During last Sunday’s Houston Texans vs. New England Patriots football game at NRG Stadium in Houston, 5G was in use on the field to help capture play action from the sidelines.
Verizon and Sony showcased 5G’s ability to handle large amounts of data in a time-sensitive environment,
with a 5G-enabled Sony PXW-Z450 shoulder camera, a prototype Sony transmitter from Sony and a Sony Xperia 5G millimeter wave device that provided access to Verizon’s 5G network. A camera person from NBC Sports recorded the game using that set-up.
David Mazza, CTO, NBC Sports Group, said in a statement that “the picture quality is excellent, and we look forward to the day when we can deploy a wireless camera this easily as part of the 5G rollouts around the country.”
“The test proved that 5G-connected cameras can be a reliable and beneficial option for future live sports broadcasts,” Verizon concluded, adding that the combination of its network and Sony’s devices and
encoding “enabled low-latency, high-quality video to be transmitted in near real time to producers.
“The test showed the potential for remote production teams to be located anywhere, regardless of where the game’s taking place. Furthermore, 5G’s essentially instant wireless connectivity means that cameras can be untethered, allowing for more creative camera positions and angles throughout the game and reducing set-up time and costs required for camera system integration,” Verizon went on.
Verizon has made 5G deployments at stadiums an early priority, with 13 of them live already and more to be announced. NRG is one of the first 13, along with Bank of America Stadium, Empower Field at Mile High, CenturyLink Field, Ford Field, Gillette Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, MetLife Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, Soldier Field and U.S. Bank Stadium. In some cities, the stadium is the only location with Verizon 5G service available, the carrier has said. Coverage areas are “concentrated in parts of the seating areas,” Verizon said when it announced the first 13 stadiums, but obviously in some stadiums that coverage extends to the field as well.
“We are extremely pleased to have completed a successful 5G collaboration with Verizon,” said Mikio Kita, senior GM of the Media Solution Business Division in the Professional Products & Solutions Group of Sony Imaging Products and Solutions. “Sony is uniquely positioned to offer an end-to-end solution for professional content creation and mobile communication technology, and our joint achievement on this proof of concept of live sports production will pave the way for wider 5G applications.”
Verizon and Sony said that they will “continue to pursue even more flexible and effortless live sports production workflows and solutions using 5G.”
