BVE Preview – Part Four
Broadcast Video Expo takes place in London at Earls Court 2 in a fortnight and, at least if the volume of press releases is anything to go by, is going to try very hard to buck the current economic gloom.
Before we dive into the mountain of manufacturer news, first a quick mention for the free BVE 2012 free seminar programme, which bill itself as largest of its kind in the UK, with 11 theatres presenting over 250 seminars across the three day event. Too many to list here – head here for the full programme – but selected highlights of sporting interest include Richard Hingley’s ‘A Stereographer’s guide to Live Sports’ (16/02 – 14.30) and ‘Beyond HD: Super Hi-Vision at London 2012’ (15/02 – 10.00), and the interestingly titled ‘Debate: 4K production and delivery – an inevitability or a swim’ (15/02 – 11.00).
On to the manufacturers…
Garland Partners will be exhibiting LiveU’s product-line of HD/SD uplink systems, including the LU40i. Weighing less than 700g, the LU40i can be seamlessly connected to, or mounted on, most commercially available cameras (SDI, analogue and HDMI), and with an integral touchscreen it provides simple-yet-flexible mechanisms for either local or remote control. Also on show will be LiveU’s flagship LU60, the industry’s first bonded 3G/4G LTE backpack with proprietary RF technology, up to 1080 HD video, sub-second latency for a satellite-like experience and automatic international roaming capabilities.
Vinten’s display of innovative camera support solutions used by professionals around the world will focus on lightweight heads and systems from its highly acclaimed Vision AS range, including the popular Vision blue, which will be demonstrated alongside the award winning Vector 430. Vinten Radamec, meanwhile, will showcase its new Fusion FHR-35 remote pan and tilt head for the first time in the UK. The head, successfully launched at IBC2011, represents a major step forward in camera robotics and incorporates Vinten Radamec’s new Intelligent Control Engineering (ICE) platform, which apparently enables operators to achieve unprecedented control and accuracy in an innovative and highly compact form. In addition to moving under robotic control, the FHR-35 also provides precise reporting back to the controller, together with zoom and focus from a digital lens.
Eyeheight will unveil the world’s first multi-rate stereoscopic 3D colour corrector, the Eyeheight CC-3D, which allows both channels of a stereoscopic 3D pair to be corrected under common single control. The CC-3D’s adjustable colour correction parameters include R, G, B and master gain and lift plus selectable master or individual R, G and B gamma control with overall luma, chroma gain, hue rotation and black level. An integral legaliser automatically ensures that adjustments remain within industry-agreed signal levels, it works at most typical resolutions up to 1080p, and is housed in a 1 rack-unit chassis.
Autocue will showcase a complete, affordable end-to-end live production and newsroom workflow in support of the DCMS local TV initiative. Autocue Group Business Development Director Richard Satchell said, “We are the only manufacturer to offer a single solution for newsroom, scripting, automation, media management, video servers, broadcast monitors and teleprompters with complete, scalable solutions ideal for local and regional television operations, ranging in price from £25k to £125k.”
dB Broadcast will be showcasing the MERlin DVB-T2 receiver module. Launched in late-2011, the unit has been designed for continuous off air terrestrial reception of DVB-T and DVB-T2 RF signals and 300 of them have already been delivered to customers.
The Polecam team are offering visitors the chance to try out a Polecam rig in its full 8-metre long glory for the first time at a show. It will be demonstrated along with the newly-developed wire strut system which is designed to give added stability to the pole while still retaining the crane’s trademark flexibility and versatility.
Trilogy will be showing exciting but as yet unannounced developments to its Gemini intercom, which, of course, combines the benefits of a scalable, distributed matrix with integrated IP connectivity, providing both high quality audio and global access.
Newtek will be in residence on the 3D Storm stand, where you can get up close and personal with the TriCaster 450 EXTREME, a 14 channel production system, includes IsoCorder Technology that allows simultaneous multi-formats recording of up to 4 video channel from any input or output.Then there’s the NewTek 3Play 820, a HD/SD 10-channel slow motion system that supports simultaneous display, recording, instant replay of up to eight video streams, each with up to quad channel audio. Utilizing proprietary NewTek IsoCorder technology, the eight-input, two-out 3Play 820 offers what the company refers to as a revolutionary price-performance value, which retails at a fraction of the price of the equivalent devices on the market.
Argosy will be showing a new video patch panel for the first time. Manufactured by BES, the high performance 24-way panel is designed for uncompromised performance even with 1080p 3Gbps signals.
Lastly, headlining the Orad line-up at the show are its TD Control, PowerPlay, PlayMaker and Interact products. Orad’s TD Control allows the TD to select different video box compositions and assign different video sources to each of the video boxes, enabling tasks that could not have been achieved before like switching on air from 6 video sources to completely different video sources with one click of a button. PowerPlay, Orad’s fast turnaround editorial sports workflow, offers fast sports production tools for managing ingest and sports assets to creating highlights. And the PlayMaker, SD/HD slow motion video server, meets the challenges of live sports productions with 8 I/O channels of multi-format ingest, synchronized slow motion replay, and powerful yet simple-to-use fast editing tools.