Datavideo MS-3000 production unit

A new, low-cost modular production unit that can be used as a flyaway or be quickly fitted in a van has been unveiled by Datavideo. The MS-3000 Portable Production Unit will cost from about £12,000-13,000 for a full, turnkey system.

It sold the first one at BVE for live events production with eight cameras, and the system will be available as a completely customisable package, including free fitting of equipment a buyer already has, according to Allan Leonhardsen (pictured), sales and marketing director of Holdan, the Datavideo distributor, which will assemble the unit at its UK facility.

The PPU is based around the SE-3000 8- or 16-channel 2M/E broadcast vision mixer (which costs from about £9,000 and has two mix/effects channels, full 3D effects, transitions, picture-in-picture and sophisticated keying, including chromakey effects), and will almost certainly include talkback, hard disk recorders, vectorscope and waveform monitors, and power distribution sensors.

It is designed to be easy to install in a small van or temporary studio. As a single cased unit, running on caster wheels, it can be rolled in to place to provide instant television and AV facilities.

“We want it to be that you turn up, plug it in, and be live in seconds,” explained Leonhardsen. “We’re not using systems like embedded computers that take a long time to boot up. We want to make sure that if you lose power, you are back on line in five to ten seconds, maximum. It’s very much aimed at the live market, or anyone who wants stability.”

Holdan hopes to create set configurations, to make it easy for customers to specify and check price points, and talked to prospective users at BVE to find out what they’d need in such a package (one item being coffee cup holders – so users are less likely to spill drinks on it), but he expects that almost everyone will want to choose their own configuration. As it will be created from a kit of modules, it will be possible to keep prices low despite the customisation.

“We can create integrated solutions but we don’t believe in it,” he added. “We don’t want it to happen that one item goes down and the whole system goes down, which is why we are using independent modules. We believe in stability and non-embedded functionality, so that independent items do independent jobs. If a hard disk recorder goes down, you can simply replace it rather than sending the whole thing back.”

Although Datavideo manufactures all the items, customers won’t have to specify them and can have a unit from another manufacturer fitted instead.

At BVE it showed a flyaway-style configuration with two 17-inch LED HD monitors, the SE-3000 switcher, dual-screen vectorscope test devices, a 16-way intercom, audio mixer and hard disk recorders. Units for live encoding, real-time graphics or additional media playout facilities can simply be inserted into the rack enclosure. Power for the PPU is supplied by a Datavideo central distribution system, which operates from 110-260v. This can have power outlets on the back for the cameras, tally, talkback and prompter (through a single multicore cable), and can be fitted with up to three redundant power supplies.

For use in a van, it has a system that clicks into the normal seating rail system, so that a people carrier can be turned into an OB van (and back) in about ten minutes – it has already used this system for a few vans in Europe and the Far East, which Leonhardsen sees as being ideal where an OB van is only needed occasionally, or to allow the system to be moved between studio and OB use.

Holdan has put up a video of the Datavideo equipment, in the Mercedes Sprinter van shown at BVE (and seen in the background of the first photo), giving more details on its benefits and how it works.

Studio in a briefcase

Also new at BVE was the Datavideo HS-2800 portable integrated production studio (pictured). The briefcase-style HD production switcher can be up and running on location in a matter of minutes, and has eight digital inputs, a built-in multi-view video monitor and 10-bit video support.

It supports multi-camera shoots, blending video sources, audio feeds, logos and graphics, and is designed for small-scale live production, or AV use for events or corporate production.

“With HD-SD conversion, downstream keying and dual picture-in-picture functionality, producers can deliver very polished TV for multiple audiences,” said Leonhardsen.

Features include high-quality digital video effects, multiple XLR inputs, a 17.3-inch monitor to display input sources, programme preview and the live programme, and an eight-way intercom system complete with headsets and tally lights.

By David Fox

JVC GY-HM70 shoulder camera

The new JVC GY-HM70 AVCHD camera should be of interest to many of our readers, as our now-ancient (October 2010) post on AVCHD shoulder mounted camcorders is our most popular ever…

The GY-HM70 will ship in May, and has a list price of $1,995 (apparently the UK street price is likely to be under £1,200), and some nice features, even if it doesn’t have XLR audio input.

It is designed principally for event production, and to make it useful for covering long-form events, such as weddings or conferences, it has hot-swappable batteries (pictured below - a first in this price bracket), so you can keep shooting continuously, without interruption. 

Being shoulder-mounted, it should also be a lot more comfortable for long-term use than more compact cameras (although it isn’t particularly big), and is reasonably light, weighing about 3kg (6.7lb) with one battery attached.

It can record 1920x1080 HD at up to 50p or 60p in AVCHD Progressive, to dual SDHC/SDXC memory cards (Class 4/6/10) at up to 28Mbps. It will also shoot at 250 frames per second at 720x576 (for 50Hz/Pal production) or 300fps at 720x480 (for 60Hz/NTSC countries), and offers 50/60i shooting or SD at lower bit rates. 

Interval recording in steps from one second up to 80 seconds is also an option, as are still images at up to 4000x3000-pixel resolution. Stills in 12Megapixel can be shot at the same time as video or stills can be shot at 2Megapixel resolution.

The camera should also be pretty useful in low light. It uses JVC's Super LoLux technology to enhance image quality and offer more accurate colour capture indoors or in dark situations (there is a minimum illumination of 1lux, which is certainly good, but hardly exceptional).

The F1.2-F5.6 GT Lens has a 10x optical zoom, plus a 16x “dynamic zoom” that only works with the optical image stabilisation turned off and makes use of the overabundance of pixels on the sensor by reducing from 5.4Mpixels to 2.07Mpixels (there is also a 200x digital zoom). 

The lens delivers a not-particularly wide wide-angle of 29.5mm – to 476mm if dynamic zoom used (35mm-equivalent), and was developed specifically for the 1/2.3-inch 12Megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor (apparently the same sensor used in JVC’s GY-HMQ10 small 4K handheld camcorder), which is claimed to deliver “high resolution, high sensitivity, and excellent colour reproduction.”

The camera features manual or auto focus (with focus assist), manual iris and shutter, manual or automatic white balance, and optical image stabilization.

There is a 3-inch 16:9 230K-pixel Touch Screen LCD display plus a 0.24-inch LCOS 16:9 260K-pixel colour viewfinder; an internal stereo microphone (plus a mini-jack microphone input); remote-control input; while outputs include an HDMI Mini connector and RCA video and audio ports. It comes with an AC adapter (AP-V20); battery pack (BN-VF823); composite/audio cable (RCA x 3) and USB cable.

http://pro.jvc.com

By David Fox

BBC buys 500+ GY-HM650 cameras

JVC has recently made a big breakthrough in broadcast news use with the order of more than 500 units of its GY-HM650 ProHD network-enabled camcorder by BBC News for use in newsgathering throughout the UK and globally.

The lightweight cameras record HD or SD in multiple file formats, including native XDCAM EX (.MP4), Final Cut Pro (.MOV), and AVCHD, to SD cards. The 650 also supports MXF files for metadata.

One of its advantages for news is that it has dual codecs, so that it can record full HD files on one memory card, while simultaneously creating smaller, web-friendly files (1/4 HD or SD) on a second card. It also has built-in FTP client and network connectivity, so that it can deliver the footage back to a station without a microwave or satellite connection (all it requires is a WiFi connection or mobile broadband).

It has a secure web server built-in, to allow you to take full control of the camera – including zoom, Rec start/stop and metadata editing – via any browser-enabled device such as an iPad or smart phone.

Other features include: three, 1/3-inch 12-bit CMOS sensors, each with 1920x1080 pixels; a 29mm-667mm (35mm equivalent) Fujinon 23x autofocus zoom lens with optical image stabilizer; manual focus, zoom and iris rings, plus three ND filters; auto-focus with face detection; good low-light performance (F12 at 2000 lux in extended mode); a 1.22MP colour viewfinder and 3.5-inch LCD; a second trigger and servo zoom control on the built-in handle to make it easy to record while holding the cameras at low or high angles; Pre Rec to continuously record and store up to 15 seconds of footage in cache memory to help prevent missed shots of breaking events; built-in stereo microphone plus two XLR inputs with phantom power; separate input for a wireless mic receiver; LANC remote connector; time-code synchronization input; plus HD-SDI and HDMI outputs. It also has Flash Band Correction, to avoid rolling shutter problems if you shoot an event there are flash guns going off.

The camera has been tested by Alan Roberts (whose reports are always worth reading) and met the EBU’s criteria under EBU Tech 3335 for journalism use (Tier 2J), and will also meet the requirements for general long form HD programming (Tier 2L), when used with a suitable external recording device supporting 50Mbps or greater recording (it records up to 35Mbps internally).

By David Fox

New slomo PoV with Polecam + Pico

High-speed cameras are small enough now to be usable on a hand-holdable jib arm, such as the lightweight Polecam, for use in places and ways they couldn’t have been previously.

The LMC Antelope Pico Point-of-View camera is particularly suitable for live sports production, and has been used for the German Bundesliga and Winter sports – a Pico was used on a white Polecam (to disappear into the background) at the start gates at the Alpine Skiing World Championship in Schladming. Polecam’s Founder, Steffan Hewitt (pictured above at BVE), also recently used the Pico in China, to cover the Rory McIlroy/Tiger Woods Duel at the Jinsha Lake Golf Club in Hengzhou.

“We had a full-size Polecam, with the Pico, and a Telecast Fiber PoV system – because the distance between the holes and the truck was kilometres, so we had to use fibre,” he explained.

The camera was primarily used above the players as they tee’d off, for slow-motion shots showing how their swings differed, for replay analysis. Because the system was so light, Hewitt, who was on his own, was able to just jump in a golf buggy between holes.

The Pico, which can deliver up to 340 frames per second from its 2/3-inch sensor, “worked great. It looked really good,” said Hewitt. “It’s the only really small high-speed camera that I know of.”

As it was on the Polecam, he could drop it right to the level of the green, where it was possible to see all the undulations that aren’t evident at normal camera height.

The current version of the Pico works with a pair of cables, but the next one will just require a single coax cable between the camera head and the CCU. “This will allow us to have much greater distances between the two, and use a longer Polecam,” he explained.

It will also be able to do live broadcast HD as well as slo-mo at the same time, so you can continue shooting HD while the high-speed shots are being cached for replay (which the current version can’t do), making it a much more practical proposition. “The new Pico will genuinely be live friendly.”

Given these developments, which should emerge at NAB in April, “I’m really excited about doing the high-speed stuff,” he added.

The slightly larger Phantom Miro slo-mo camera, from Vision Research, can also work on the Polecam (Vision Research were showing just such a package at BVE - pictured above), but it can’t be used as a direct feed for live production, although it does go up to 1,500fps.

Using the Polecam, operators can position the camera in places it wouldn’t normally be easy to go, such as over water, into a bird’s nest or in dangerous areas, to get close to the action.

One Polecam, being used with a Pico to cover a Bundesliga match, got closer to the action than it should have. During the warm up, the operator was rehearsing a shot above the goal, when one of the players used it for target practice, hitting it straight at the camera in beautiful slow motion.

“It completely bent the head in half. It cost £2,500 to completely rebuild the head, mainly with new parts,” said Hewitt.

By David Fox

BVE2013: Tiring but successful...

Thanks to all who came to see us at BVE2013. The freelance seminar, in particular, was a huge success. Even though the seminar room was at least twice the size as previous years, there were still about 30 people standing, most of whom stuck it out to the end - so, sorry if you ended a tiring day even more tired than you should have been.

We got a great response, with lots of people asking further questions as we packed up, and some very nice messages on Twitter after the event, such as:

Nelly Diancova ‏@DiamondsNickles
@UrbanFoxTV Marvellous presentation today. I am so driven to follow all the pieces of advice you shared with the audience. Big Thank you !

Giuseppe Cifaratti ‏@CifGiu
My favourite seminar at today's @BVExpo was @UrbanFoxTV . Really valuable advice! #bve2013

Jamie Montgomery ‏@scuuk
@UrbanFoxTV hey Christina, many thanks for the great seminars over the last couple of days at BVE.

Jayne Topping ‏@JayneTopping1
@UrbanFoxTV Hi Christine - seminar yesterday was very helpful. Can you point me in the direction of the seminar info please? Thank you.

For anyone else, like Jayne, who wants to view the presentation to get all the links and information they couldn’t scribble down, the PDF of the PowerPoint is available at http://www.urbanfox.tv/seminar/

The earlier Skills Zone session down on the exhibition floor was also rather packed, although in much more limited space it was never going to be easy for everyone to crowd around or be able to hear everything. However, it was good to be able to answer people’s questions directly.

That was also the purpose of the previous day’s Ask The Experts seminar, where we had an excellent panel (thanks to the experienced producer/director Matt Davis - www.mdma.tv, post production guru Alex Gollner - www.alex4D.com, and audio consultant Nick Way - www.nickway.co.uk). Incidently, Matt has an excellent post on BVE2013 on his blog.

Unfortunately, the room was less than a third full, partly, it seems because the brochure description of the seminar didn’t really explain what it was about, according to some of those that came. However, there were more than enough questions to push us ten minutes over our time slot, so we hope that anyone who did come along got something out of it.

BVE itself certainly managed to draw the crowds, despite the move to docklands, although, like us, most arrived later in the morning than they did previously. Still, there was lots of interest on the show floor, some very good deals available, and lots of people to meet that we hadn't seen in ages....

Come see us at BVE - free seminars

Broadcast Video Expo is Britain’s best conference and exhibition for anyone working in the video industry. It has lots of interesting FREE seminars to attend, and is probably the single best place to find out what is happening and make new contacts.

Previously it took place at Earls Court, which was ideal for those of us in what is a west-London-centric industry. However, this year it moves to the Excel Centre in distant east London, so it’s lucky that the seminars we’re taking part in aren’t early in the morning…

There are apparently 283 seminars in total (including those in specific manufacturer’s theatres), so BVE is a great opportunity for some free training. There are also supposed to be 331 exhibitors, so there is a lot to see and do – it’s worth making the journey.

We’ll be taking part in three sessions:

The Digital Clinic – ask the experts

When we’ve done Q&A sessions at previous BVE conferences they have always been packed, so we’ve got another “ask the experts” session this year (Tuesday 5pm), with the assistance of some well known names to answer your questions on any aspect of production and post-production, covering cameras, audio, lighting, editing, and general production problems you may have.

We’ve got a group of independent experts to answer your questions, all experienced industry professionals and media trainers. The current line-up includes the ebullient Matt Davis - www.mdma.tv, the effervescent Alex Gollner - www.alex4D.com, and the ever audible Nick Way - www.nickway.co.uk (although as they are all freelance, that might change….), as well as ourselves. So do come along and bring your questions.

The clinic will be held in the Producers' Seminars Theatre from 17:00 - 17:45, 26 Feb 2013.

Running your own business

Christina will be taking part in one of the drop-in Skills Zone sessions on Wednesday at 4pm, to answer questions about running your own media business. The Skills Zone is worth checking out if you want to develop your career, as there are sessions about CV writing, tax, contracts, script writing, pitching, and starting out in cameras.

The seminar will be held in the Skills Zone Theatre from 16:00 - 16:45, 27 Feb 2013.

Thriving as a freelancer

On Wednesday (5pm) Christina is giving her ever-popular talk on how to survive and even thrive as a freelancer in a digital, self-shooting world (this is always packed - as seen in the photo from last year, so come early if you want a seat….). It is particularly useful for anyone starting out in the industry, but there will probably be many things that will be useful for people who have even been freelance for several years.

It will cover all the essentials from getting work to getting paid, including the three most important lessons she has learnt as a freelancer…

The seminar will be held in the Producers' Seminars Theatre from 17:00 - 17:45, 27 Feb 2013.

By David Fox

Antelope slows down skiing + golf

LMC LiveMotionConcept supplied multiple Antelope UltraSlowMotion systems plus various analysis tools for the Austrian broadcaster ORF for the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Schladming. It also supplied a wireless slo-mo system for the recent Ladies Masters European golf.

In Austria, it supplied the host broadcaster with two mobile production vehicles, one of which had two Antelope MkIIs UltraSlowMotion systems and one Pico PoV UltraSlowMotion on board.

The MkIIs systems were moved between the men’s and women’s slopes every day with the help of helicopters. During the event they recorded at up to 2,500 frames per second. Thanks to the new enhanced detail function, which is implemented in the latest version of the MkIIs CCU, it was possible to show even little details of the action during each skier’s run.

The Antelope Pico (pictured above) was mounted in the middle of the main grandstand to record crowd reaction at up to 340fps. This was the first time at a major FIS skiing event that this sort of emotional replay was shot at high speed.

A brand new version of the Pico will be available just before NAB. It’s based on an improved 2K high-speed chip and supplies live video output in all HD formats plus a de-flickered replay channel with up to 340fps.

LMC also supplied a special Antelope replay feed, which was delivered to the “ORF House” in Schladming using Riedel Communications’ MediorNet real-time fibre network. A huge LED Cinemascope display was used to show this impressive replay feed to spectators at the championships throughout the day.

The second LMC vehicle was in charge of the analytical content for the world feed and ORF’s national programme.

LMC supplied a Dartfish system to record the clean world feed, plus feeds of three isolated analysis cameras, to produce analysis clips as either Simulcam (where the races of two individual competitors are composited together to compare them side by side) or Stromotion (where a skier’s progress is seen as a sequence of stills composited together). The isolated camera feeds were pre-cut on a LGZ Replay System.

The finished analysis sequences were clipped on an EVS XT2HD system and played out both into the national ORF outside broadcast truck and into the two international OB trucks for the women’s and the men’s world feed signals.

LMC also installed a Paint Touchscreen in the ORF studio. Its switchable input gave the studio experts an opportunity to graphically enhance their in-depth analysis and actively step in and show where a split of a second might make a difference.

Ladies Masters on AIR

LMC also recently deployed an Antelope AIR for the second time at the Ladies European Tour golf finals in Dubai. The Omega Ladies Masters is the grand finale of the busy LET season.

LMC's CEO Felix Marggraff, who is also the Ladies European Tour TV director, used the Antelope AIR not just as a live replay camera but also to record graphic backgrounds or even to shoot features with the players.

“The Antelope AIR is a great camera to show not just technical aspects but also the beauty of the sports” said Dirk Glittenberg, CEO of U.COM Media, the production company in charge of all LET media coverage.

The Antelope AIR is the wireless version of the MkIIs and fully remote-controllable. Both HD-SDI video and full telemetry are received and operated from the TV compound. The camera operator has full freedom on the golf course and can concentrate on the images.

“It’s great that our cameraman does not have to fiddle around with triggering, shading or any other technical stuff,” said Marggraff, who has directed the live and highlight coverage for LET since 2009.

The Antelope AIR includes all the functions of the MkIIs, such as enhanced detail, multi matrix, de-flickering and intuitive remote and operating controllers.

The World Feed Live Production of the 2013 season will start at the South African Woman’s Open on 19April.

Related posts: Fan riot destroys 1st Antelope camera, Tiny HD camera blends in and World first ultra-slowmo PoV camera

By David Fox