In August, 12,000 athletes representing universities from around the world gathered in Taipei for the 2017 Summer Universiade. Organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), Universiade is the college equivalent of the Olympics, where the highest performing college athletes compete in a range of disciplines from basketball to gymnastics, badminton and beyond. Highlights from each competition this year were broadcast live to TV stations, like Chinese Television System (CTS), distributed via satellite and streamed live on Universiade’s website. The event marked one of the earliest large scale UltraHD sports broadcasts in Asia, with the opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live in UltraHD using AJA technology.  

In collaboration with CTS, Taiwan based Infinity Multimedia Productions helped develop the workflow to bring the action to worldwide audiences. CTS gathered and distributed a live feed of the events from each venue to the International Broadcasting Center, and Infinity coordinated and produced the programming for the Substitute Broadcast Center (SBC). Infinity employed 20 4K cameras for the opening ceremony and 16 cameras for the closing ceremony, and was also a part of planning broadcasts for 23 different sporting competitions, which were then broadcast by different TV stations.

Infinity’s production workflow comprised a host of AJA gear including 10 Ki Pro Ultra and Ki Pro Ultra Plus 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD recording and playback devices; two FS4 and ten FS1 frame synchronizers/converters; two KUMO 1616 and two KUMO 3232 routers; and an assortment of 4K/UltraHD Mini-Converters. All of the gear was installed in OB trucks, which were distributed across the venues. 

“AJA gear streamlined the UltraHD broadcast from recording to routing, frame sync and conversion. The equipment is highly intuitive with front panel buttons and connections, and controllable from standard web browsers with interfaces that are easy to use and provide a range of functionality, yet it’s all compact and lightweight, so we can maximize space in our OB trucks,” shared Jia-Wei Lin, Vice President, Infinity Multimedia.

“AJA technology makes for simpler, more efficient setup in less time, not to mention, it’s versatile. Even though the opening and closing ceremonies were broadcast in UltraHD, we were able to leverage it for HD broadcasts throughout the event as well with built-in high quality down-conversion capabilities.”

AJA technology has been a stalwart in Infinity’s operations for more than ten years. “We’ve been using AJA gear since FS1 and Ki Pro were introduced, and have upgraded over the years to successors like the FS4 and Ki Pro Ultra Plus. Their gear is also robust and reliable, so we find ourselves worrying less about traditional risks that accompany live, outdoor broadcasts,” shared Jia-Wei Lin. “We continue to use AJA products because they are cost effective, simple to use and give us the flexibility to handle a range of scenarios. We also feel more secure overall with AJA gear in our pipeline.” 

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.
Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface technologies, converters, digital video recording solutions and professional cameras, bringing high quality, cost effective products to the professional broadcast, video and postproduction markets. AJA products are designed and assembled at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.