SRT and 5G enable production of ‘Mountain Attack’ with Blackmagic’s URSA Broadcast G2

Mediahaus used Blackmagic’s URSA Broadcast G2 camera in its production of the ‘Mountain Attack’ ski touring competition, broadcast live via 5G in H.264 format with SRT protocol.

This year’s Mountain Attack telecast, produced for the past decade by Mediahaus, featured a revamped contribution workflow as a new feature. To make its vision real, the production company collaborated with Hutchison Drei Austria and used a separate 5G network to send the signals from the cameras with extremely low latency from the top of the mountain to the production team.

Wolfgang Angermüller, CEO of Mediahaus, briefly traces the evolution of the coverage of this mountaintop competition: “Eleven years ago, when we started working with the race founder Roland Kurz, it was quite a challenge to get two cameras on two summits. Last year, we set up four cameras on four summits, connecting each through SDI to an encoder, then to an IP connection via a cable car modem. Additionally, we used two mobile cameras on snowmobiles, linked by Mobile Viewpoint’s bonded cellular. Setting up all this equipment and encoders on the mountaintops took us two days.”

This year, the big difference was the use of the SRT protocol and 5G connectivity, both of which were tested in Vienna and Saalbach beforehand with a latency of only half a second: “We were streaming SRT at 5Mb/s output with a latency of half a second, which is nothing,” adds Angermüller.

URSA Broadcast G2 and ATEM Constellation at Mountain Attack

Delving deeper into this workflow, the Mediahouse manager relates how, to get around the obstacles imposed by the mountainous terrain that blocked certain 5G signals, some solutions were to have a connection to the Starlink satellite network and WiFi access points as a backup. Additionally, each Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 camera was assigned an ATEM Streaming Bridge device on the mobile unit. These compact converters acted as receivers and allowed the ATEM mixer to connect to the SRT signals from the cameras.

From the finish line, the mobile unit produced the signals on an ATEM Costellazione 8K, while signals for control of the units and tally lights were sent via an SRT data link back to the cameras. This allowed Mediahaus to remotely manage the units from the ATEM Camera Control Panel device.

IL Mountain Attack broadcast was available live on LAOLA1.TV (Austrian sports platform), YouTube and other social networks.