Introduction:

SK Gaming GmbH&Co.KG is a German esports club founded in 1997 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany. It’s also known as the “Esports Powerhouse” in Europe. The business focuses on operating and managing esports clubs and involves multiple well-known games, including Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Clash Royale, and Hearthstone.

After relocating to their new office in Cologne, SK Gaming prioritized establishing a versatile content production center to meet various business needs, aligned with their core esports business. This center serves as a hub for program production and live game-streaming. Consequently, they planned to construct an innovative studio, with IP-based solutions being their top choice. IP was preferred due to its high flexibility and scalability, which are essential for addressing industry pain points in the increasingly complex realm of AV content processing.

After thorough research (note from Sally – this feels unnecessary and a bit wordy – the important issue is that they did their research and chose Kiloview) SK Gaming opted for Kiloview’s leading NDI technology to simplify traditional workflows, particularly in complex production & streaming tasks. Bastiaan Brands, the Production Manager at SK Gaming, provided feedback on the project:

“Kiloview’s NDI solution significantly reduced the studio’s infrastructure requirement, achieving lightweight operations. The new hub solidifies SK Gaming’s influence in the esports domain, allowing them to maintain a leading position amidst industry advancements and evolving production standards. It enables SK Gaming to deliver high-quality, low-latency, and stable esports experiences to a global audience.”

 

Challenge：

Relocation to the OVUM complex in Cologne is a new beginning for SK Gaming. Within this three-story building, there are dozens of production units and numerous content production facilities, including esports streaming hubs, studios, production centers, and meeting rooms. Establishing a reliable and efficient video infrastructure in such a vast and complex environment is a daunting task.

For instance, in SK Gaming’s live streaming & production processes, multiple cameras transmit AV signals from the studio, PTZ cameras, and close-up cameras capture facial expressions or hand movements. These signals are captured in real-time, then synchronized with multi-screen monitoring on-site, supplemented by live/post-production, and finally distributed and recorded. With so many signal sources and visuals requiring processing, there is a strong demand for systems with high flexibility, stability, and compatibility.

“Literally, in the past, cables were flying everywhere.” Bastiaan Brands said.

Like other esports companies, initially, SK Gaming relied on traditional methods, utilizing a large number of SDI cables to connect numerous signal sources within the building, which resulted in high costs and lack of interoperability. Therefore, there was an urgent need for a simple, efficient, and highly integrated solution: one that minimized the inventory of spare parts, simplified equipment management and maintenance processes, and reduced overall costs.

 

Solution：

After extensive market research, SK Gaming found that Kiloview’s comprehensive solution not only offered exceptional value for cost and completeness but also excelled in stability and compatibility. Ultimately, SK Gaming chose Kiloview’s complete NDI solution, which consists of NDI CORE (software version) for its massive signal throughput, processing ability, and compatibility with third-party production software; the N40 for its top-quality 4KP60 processing with low latency; and Multiview Pro for its multi-screen monitoring, seamless switching, and user-friendly operation.

In the past, each workflow at SK Gaming required individual and complex environment deployment. However, based on Kiloview’s NDI solution, the initial deployment process has been simplified significantly. NDI CORE and Multiview Pro only require software deployment, allowing for one-click management and monitoring of all NDI devices through a web interface. The N40, on the other hand, only needs a single Ethernet cable to integrate into existing workflows.

In the completed workflow within the entire building, all 4kP60 video sources are converted into NDI signals through Kiloview N40 encoders. These signals are then managed and distributed through the NDI CORE, allowing for synchronized multi-screen monitoring and seamless switching in Multiview Pro. Furthermore, live/post-production is facilitated through third-party software compatible with NDI CORE, including conference systems, large-screen splicing, VR, voice calls, and API control. This ultimately achieves stable and efficient transmission across time and space.

The Kiloview NDI solution provides key technical support for SK Gaming, mainly due to the following product features:

The N40 4K/HD All-in-one Converter: The N40 supports encoding & decoding up to 4KP60 (UHD) video resolution, with compatibility for SD/HD/VESA. It achieves top-quality encoding with YCbCr 4:2:2 8-bit, supporting bi-directional conversion between 4KP60 HDMI and NDI High Bandwidth, enabling 4KP60 HDMI input/loop-out. In this project, the client firmly chose the N40 for critical video transmission points due to the esports industry’s demand for Tier-1 image quality. The N40 perfectly met the demand with its comprehensive capabilities.

NDI CORE System: It enables unified scheduling of a massive number of audio and video signals while ensuring seamless switching without black screens or stuttering. It can connect to any terminal and achieve seamless switching and replication distribution. The system opens API ports, allowing third-party systems to call it, which achieves compatibility with production software. It not only supports full protocols from NDI High-bandwidth to NDI HX/HX3 but also features automatic discovery and collecting of NDI network signal sources. It is suitable for multiple business scenarios requiring multi-channel signal switching, including studios, and live/broadcast production.

In this project, provided the highest quality video stream processing and the most efficient IP-based business process management services for PTZ signals, facial/hand signals, live/broadcast signals, and program production within top-tier esports business scenarios.

Multiview Pro: a powerful multi-screen monitoring and switching system. It supports customizable multi-screen/multi-window displays, with each window capable of monitoring up to 20 video streams, allowing for previewing and switching. The system is not only compatible with various streaming formats within the NDI ecosystem but can also be operated directly through a web interface, supporting different operating systems including Windows, Linux, and macOS. In this project, Multiview Pro, in conjunction with the NDI CORE and Kilolink Server Pro centralized management platform, replaced traditional, costly multi-screen hardware devices.

 

Conclusion：

NDI is the world’s leading audiovisual IP-based transmission protocol, known for its high quality, low latency, simplified deployment, cross-platform compatibility, flexible expansion, and interconnectivity advantages. Implementing NDI solutions enables SK Gaming to be more flexible and efficient in event management and production workflows, effortlessly handling larger and more complex business tasks. This solidifies SK Gaming’s leadership in the esports industry and paves the way for other esports studios to embark on lightweight infrastructure transformations.

“In our market, E-sports is a relatively new and quickly growing market from a production point of view. It has a lot of potential for NDI applications. While NDI is already used sparingly for graphics integrations, there are a lot of small studio’s that are hesitating to jump into NDI, while its lower infrastructure cost and flexibility would make perfect sense. Showcasing our renovated facility by Kiloview might help others make this decision.” said Bastiaan Brands Production Manager at SK Gaming.

Standing as the one-stop IP solution provider, Kiloview plays a pivotal role not only in promoting the flourishing development of industries including esports, houses of worship, healthcare, education, conferences, theaters, and more. For additional industry case studies, please visit our official website.