Mobile TV is alive! - TVBEurope

Growth of London shows
On display: Sony’s Daniel Dubreuil with the new OLED master monitor
BVE Wrap Up
Broadcast Video Expo was packed with
more visitors than ever, and many new
products — several of which hadn’t
been seen elsewhere. David Fox
reports from the London show
While most new releases had at
least been talked about before,
Sony unveiled two previously
unheralded master-quality OLED
displays offering a noticeable
improvement on the Trimaster
LCD range, and a huge reduction
in bulk.
The reference-grade BVM-E
Series were shown in 17- and
25-inch sizes, and are claimed to
“incorporate groundbreaking
processing and imaging capabilities
designed to give digital
production professionals a true
replacement for CRT in critical
evaluation applications.”
“These new monitors are the
next step up in professional displays
providing end users with the
highest picture quality ever seen,
well above any other existing
display device,” said Daniel
Dubreuil, senior product specialist,
Sony Professional Solutions
Europe. “This is breakthrough
technology for applications where
visual performance and accuracy
are paramount, offering an
unbeatable combination of image
reproduction, colour accuracy,
reliability and stability.”
The new displays boast several
new features designed for professional
master monitoring.
Claimed to be the first monitors to
deliver full HD resolution OLED
panels with 10-bit drivers, they
use a newly developed Sony
Professional Display Engine to produce
deep blacks (better even than a
CRT), high dynamic range, blur-free
motion, and accurate picture reproduction.
They also boast a much
wider colour gamut, even in low light
portions of the picture, where LCDs
and CRTs narrow significantly, and
improved standard definition scaling,
thanks to a new algorithm not
available to the BVM-L series.
They also use new Super
Top Emission technology that
improves the colour quality, and
offers a higher contrast ratio than
conventional OLED displays.
The monitors have a new
chassis design, with a lighter,
much slimmer chassis, for a
smaller footprint, and reduced
power consumption.
Standard inputs include
3G/HD/SD-SDI, HDMI and
DisplayPort. Four slots are available
for use with a choice of five
BKM input boards.
The 25-inch BVM-E250,
which is aimed at colour grading
and high-end monitoring, will be
available in May. The 17-inch
BVM-E170, which is aimed at
camera control or OB use, will be
available in July.
Video trumps DSLR
Whereas BVE 2010 was notable
for having more DSLR cameras
on display than conventional
cameras, this year saw video cameras
dominant once more.
Canon did have a new DSLR,
in the shape of the EOS 600D,
which has a swing-out LCD and
the ability to zoom in by 3-10x
without affecting the HD resolution
(by using less of its 18MP
sensor as it zooms). However, its
DSLRs were pushed into the
background by its new XF range.
It showed a pair of its new
XF105 cameras (which have just
started shipping) in the new lightweight
Genus Hurricane 3D rig
(www.genustech.tv) designed by
cameraman Alister Chapman to
demonstrate the camera’s innovative
3D-friendly features.
The XF105 uses the same
50Mbps codec as the larger XF305
and offers most of its controls, but
Canon has added a few features
that make it suitable for 3D.
It has screen inversion in any
direction, to make it easier to
use in a mirror rig (like the
Hurricane); the zoom lens has a
focal length guide, which allows
users to set a reference point (the
cameras aren’t fully synchronised
although they have genlock/timecode
synch), and as a numerical
scale allows a lot more precision
when setting the two zooms manually
so that both cameras are at
the same focal length; there is also
an Axis Shift Function.
“This uses the lens shift from
the Optical Image Stabiliser to keep
the centre point of the image to a
point you have chosen. It takes the
cameras out of OIS mode, and uses
the lens shift to keep that centre
point throughout the zoom,”
explained Peter Yabsley, Canon’s
business development manager,
Professional Video, EMEA (pictured
with two XF105s).
“You can also use it to fine
tune the convergence of the cameras
when you are shooting 3D.
You can move the centre point
more easily than actually moving
the cameras,” which is useful in a
manual rig like the Hurricane.
Although the adjustments the
XF105 allows are all manual, “it
is intended to make the process
easier” thanks to novel uses for
technology already in the camera.
By Fergal Ringrose
A new 16 channel flagship
model was launched by Bel
Digital Audio at Broadcast
Video Expo in London. The latest
offering provides 16 channel
audio and video monitoring of
3G HD, SDI and SD video signals
with loopthrough and
Dolby E and Digital decoding
with Integral Loudness metering
compliant to ITU-R
BS1770 in a 1U package.
The new BM-AV1-E16SHD
provides a range of inputs and
outputs. There are two SDI
No other camera of this size,
or indeed in this price range, has
these features. “It is probably the
smallest general purpose camcorder
with genlock, and SDI,
and a high quality codec,” he said.
20-second pre record
JVC Professional launched its latest
GY-HM750E ProHD compact
shoulder-mount camcorder, which
should appeal for news use. Its Pre
Rec feature, which continuously
records and stores footage in cache
memory to prevent missed shots,
now stores 20 seconds.
The camera can record in readyto-edit
file formats for Apple Final
Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere (.mov),
or as Sony XDCAM EX files
(.MP4). For standard definition
work, it can also record DV files
(.avi or .mov).
It records to a dual card slot for
SDHC cards and/or an optional SxS
recorder. It now allows simultaneous
recording to both SDHC cards, for
instant backup or client copy. It has
three CCD sensors and records HD
in 720p, 1080p, and 1080i, plus SD
(576i), at up to 35 Mbps.
It has a 68-pin chassis connector
for a clean, direct interface to various
additional modules, including the
new KA-AS790 ASI output module,
which provides a direct feed from the
camera to a satellite uplink or
Canon’s Peter Yabsley with two
XF105s: “It’s probably the smallest
general purpose camcorder with
genlock, SDI and a high quality codec”
inputs alongside eight AES
audio pairs and eight analogue
inputs. The device provides
auto-selection of 3G, HD and
SD SDI bitstreams and decodes
as appropriate. Switching
between inputs is accomplished
by use of the simple, front
mounted rotary controls.
Visible audio monitoring is
via eight, three colour LED bar
graph meters on the front
panel that are switchable
between all available channels
and inputs. The meters have
adjustable colour transition
TVBEU RO PE NEWS & ANALYSIS
microwave transmitter via BNC, ideal
for broadcasting live HD from the
field. The GY-HM750E automatically
switches to low-latency mode
(less than 300ms delay) when the
module is in use. The GY-HM750E
includes a Canon 14:1 zoom lens,
but accommodates any lens with a
1 /3-inch bayonet lens mount.
Recording technology:
Ninja unleashed at BVE
The Atomos Ninja HDMI ProRes
recorder started deliveries just after
BVE, and should be followed at
NAB by a new HD-SDI version.
It has a clear touchscreen user
interface, and records 10-bit Apple
ProRes files (in LT, 422 or HQ
formats), which can be used directly
in Final Cut Pro or most other
non-linear editors running on the
Mac, or on Windows if Apple’s
ProRes QuickTime Application is
installed. It costs €795/£695, and
records to 2.5-inch laptop drives
(bought separately).
The package comes with a carry
case, two 2,400 amp hour batteries,
dual charger, two disk caddies, and
a computer docking station with
FireWire 800 and USB 3.0 ports.
The initial firmware doesn’t support
recording in 25p or 30p, but
Atomos’CEO, Jeromy Young, promised
that would arrive with the first
firmware upgrade, scheduled for 1
March. The frame rates aren’t part of
the HDMI spec, so needed more
work (they are output as double
frames at 60 or 50fps, and the Ninja
will then record just one of each pair),
Atomos promises a model with
HD-SDI input, which should be
on show at NAB and will be called
the Samurai. Unlike HDMI it will
transmit timecode and use the
more secure BNC connection.
Sonnet Technologies’ Qio
media reader/writer was on show
in the UK for the first time at
BVE. It allows users to transfer
files to edit stations or RAID
storage many times faster than
with USB 2.0 or FireWire.
It connects via PCI Express
for high-speed transfers with
Continued on page 47
Bel sounds product debut at Video Expo
points and peak-hold facility.
The ballistics are user assignable
and seven standard scales
are available to choose Nordic,
BBC PPM, DIN PPM, VU,
VU Ext., AES/EBU plus
Loudness metering, catered for
to ITU-R BS1770.
To enable video monitoring
there is an high quality OLED
video display on the front
panel providing clarity and
image definition. Comprehensive
metadata reporting is
also provided via the OLED
screen, which has an autodimming
function when not in
use that increases the lifespan of
the screen significantly.
www.beldigital.com
www.tvbeurope.com MARCH 2011 45