BACK STORY
Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Powerful Production is a full-service video production company and rental service that specializes in producing live streaming events, particularly eSports tournaments. That’s why they call themselves a digital broadcast company.
One look at their website makes it clear how reliant they are on the TriCaster® product line from Vizrt and the NDI® IP-based networking protocol it supports to serve not only its eSports clients, like Garena Thailand, Esports Alliance, Tencent Thailand, and BLUEHOLE Games, but also its corporate clients, like Advanced Info Service (AIS), LINE Thailand, and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB).
BIG CHALLENGE
The challenge with being a digital broadcast company that focuses on eSports is that, in addition to cameras, there are many video sources that need to come from computers, game consoles, and even smart phones. There are also many kinds of data overlays required to keep track of the scores and other stats on the participating teams and where each player and team stands in the competition. With NDI, it’s easy to integrate this diverse variety of media sources into a live production switcher like their TriCaster, which has been configured for 44 inputs.
In one recent eSports production for the PUBG MOBILE eSports Tournament, 102 sources were used, including the game feed, instant replays from two Vizrt 3Play 3P1s, pictures of the five voice actors, and camera coverage of the players on 16 teams, as well as the crowd, and the two competition commentators. This was all pulled together using three TriCasters including the TC1 and the TriCaster Mini 4K. The TriCaster outputs were used to stream six channels in Thailand, 10 streams for other countries, as well as feeding all the big screen monitors at the event.
“AHA” MOMENT
According to Powerful Production’s Managing Director, Satanu Visavanants, “We were the first production team in Thailand to use NewTek (Now Vizrt) products. We have the largest number of converters in Thailand, and we can guarantee that our team is expert at designing and using NDI IP-based networking connectivity. NDI simplifies the process of retrieving data in real-time. It reduces the number of devices needed whether they are digital or analog. Digital systems use fewer devices, and the images are very sharp and clear.”
For every project, Powerful Production follows a standardized process that “ensures our customers will receive the highest quality of work using the world’s best and most stable equipment,” says Visavanants. That process starts by making sure that the company fully understands what each customer wants to achieve—what audiences need to be reached, over which digital platforms, and with what type of quality and production elements.
FRESH APPROACH
Once the production scope is clear and confirmed, they create a system diagram of every type of input, output and signal conversion required to deliver the desired result. Every piece of gear in all the signal paths is listed. In addition to being used internally as a detailed technical plan of action, the diagram is shared with each customer. According to Visavanants, “Making a diagram is very important to present to customers because it demonstrates our competence and confidence and gives us credibility by highlighting our professionalism in production design.”
But that’s not the end of the planning process. Once the video signal paths are established, the networking team is called in to make sure that there is a good base computer network that provides sufficient bandwidth for the NDI signals to be stable and clear without any bottlenecks.
PAYOFF
For Powerful Production, it’s clear that they are reaping rewards by basing their business model on TriCaster product line and NDI video networking protocol. Whether it’s the deep immersion into digital sources required for eSports; providing live data streams for Motorsports; or producing a live meeting event for industry or government, the company has a solid, reliable, Vizrt-based technical infrastructure and planning process in place to ensure success.
