NHK in Japan did have an HD feed of the ceremony. They have clips of the opening ceremony on their website which were clearly filmed with a widescreen cameras independent of SOBO’s feed (and given they only broadcast widescreen television in HD in Japan, NHK certainly would have a HD copy in their archives). Unfortunately the clips are only in 480p.
2 Likes
Surprising, given that the BBC was already transitioned to 16:9
1 Like
Yes I’ve always found it extremely disappointing that Sydney 2000 was only 4:3. Digital TV was still 3 or so months away from commencing in Australia but with Seven as the RHB in Australia I’m guessing there was no push to do 16:9 anyway.
After all, they were nicknamed channel 4:3 (4+3) for many years after digital TV commenced! Their reluctance to transition to 16:9 and HD was the worst of the commercial broadcasters. Nine and Ten both began internal operations in 16:9 during 2000 for a number of studios and programs prior to the commencement of digital TV on 1st Jan 2001.
The UK were quite early adopters to 16:9 broadcast TV though. Also in the US they never really went down the path of SD 16:9 (they only went 16:9 when HD became more commonplace) so I guess the push for 16:9 by international broadcasters in 2000 wasn’t big enough. Except maybe from Japan/NHK, who just went and did their own thing with their own cameras!
1 Like
The NHK footage in question:
1 Like
Here’s a translation of a journal paper by an NHK engineer documenting the technical aspects of NHK’s HDTV coverage of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. (Google Translate is rough, but you get the idea)
HDTV broadcast at the Sydney Olympics
Yoshihiro Shimizu
High-definition broadcasting at the Sydney Olympics Broadcasting system centered on digital devices,
In addition to giving an overview of the transmission system, high-definition disc recorders, multi-viso routers, and swimming races
Introducing new technologies such as running cameras and underwater cameras.1. Preamble
NHK broadcasted the Sydney Olympics, which was a fierce battle for 17 days from September 15th to October 1st, over 100 hours of terrestrial broadcasting, 350 hours of BS, and 282 hours of high-definition broadcasting, including reruns. The key word is “digital”, and the international signal from the host broadcaster is also a digital signal, and the system of the IBC (International Broadcasting Center) is also fully digital. Advances are being made and various new technologies are being developed.
Here, we will mainly introduce the new technology used by NHK in the high-definition broadcast at the Sydney Olympics.
2. Overview of the high-definition broadcasting system at the Sydney Olympics
Unlike the previous Atlanta, the NHK high-definition competition broadcast was produced independently by NHK. Figure 1 shows the outline of the NHK high-definition broadcast broadcasting system. It was supported by two crews, a crew and an HD cam. For some competitions, the international signal (PAL signal) was used as a U/C for the high-definition signal.
For signal transmission from each stadium, a 270 Mbps optical fiber line supplied by the host was used, and the SDTI encoder (1/7 compression of the high-definition SDI signal) using the same compression method as HDCAM was used.
The main stadium where the opening ceremony, athletics and soccer were held and the super dome of gymnastics were close to IBC and were transmitted by a self-employed fiber optic line using an optical end station (HOL-300) as a 15 Gbps SDI signal. 4ch [1 / 2ch: PGM (Program), 3 / 4ch: IS (International Sound)] was embedded in a 1.5Gbps SDI signal and transmitted.
In the marathon broadcast, “as a high-definition original camera”, the camera was set at the starting point, the roof of the ANA hotel, the middle point, and the stadium of the goal, and the camera was followed thickly mainly by Japanese players. PAL signals related to vehicles (mobile relay vehicles, motorcycle cameras, helicopter cameras, etc.) are supplied by the line center of JC (Japan Consortlum) * 3 installed in the IBC and HDTV’s own, and after conversion of the method, U/C (Up Convert) and imported into the high-definition system.
An unmanned robot camera was set up on the rooftop of the ANA Hotel in the city of Sydney. It was popular as a back image of studio programs under favorable conditions with a view of the Harbor Bridge, which is also a marathon course, and the Opera House, which is a symbol of Sydney. …
In the marathon competition, we replaced it with a normal high-definition camera and used it as a live camera operated by a cameraman.
In the baseball broadcast, the activities of Japanese players centered on Matsuzaka were brought to the scene with a newly developed high-definition disc recorder, which was effective in replaying games and editing highlights. Also, the PAL signal of the speed gun was sent from the host. We received the supply, converted the method, and supervised it in high definition.
Figure 1
3. SDTl transmission
Transmission from each venue (Venue = stadium) in Sydney to IBC uses an optical fiber network to transmit the D1 signal at
270 Mbps in the baseband. NHK uses this transmission line supplied by the host. High-definition signal was transmitted. The high-definition signal is an HDCAM encoder after embedding 4 audio channels (1 / 2ch = Program, 3 / 4ch = International Sound) on a 15Gbps SDI video signal with a multiplexer (Sony HKPF-105). Compressed to 270 Mbps SDTI signal with (Sony HKPF-E270).’Figure 2 - HDTV relay vehicle in front of the stadium
At each venue, this SDTI signal was input to the optical end station (ARTEL Megalink 1360) of the host installed in the TOC (Technical Operation Center). On the IBC side, the signal was input from the host using the SDTI signal output from the optical end station. It was received and returned to the SDI signal by the HDCAM decoder. The signal from the venue was once separated into video and audio by the demultiplexer, combined with system synchronization by the FS (Flame Sychronizer) and SRC (Sampling Rate Converter), and then again by the multiplexer. The voice was embedded and input to the router.
Figure 3 - Baseball Stadium HDTV Camera
4. Multi-bit rate router
The multi-bit rate router is a router that supports digital signals of various bit rates such as PAL / NTSC and HDTV. One 64 x 64 (Sony HDX-3600) router is used as the main router for Uni and HDTV. used.
At the Sydney Olympics, the host signal was PAL-D1 and the NHK Uni system was also composed of PAL, but the signal finally transmitted to Japan was NTSC. Since the system was converted from PAL and high-definition signals to NTSC, PAL and NTSC were mixed in the system. However, by using a multi-bit rate router, one router can be used for all. The signal of was able to be processed, and the system could be simplified.
5. High-definition swimming flat running camera and underwater camera
For the first time in the high-definition Olympic broadcast, a flat-running camera and an underwater camera were used in the swimming competition. This was realized with the understanding and cooperation of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and the host, and the miniaturization of the camera was a major deciding factor. This made it possible to add power and depth to the program with fresh images that have not been seen in previous Olympic games.
Figure 4 - Appearance of a flat-running camera for swimming competition photography
Figure 5 - Appearance of underwater remote control camera
Figure 6 - Controller section of high-definition desk recorder
The flat-running camera is a camera that moves along the poolside according to the players, but it was difficult to realize except for sharing the camera with the host because it competes with the host camera (international video), but this time it is for the host camera. A flat-running camera was realized by attaching a small remote control camera to the rail trolley. The small camera used Sony HDC-H10, and the remote control cloud stand used Canon U4-X. The rail trolley vibrated while moving. As a result of using a vibration-damping lens for the lens because the screen is pre-existed in a tight size, stable images could be taken. Fig. 4 shows that it was installed next to the manned host camera on the rail trolley. The appearance of a flat-running camera for high-definition is shown.
The underwater remote control camera is a small camera (HDL-37) of Ikegami Tsushinki, which is housed in a small underwater brimp and combined with an underwater remote control pan head. Shows the appearance of.
Both the flat-running camera and the underwater remote control camera use a dedicated multi-cable, and since it does not reach the relay vehicle about 300 m away, a space is secured in the control room of the host by the pool for remote control. Adjustments were made, and the video was transmitted to the relay vehicle via optical fiber using the optical end station.
6. High-definition disc recorder
In sports broadcasting, disc recorders are indispensable items for slow VTRs and continuous replays on current SDTV TVs. This time, two newly developed high-definition disc recorders (EVS HD-LSM) are used for IBC transmission. did.
The high-definition disk recorder is equipped with six 18GB hard disk drives, and can record up to 360 clips and 40 playlists with a maximum recording time of 100 hours. Recording to the hard disk is performed with 140Mbps SDTI signals, and the HDCAM encoder -The 1.5 Gbps SDI signal is compressed using the decoder as an interface. The audio can be recorded in the embedded state. Fig. 6 shows the appearance of the controller section of the high-definition disk playlist.
In actual operation, it is used not only for slow playback on live broadcasts, but also for replays that show the innings in highlights after the completion of baseball innings, continuous playback that edits pitchers’ pitches and shows them continuously, and for creating highlights for each competition. In addition, it was also used for chasing staggered playback broadcasting, which broadcasts by VTR playback while the competition is in progress, and demonstrated its power.
7. Conclusion
High-definition equipment is becoming more digital and smaller, and the operational difference from current NTSC equipment is becoming smaller and smaller. In addition, the system has been changed from analog to digital, which simplifies wiring and signals. However, even in digital systems, obstacles that were not found in analog, such as differences in jitter tolerance between devices, errors due to accumulation of jitter between devices, and problems due to software bugs, appeared. In the future, I hope that these problems will be solved and the digital system will become more mature. (Received on December 20, 2000)
Yoshihiro Shimisu
Yoshihiro Shimizu Graduated from Tokyo Electronics College in 1982. Joined NHK in the same year. Tokyo Relay Department VE. 1986, Utsunomiya Broadcasting Station. 1993, Tokyo Broadcast Production VE, mainly in charge of high-definition programs as a system.
Source:
9 Likes
SOBO only produced in 4:3 as with the Athens Games
The opening and closing ceremonies were produced in HD, but everything else was in 4:3 (you can see the opening ceremony is clearly in HD on the Olympic YouTube channel).
2 Likes
I vividly remember prior to the ceremonies before Sydney 2000, Alan Jones going on a massive rant on radio about Ric Birch not revealing elements of what was going to happen and leaving it a secret.
“Who the hell does Ric Birch think he is!!” Alan Bellowed demanding answers from all and sundry as to why he wasn’t privy to the details of the ceremonies prior to them occurring. It was so laughable.
He questions Ric Brich who had a pulled off a stunning opening ceremony in Barcelona 92 and I think also had input in Atlanta 96.
6 Likes
Hahahaha that’s so funny!
Classic Alan
2 Likes
2 Likes
Pulled from the transcript of Media Watch from 25/9/2000 via archive.org, here’s AJ about 15 months before the Olympics:
…and AJ praising Ric Birch during/after the Opening Ceremony:
2 Likes
Isn’t that what he said to Louise Herron about the Opera house in 2018? Something along the lines of: ‘You do not own the opera house Louise, the people do’.
The only ‘good’ that comes out of his daily rants is that people can take the piss out of it for generations.
4 Likes
The actual quote, also from the Media Watch archives:
Pretty much identical to his rant about Ric Birch almost 19 years earlier, except he thankfully wasn’t bullied into a resignation AFAIK.
Louise Herron on the other hand was told to backflip on the Everest decision in 2018 by Gladys Berejiklian…who likely only did what AJ wanted her to, probably fearing potential political repercussions if she didn’t.
Yep, pretty much!
1 Like
I’m sure a lot of male politicians would kowtow to Alan but not too sure if Gladys would belong in that category (male politicians that is) 
1 Like
Everything was shown on tape delay in 2000 on NBC’s network leading to low ratings.
Didn’t he also recently do or have a bit role in the Gold Coast games in 2018? And there was some controversy between Tracey Holmes and Johanna Griggs and Seven and a production meeting involving Ric reportedly?
1 Like
What an incredible read. You are a gem, thankyou for sharing!
Incredible find!
1 Like
Glad you found that. I’m laughing hysterically. This is exactly what Alan was like. Wanting information from Ric Brich and questioning his credentials.
Perhaps Alan wanted to run the ceremonies… he would’ve had Gloria as his theme.
2 Likes