For years, tennis and technology/innovation have been sharing the stage at the Roland Garros tennis tournament, as businesses benefit from the popularity of the 'French Open' to present technology world firsts. At this year's Roland Garros, the French Tennis Federation, France Télévisions (France TV) and 4EVER teamed up to let the public preview the television of the future. While France TV/4EVER filmed and broadcast the matches in 4K UHD, Barco Alchemy technology helped visualize the images …

Full 4K UHD filming and broadcasting
France TV had successfully launched a 24-hour trial of a full 4K broadcast chain during last year's Roland Garros. In 2015, the broadcaster decided to take it a step further by not only filming all the matches on Center Court in 4K UHD but also broadcasting this footage via both terrestrial and satellite channels, throughout the tournament. So all French homes equipped with a 4K TV set were able to watch the main matches in full UHD quality, on a 24/7 basis.

For Enhanced Video Experience (4EVER)
To achieve this impressive first, France Télévisions joined forces with its partner companies at the 4EVER R&D consortium - a group of nine experts working together to enhance the quality of the world's video experiences. The 4EVER teams shot the images with sensitivity cameras, ensured consistent color grading and provided future-generation HDR displays.

Retrofit with Alchemy technology
More than at their home, tennis lovers could also enjoy the exceptionally high-quality images at the France TV stand in the RG Lab - a dedicated R&D area at the Roland Garros site. In addition, the footage was shown in a dedicated projection room at France TV's headquarters. It is here that Barco technology played a key role. At the end of 2014, Cine Meccanica had upgraded France TV's existing digital cinema projector with Barco's Alchemy technology. Compatible with every Series 2 Barco digital cinema projector, the Intelligent Projector concept so typical of the Alchemy technology is also available as a retrofit module, making it a cost-effective way to significantly enhance image quality. In other words: the perfect fit for technology pioneers like France TV!

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