphical transitions, and manage control functions. This includes adjusting brightness and switching displays on and off.

Furthermore, PVP3 enables composition of dynamic, multi-layered High-definition presentations that can be custom-tailored for playout toeach Formetco screen with enormous, creative latitude. According to Heller, the integrated Formetco and Renewed Vision solution is UHD and HDR-capable, allowing operators to present higher resolution content at any time.

The ProPresenter® Scoreboard and PVP3 reside on the same Mac to further streamline the infrastructure, and all video, text, data and other media content move in and out of the two Renewed Vision systems via an NDI IP-based video network. NDI’s cost-effective networking requires only a standard gigabit Ethernet connection, eliminating the need for costly and cumbersome SDI routers, switchers and cabling.

David Porter, Multimedia Producer with Formetco Sports, said:

[ProPresenter®] Scoreboard and PVP3 deliver the dynamic presentation capabilities needed while remaining intuitive for non-technical operators. Their approach and support for leading pro video standards enables seamless interoperability with the University of Kentucky’s existing video control room infrastructure, while leveraging off-the-shelf Mac computers to cost-effectively host and operate the Scoreboard and PVP3 software. These benefits, along with NDI integration, streamlined the installation process while saving the University of Kentucky a considerable amount of money.

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