Esports Live Production - New Venue Setup help

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for a bit of help on setting up a new Live Production Studio. I for a University and we are planning on opening up a larger esports facility. We focus on live video production for esports and that is one of the highlights of this facility. We currently have a smaller studio set up using a TriCaster IP series, a 2-stripe NewTek control surface, a PC for OBS to export to stream, a PC for graphics (via NDI), a few PCs for Spectator Cams (via NDI), and a small PC for Audio.

With the expansion of the facility, I want the production setup like a professional/semi-professional studio and give the students a great experience, along with the place being able to be rented out (turn-key). I have attached a preliminary layout to further help with the understanding of the space. From the current layout We have 90 inputs (cameras, PCs Etc.), and 36 output lines (TVs, Screens, PCs, Etc.).

OUTPUTS: 26 outputs to TVs around the venue, 4 outputs to the stage video wall, 9 Outputs to Production computers, 4 Outputs to Production monitors, and 4 outputs for the studio video wall.

INPUTS: With the 90 Input lines, 32 go to the stage for computers and face cameras. However I am thinking of cutting out the computer inputs and just having face camera inputs from the stage, cutting the number of inputs from the stage by almost half. We would then Use NDI for the PCs if we needed their output. I have 18 input cables around the venue floor for if we need to setup cameras in those locations. I also have 12 Inputs from the studio. 9 inputs for the production PCs.

This can be changed if needed to add more or convert some of the inputs to outputs.

NOTES
All cables will support 12G SDI.
I would like individual control of the TVs in the venue and what content they show. It could be the same across all TVs or a mix of content. I was thinking of a BMD Videohub 40x40 12G. (But this seems overkill, as there would not be 40 different inputs ever.)
I would like to be able to show all 10 Player cams on the screen at one time along with any other graphic content. If this is not really feasible, then at least 5 players on a team on screen with other graphic content.
During a match, i want to be able to show an individual player cam with the game feed.
I also want a Replay system. and maybe a recording system to for production and possibly for Post-Video Editing.

I am just hitting a wall on what is needed, or good to have, as there are just so many options. I am not opposed to giving up the TriCaster as we use it only as a glorified switcher between two different game shots and two different shoutcaster PTZ cameras. But I don't really want to lose the ability to use NDI. I know I haven't even hit on audio.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

EsportsVenue.jpg (944.22 KiB) Viewed 868 times

Don't have the time to do a full response but using a 40x40 Hub is not overkill. It gives you the most flexibility. What you certainly wont want is to connect al 26 TV's to AUX outputs. It's unlikely that you will have 26 different signals to show so so it's very efficient to use a hub for this.

A total of 90 inputs feeds is a lot. I would at least separate the broadcast studio from the game play. When the presenters are talking in the studio there is usually no game play so this gives the production room a bit of rest. And a studio program is easier to switch.
Furthermore you would need to automate to the max. E.g. when you switch to a certain player position that it will automatically select not only the camera but also it's screen and audio. Depending on how complicated the screen layouts are this can quickly become quite complex as you might only want to replace one of the players in a 3-up PiP scenario for example. It's up to the director to decide how they want to show it and what possibilities they want.

For pure game replay I've come to understand that most multiplayer games now have this built-in. So you set up one or two PC's that are used for game replay and you can replay any action from any camera angle. Effectively it's regenerated on the fly based on the recorded game play. At least that's what I understand from it (don't have experience with it). If you also want replay of the player's cameras you will be a looking at a video replay system. A good budget solution is vMix. A professional solution is e.g. EVS but it's very expensive (i.e. $100,000+). There are some other that are a bit more budget friendly but still way more expensive than vMix.

BMD just announced the new 4 M/E Constellation 4K Plus with 80 inputs and 48 outputs. If you separate the broadcast studio on a separate switcher this might just be enough for you. Otherwise you have to separate even further and use different switchers for separate areas, each with their own (technical) director.

In order to show 10 players at once you can use the supersources. The 4 M/E models have two supersources that can be used simultaneous. Together with four DVE's you can potentially have 12 sources shown at once on top of a background source. Again this requires a lot of automation to be usable as you won't be able to set this up easily on the fly.

Thanks @eMilty!

Absolutely will be using Hubs, probably connected to physical patch panels for easy switching, as connecting the TVs directly would not be very efficient.

I saw the new 4M/E Constellation 4K plus and figured that would be another great addition. I wonder if it would be better to convert the Camera feeds to NDI and just use a software based solution to handle player cameras. I've done that in the past with 12 player cameras, but software usually becomes unstable with that many NDI sources at one time. VMix may be the way to do this.

I am still leaning toward a camera based replay system, because many games still don't give the spectators the ability to rewind on the fly. If the game does offer it, it is usually locked to a client that only the publisher has access to.

To be honest, I should just go visit my parents in Boise and check out Boise State Esports Arena.

Personally I'm not a fan of NDI. It could be useful for specific use cases, e.g. difficult places to put a camera and then it could be handy to power it over PoE and use NDI for video. But I would personally never use for my main cameras, especially not in a large deploy like this. The amount of bandwidth needed is going to be crazy high. If you want to do 4K you are at almost 250 Mbps per camera for broadcast quality (8-bit, 4:2:2). I would really use SDI or optionally fiber. Fiber cable is relatively cheap nowadays but you need the converters and SFP modules on both ends.