A professional tennis tournament held annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women ’ s Tennis Association ( WTA ) tour , the 2017 edition of the WTA Finals slammed itself into the hearts of fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from October 22-29 .

For others watching at home , the experience was no less engaging , as Telstra ’ s NetCam was deployed on each side of the tennis net to deliver audiences with a panorama of the court during matches .

Declaring NetCam to be a game-changer in delivering a more immersive broadcast experience for tennis fans around the world , Trevor Boal , head of Telstra Broadcast

Services , told APB : “ NetCam is the next evolution of Telstra ’ s industry-leading Globecam technology , a live , point-of-view ( POV ) miniature camera technology .

“ NetCam is a bespoke camera that uses the latest in low latency digital link technology to receive and transmit live content right from the field-of-play . The camera lens can be customised to capture live footage across different situations and environments .”

As to why NetCam was chosen to deliver a major tennis tournament — a “ world first ” for women ’ s competitive tennis — Boal explained that it meets the specific

Telstra ’ s NetCam , a bespoke camera based on Globecam , a live , point-of-view ( POV ) miniature camera technology , was deployed at the 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore in October this year , a “ world first ” for women ’ s competitive tennis .

competitive tennis requirements , where the camera needs to be small enough to be discreetly deployed on each side of the tennis net while having the capability to capture a panorama of the court .

NetCam , which supports full HD 1080i / 50i , is equipped with full remote camera control for colour and exposure , as well as digital pan / tilt for image framing adjustment . Telstra is also continuing to explore the possibility of supporting 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) and IP-based connections in a miniature camera environment , Boal revealed .

While the WTA Finals is the first time that NetCam has been deployed

during a competitive tennis tournament , Globecam has been widely deployed at major sporting events across Asia-Pacific , the Middle East , Europe and the Americas . He elaborated : “ The technology has been used in broadcasts of the Natwest Blast T20 in England for Sky Sports , Pro 12 Rugby in Ireland for TG4 Indian Premier League , all codes of football in Australia and even sky diving , as well as by global broadcaster Fox Sports .”

Perhaps , above all , Globecam and NetCam represent Telstra ’ s continuing commitment to innovations that will enhance the broadcast experience for sports and beyond .

“ Expanding Telstra ’ s presence in the professional media market is a key priority and we are investing heavily to bring the best solutions and technology to market for our broadcast customers ,” Boal added .

One example is the Distributed Production Network ( DPN ), which was launched earlier this year to help Telstra ’ s broadcast customers meet the rapidly growing demand for live content by offering access to Telstra ’ s high-capacity , low-latency , multi-tenant network of scale .

“ Telstra ’ s DPN is the next evolution of live sports broadcasting , with Fox Sports signing a longterm network partnership with Telstra to produce live broadcasts at a distance from the actual event ,” said Boal . “ DPN connects 29 sporting stadiums across regional and metro Australia , and sends multiple raw camera feeds , audio and equipment control signals to centralised production hubs . DPN will play a pivotal role in satisfying audiences ’ demand for live , high-quality , content-rich sporting coverage .”

With the help of Vintage Cloud , media companies can bring their film archives back to life through digitisation , and even monetise those assets with the use of metadata . All Vintage Cloud ’ s solutions are built on the Steenbeck film transport , which has more than 60 years of mechanical expertise .

Broadcasters and film archives are struggling with the fact that they need to transfer their audio-visual treasures before it is too late . Transfers are traditionally undertaken by Telecine hardware or data scanners , both of which are slow and costly . Broadcasters estimate that they are looking at a 25-40-year timespan in order to complete this task .

There is a belief that after the decision to digitise film archives has been made , the transfer period should not exceed a five-year period , due to the complexity of migrating digital formats in the future .

Vintage Cloud has spent several years investigating film archive needs , testing equipment and building workflows to do the job . As there were no specialised

equipment available in the market previously , Vintage Cloud decided to build the first truly dedicated film archive digitisation system .

Collaborating with Technical University of Denmark ( DTU ), Vintage Cloud developed a new super-efficient light source . Together , the developers created a sensor fast enough to transfer moving images at the highest quality .

Finally , the developers also improved the stability of the Grand Master of film transport — Steenbeck , with more than 60 years of timeproved safe film handling , fast yet gentle .

Peter Englesson , CEO of Vintage Cloud , co-founded the company in Copenhagen , Denmark , and went on to acquire the brand name of the renowned good old film days Steenbeck Company . As a graduate of the Swedish National Film School , Englesson went on and had a long-standing career in the film industry as a film and

sound editor in several European countries .

Under Englesson ’ s guidance , Vintage Cloud has become one of the world leaders in the technologies required to ensure the fast and safe digitisation of valuable film archives .

Vintage Cloud ’ s goal is to help media companies to quickly and easily monetise their assets by

making them more accessible with tools that are cost-effective , innovative and intuitive , and designed for the delicate task .

With Vintage Cloud Steenbeck , the speed of transferring film archives has been radically improved . It is easy to use , it is fast and it is safe and , not to forget , very cost-effective . Media companies ’ film footage never looked better this fast . In Asia-Pacific , Vintage Cloud is represented exclusively by Cine Equipment , its Asia- Pacific distributor . Established in 1995 , Cine Equipment is a one-stop shop for film and lighting equipment in South-east Asia . Over the years , the company and its subsidiaries in Malaysia , Australia , Thailand , the Philippines and Taiwan have become known for their expertise and foresight in the introduction of the latest equipment into the Asia-Pacific region .

In the new millennium ,

Vintage Cloud ’ s Steenbeck digitiser is capable of digitising up to 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) resolution at up to 60fps , while analysing the picture quality of a scanned film master or proxy to examine out-of-focus , dust / dirt level and film grain noise level .

Tng Siew Moi , managing director of Cine Equipment : “ Customers are constantly looking for ways to save costs while being able to monetise their archives .”

Cine Equipment ventured into the digital intermediate market with the installation of the ARRILASER and ARRISCAN in Australia , New Zealand , Thailand and the Philip pines .

Commenting on the partnership with Vintage Cloud , Tng Siew Moi , managing director of Cine Equipment , said : “ As the world moves further into the age of digitisation , customers are constantly looking for ways to save costs while being able to monetise their archives . As such , Cine Equipment is pleased to announce its partnership with Vintage Cloud Steenbeck of Denmark .” q