To welcome the start of the season, a quartet of disguise vx 2 media servers and five rx II render nodes will now drive over 270º of wrap around visual content in the new studio which was built in just under two months at the end of summer with the help of disguise Certified Solution Provider and Atlanta-based creative studio MEPTIK.

Disguise combined nine projectors, two LED walls and multiple cameras into a single end-to-end workflow.

“This is a full broadcast studio completely driven by disguise,” says Gideon Ferber, disguise’s Director of Product for Broadcast. “Turner Sports opted for the full disguise solution for its ease of use and efficiency of delivery.”

The studio’s set ties into TNT’s signature style and the branding theme of its design system known as “Black Ice”, and channels the look of modern arenas with their huge displays and lighting effects. Subtle hockey-style elements include the oval shape of the set, which mirrors that of an ice rink, and the anchor desk’s ice shards base and hockey stick-shaped surround.

The set’s displays are a combination of LEDs and projection with curved custom built LED panels on two sides of the oval and projection screens filling the rest of the visual canvas. Video, images and data are mapped onto the displays via disguise. A full height diagonal LED panel display and two large tracking monitors in the foreground of the studio further blend the LED and projection displays and offer additional flexibility for shots and presenter positions.

“It was crucial to be able to previsualise the studio because they didn’t have time to do rehearsals or block shots in advance during the build,” Ferber explains. “The studio was actually up and running a week before the go-live date, so the ability to previs the whole setup and how the content would look, then build in animations and graphics, was imperative.”

Turner Sports will run with this installation for the next three years, exclusively for the NHL.