A smartphone, a DIVEVOLK housing and a SeaLink surface transmitter replaced a cabled underwater broadcast system, delivering multi-camera underwater coverage across a quarry lake and a competition pool over two days of national-level competition.
The DIVEVOLK SeaLink surface unit deployed on the floating platform at the Xiangshan mine lake competition venue, with the restored quarry walls behind it. Photo courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
HUAI’AN, China, Aug. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DIVEVOLK today announced that the SeaLink Underwater Smartphone Data Transmitter carried the underwater live signal for the 2026 China Freediving All-Round Open, the national freediving competition held August 1-2 in Xuyi County, Huai’an, Jiangsu Province. Every underwater camera position in the broadcast was a smartphone inside a DIVEVOLK housing.
The entire underwater rig came down to three pieces: a smartphone, a DIVEVOLK housing and a SeaLink surface transmitter. No dedicated underwater broadcast cameras, no underwater cabling, no separate underwater broadcast crew. SeaLink kept the phones online below the surface, TVU handled contribution and switching, and the underwater picture ran in the live program from start to finish.
Video: Official competition footage from the 2026 China Freediving All-Round Open will be published on YouTube. Video link:
https://youtu.be/VQz400VHSKs
Three Pieces of Gear Replace a Cabled Underwater Broadcast System
Broadcasting a competition from underwater has traditionally meant specialist equipment: purpose-built underwater cameras, waterproof cabling, a shore-side control room and the technical crew to run it all. The gear is heavy, rigging and testing take time, every venue change means starting over, and the cost sits beyond the budget of most events.
This competition demanded exactly that kind of venue change. Racing opened on the morning of August 1 in the Xiangshan mine lake, moved to the Xuyi Olympic Sports Center natatorium that afternoon, and finished in the pool on August 2. The underwater camera positions had to move with the schedule. A phone in a housing is the underwater camera; the SeaLink surface unit floats on the competition water and keeps that phone online by cable at depths of up to 30 meters. A camera operator enters the water with the rig, and the live position is set.
A camera operator following a freediving lane underwater with a smartphone in a DIVEVOLK housing. Photo courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
For an event organizer, what changes is the barrier to entry: the rig is hand-carried, the operation is as familiar as a phone, the cost is a fraction of a professional underwater broadcast system, and the live picture can be verified on the spot.
Freediving Happens Where Only an Underwater Camera Can See
In most sports the underwater camera is a supplementary angle; in competitive freediving, the performance that decides the result takes place underwater. Constant weight without fins is a vertical descent along a line. Static apnea shows a motionless athlete face-down at the surface. Dynamic apnea is a horizontal swim along the pool floor. Without live underwater imaging, the audience sees a rope, a lane line and a timing clock.
A live underwater feed lets the audience follow the competition itself: the pace of the descent, the athlete’s form, the safety divers holding position in the water column, and the surface protocol on return. Commentators explain the attempt while it is happening, and officials, coaches and spectators watch the same picture at the same time.
Athletes competing in constant weight without fins at the Xiangshan mine lake, with the descent line and surface safety team in position. Photo courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
The rig is not limited to national-level competition. Club meets, regional selection rounds, youth events and certification-level competitions can stand up an underwater live position with the same three pieces of gear.
With TVU, the On-Site Gallery Takes a Single Feed
The event paired SeaLink with TVU’s production tools: the underwater and surface phones joined the TVU cloud switcher, the multi-camera cut happened in the cloud, and a single finished feed was handed to the on-site gallery for broadcast. SeaLink kept the underwater phones connected; TVU handled contribution and switching; the venue added no specialist equipment for its underwater positions.
The on-site multiviewer during competition, with underwater camera positions filling the input windows. Photo courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
Where DIVEVOLK Is Taking SeaLink Next
DIVEVOLK’s roadmap for SeaLink runs in three directions: more simultaneous underwater positions per event, tighter integration with the contribution tools broadcast partners already use, and workflows that let a diver who is already in the water double as a camera position. Beyond competition, the same rig already serves ocean conservation livestreams, scientific communication, dive training and public education.
DIVEVOLK Comment
“Freediving is one of the few sports where the surface camera cannot show you the event. If the audience is going to follow a descent, the picture has to come from under the water while the descent is happening.”
“What SeaLink does is bring the cost of underwater broadcasting down to the level of a phone. The phone is already a capable camera and a capable encoder. What it loses underwater is signal, and that is what we give back to it.”
“This competition showed that three pieces of gear can do the work that used to take a cabled broadcast system. We intend to keep making that rig lighter, deeper and easier for organizers to run themselves.”
— DIVEVOLK Marketing & Communications
About the 2026 China Freediving All-Round Open
The 2026 China Freediving All-Round Open was held August 1-2, 2026, at Xiangshan National Mine Park in Xuyi County, Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, organized by the Water Sports Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China. More than 60 athletes from across China competed, in the third consecutive year the national freediving competition has been staged in Xuyi.
The event ran a dual-venue format pairing a natural flooded quarry with a standard pool, across three disciplines: constant weight without fins, static apnea and dynamic apnea. The Xiangshan mine lake, once an abandoned quarry pit, now holds water rated Class I with year-round visibility beyond 15 meters and a maximum depth greater than 51 meters, making it a significant freediving training and certification base in China. Mermaid diving demonstrations and electric surfboard displays ran alongside the competition schedule.
The competition drew coverage from Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television and China News Service; the Xinhua app report alone passed 650,000 views.
A freediver at the surface of the competition pool beside a DIVEVOLK SeaLink surface buoy, the link that kept the underwater camera phone online throughout the live broadcast. Photo courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
About DIVEVOLK
DIVEVOLK, headquartered in Zhuhai, China, is a global technology company specializing in underwater smartphone housings and diving accessories. The company designs and manufactures the SeaTouch 4 Max series of underwater smartphone housings and related accessories for diving, snorkeling, and underwater imaging.
The revolutionary SeaLink Underwater Smartphone Data Transmitter enables phones to receive signals at depths of up to 30 meters underwater, supporting features such as live streaming and video communication across multiple platforms. DIVEVOLK was honored as ScubaLab’s Best Buy in 2024 and twice won the German dive award for Innovation, in 2024 and 2026.
DIVEVOLK products are sold worldwide through https://divevolkdiving.com/ and authorized retailers. The company is committed to making underwater image creation affordable and accessible to every diver, marine researcher, and ocean communicator, and to advancing the technology that enables it.
DIVEVOLK SeaLink and SeaTouch product system. Product image courtesy of DIVEVOLK.
Media Contact
DIVEVOLK Marketing & Communications
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://divevolkdiving.com/
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
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