Immersive Race Car Streaming: How the Prism 5G Encoder Put Fans in the Driver’s Seat at the Circuit of the Americas
A race car at the Super Lap Battle 2024. Photo courtesy of Christian De Massis.
A race car at the Super Lap Battle 2024. Photo courtesy of Christian De Massis.
Overview
Overview
Circuit of the Americas (a.k.a. COTA), is a premier motorsport venue hosting various events including Formula 1 and NASCAR races. The track spans 2.1 miles and presents unique technical challenges for wireless broadcasting due to elevation changes on the track and congested networks.
Each year during Super Lap Battle at COTA, drivers from around the world push their cars to the limit and battle to set new world records. The task of producing the live broadcasts for this event falls into the hands of award-winning directors and video engineers Jeffrey Hart and Ryan Randels. Well-known in the industry for broadcasting high-speed racing events, their expertise is not only vital in producing an engaging live show, but as the technical experts on site, determining what equipment is used and where.
Prism Mobile 5G Backpack at the Circuit of the Americas. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
Prism Mobile 5G Backpack at the Circuit of the Americas. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
Despite the technical setbacks that had historically plagued high-speed content capture, Jeffrey found an extraordinary solution through Teradek: The Prism Mobile 5G Backpack.
“The quality we got with the Backpack was like playing a video off of a memory card," said Jeffrey. “The action on-screen was absolutely flawless.”
Challenge
Challenge
Capturing the Action: Live In-Car Video
Capturing the Action: Live In-Car Video
The thrill of the broadcast encompasses not only capturing the exhilarating speed on the track but also bringing the audience inside the car, capturing the driver's perspective and reactions. In-car video offers audiences a visceral understanding of the challenges drivers face and the stresses put on man and machine. The ability to use live feeds from inside the car allows viewers to immerse themselves in the action and take a virtual “seat” with the driver.
A Lack of Wireless Solutions that Could Keep up
A Lack of Wireless Solutions that Could Keep up
Prior solutions for in-car video struggled to maintain a signal during high-speed races, resulting in frequent dropouts. Jeffrey and Ryan have come to anticipate these technical issues, and are used to being ready to switch to a different feed as soon as the in-car stream drops or glitches — literally hovering their finger over “cut”.
“We have used wireless video systems in cars for years with mixed results,” said Jeffrey Hart. “Usually within about 3 seconds after the car takes off, we lose that feed. My finger is on the cut button at all times. As soon as that feed drops, and it will, I have to cut to another cam as quickly as possible.”
Jeffrey and Ryan in the control room.
Jeffrey and Ryan in the control room.
Jeffrey and Ryan grapple with the limitations of existing streaming solutions, constantly bracing for potential interruptions during critical moments of the race. Recognizing the need for a more reliable and robust solution, they contacted Teradek to find a system that was capable of capturing the intensity of in-car action without compromise.
Solution
Solution
Teradek supplied Jeffrey and Ryan with the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack, a ruggedized broadcasting pack for robust, wireless content capture.
Advanced 5G Cellular Bonding Equipment on the Road
Advanced 5G Cellular Bonding Equipment on the Road
The backpack was equipped with the following gear:
- The latest Prism Mobile 5G encoder, which contains two built-in 5G modems
- Four Node 5G modems
- Six Teradek Data SIM cards: three multi-carrier, and three native carrier utilizing Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T services
The interior contents of the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack at the Circuit of the Americas. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
The interior contents of the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack at the Circuit of the Americas. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
The Prism Mobile 5G Backpack was mounted securely inside each car, gathering feeds from GoPro cameras that were mounted to capture the driver's perspective. This single backpack sent live video from eight different cars that day, providing viewers with immersive and dynamic footage throughout the event.
In-car GoPro stream feed, streamed out to multiple CDNs via the Prism Mobile 5G
In-car GoPro stream feed, streamed out to multiple CDNs via the Prism Mobile 5G
Comprehensive IP Video Management
Comprehensive IP Video Management
The Prism Mobile 5G Backpack streamed from inside the car over bonded cellular bandwidth up to Teradek’s Core Cloud orchestration platform, where the feeds were monitored by the production team. From Core, each stream was routed to Prism Flex Mk II decoders connected to an SDI switcher located at video control.
The live feeds, alongside the pre-recorded video assets, were transmitted to one of Core’s servers: Helios, which was used as a fallback server upstream of the CDNs. The team used vMix to add graphics and telemetry to the feeds before sending the final program output back up to Core via SRT for distribution to multiple simultaneous destinations, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and Instagram.
COTA’s Technical Requirements
COTA’s Technical Requirements
- Prism Mobile Backpack to Decoder latency: 2-2.5 seconds
- Prism Mobile Backpack Bitrate: 4.5Mbps, HEVC
Mitigating Signal Disruptions to Preserve Views
Mitigating Signal Disruptions to Preserve Views
“We were streaming to about 7 different CDN accounts for different brands. If your stream goes down, all 7 streams would be immediately terminated and the stream would end,” said Jeffrey. “It would force you to re-deploy the RTMP for each destination and re-publish the stream. There’s no doubt that you’d lose viewers while you troubleshoot, causing a major loss of eyeballs, and thus, a loss in advertising revenue. But Teradek’s backup streams ensured continuous broadcasting so we could maintain viewer engagement without interruption.”
A crew member assembles the Node 5G modems within the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
A crew member assembles the Node 5G modems within the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
By routing their streams to Core's Helios Server, Jeffrey and Ryan gained the ability to easily mitigate potential signal disruptions. In the event of a drop in signal, the Helios server would automatically insert a brief "standby" video loop. Once the stream connection was restored, the live feed seamlessly resumed, preserving the viewing experience and retaining audience engagement.
Results
Results
Unprecedented In-Car Video Reliability and Quality
Unprecedented In-Car Video Reliability and Quality
Jeffrey and Ryan were astounded by the seamless, uninterrupted in-car streams facilitated by the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack. Clients, sponsors, drivers, announcers, and viewers were quick to praise the evident leap in both quality and reliability of the stream.
A camera operator wears the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack on the COTA racetrack. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
A camera operator wears the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack on the COTA racetrack. Photo courtesy of Corey Davis.
“The quality we got with the
Backpack
was like playing a
video off of a memory
card.
The action on-screen was
absolutely flawless."
“The quality we got with the
Backpack
was like playing a
video off of a memory
card.
The action on-screen was
absolutely flawless."
Jeffrey Hart
Jeffrey Hart
Director
Director
A Flawless & Successful Stream
A Flawless & Successful Stream
Previously, Jeffrey would anticipate inevitable dropouts from in-car feeds, always poised to switch to an alternative camera feed. However, to their amazement, not a single dropout occurred throughout the event. This marked a significant departure from their past experiences, where success rates hovered around 30%, soaring to a flawless 100% success rate with the implementation of the Prism Mobile 5G Backpack.
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