Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company enlisted the help of
Astucemedia—a Montreal-based provider of live broadcast graphics services with
an office in Dubai, UAE—to provide visually rich graphics design with real-time
data integration services to Big Hoss TV.
Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest
high-definition LED video board, Big Hoss TV enhances the fan experience for
those attending NASCAR and other motor sports events at the Texas Motor
Speedway in Dallas.
The colossal screen—which measures 218 feet wide by 94.5
feet high—delivers spectacular broadcast-quality coverage of racing events as
they take place, including field interviews with drivers and their pit crews,
1080p HD camera footage, instant replays of high-speed race action and
interactive features and games for the fans at Texas Motor Speedway. The big
board also displays live tweets and visually stunning real-time graphics
depicting the drivers’ MPH, RPMs, speed, leaderboards, and other vital racing
stats.
Big Hoss TV is also the first instance where uncompressed
4K-resolution video renders directly out of a Viz Engine—Vizrt’s 3D live
graphics/video compositing rendering engine—to the HD LED display. The HD LED
drivers extract a 3K center-cut from the 4K Vizrt video output to generate an
impactful display without quality compromise. This installation also utilized
another Vizrt live graphics system—the Viz Trio CG—that complements the Viz
Engine for rendering. The solution is controlled by Panasonic’s exclusive new
stadium controller designed for complete Vizrt Integration.
Texas Motor Speedway commissioned Panasonic Enterprise
Solutions Company—a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America—to build
the colossal Big Hoss TV display. Panasonic also provided systems integration
services for a high-end in-stadium production control room used to produce Big
Hoss TV shows that rival what viewers expect from major broadcast sports
networks.
When Panasonic asked Astucemedia to contribute its unique
broadcast graphics expertise to the project, Astucemedia delivered a custom,
turnkey solution spanning graphics design and creation to real-time data
integration.
Astucemedia also provided on-site services at Texas Motor
Speedway when Big Hoss TV was unveiled in early April 2014 during a
double-header of two high-profile NASCAR races: the Nationwide Series O’Reilly
Auto Parts 300 and the Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500, and in June for
another high-profile double-header: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar
World Casino & Resort 400 and the Verizon IndyCar Series Firestone 600.
For the Big Hoss TV graphics workflow, Astucemedia provided
a solution that leveraged elements of its unique Data Platform. Four (4)
high-frequency live data feeds from NASCAR Scoring & Timing, Sportvision,
IndyCar and SMT (Cosworth Live-To-Air) were captured to create a real-time
“blended feed” REST API. The real-time data, including race statistics and car
telemetry such as MPH, RPM, GPS and track temperatures, was easily embedded
into the graphics scenes using Astucemedia’s Vizrt plug-ins. Viz Trio operation
was performed via a custom GUI template that uses a push-button interface as
well as a responsive HTML5 app that was used to monitor data, trigger graphics
and switch between feed providers.