In Broadcast - May/June 2011 - 28

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | MAY/JUNE 2011

NAB 2011: Emerging from behind the cloud
Cont.

LDK 8000 SportElite

then transcoded to DVB-ASI. A lightweight, 1RU Base Station talks to the camera head and integrates into studio, mobile truck, or portable fly pack or into a facility’s switcher, router and intercom systems.

Stereo 3D gets integrated
Grass Valley was following the lead of other camera vendors by demonstrating initiatives for stereo 3D work. It has a 3ality rig on its booth carrying twin LDK 8000 Elites and an option to flip the second image the right way up inside the camera head. Grass Valley’s Camera Marketing Manager Bart van Dijk indicated that the company was working on several 3D innovations including a model of the Elite which splits the camera head from the transmission body for more suitable steadicam work. Sony (with its P1 unit) has already done just that while Arri previewed a work in progress version of Alexa to a similar design. The Alexa M (Modular) is being developed in tandem with rig pioneer Vince Pace and for integration onto the PACE Fusion rig targeted at feature film and high end TV stereo production. Sitting alongside Vince Pace in a joint opening keynote to NAB was director James Cameron who caused considerable fuss by preaching that 3DTV should be as simple as producing 2D shows and that all that needed to happen was for technology to piggyback on the 2D workflow. By ‘technology’ he meant software and rigs being developed at the Cameron-Pace Group (CPG), a newly formed company which cements the duo’s longstanding relationship. CPG intend to export the expertise they have already gained in features (notably Avatar) and sports (such as the US Open) into the international TV market.

Rivals like Element Technica and to SxS cards while its smaller HXR3ality are already ahead of the game NX3D1 contains two ¼-type CMOS though. 3ality was demonstrating sensors recording AVCHD format to the 3space suite which will ship this flash memory or memory cards. year which is ultimately intended Shipping this summer from JVC is to remove the need for a separate an integrated compact (GY-HMZ1U technical 3D production and 3D ProHD 3D) intended for the events operatives. and corporate market which JVC 3space includes IntelleCam for claims captures full 1920x1080 automatically controlling convergence resolution for both eyes. and interaxial spacing; IntelleMatte, The Phantom 65-Z3D twins the a live 3D compositing tool and popular high-speed imaging IntelleMotion which provides realtime optics of the Phantom with sets of motion stabilization for long lenses. interchangeable lens pairs from Zepar. 3D rigs will remain the purest route to It has been given the thumbs up by stereo acquisition for the foreseeable Doug Trumbull who developed the future but outside broadcasters or TV Showscan 70mm, 60 fps process and producers can also draw on a growing who shot a music video – Dana Fuchs’ range of twin-lens camcorders to Golden Eyes – using the camera bolster a multicamera shoot or as a shooting 120 fps. He and James means to shoot stereo in cramped Cameron are both advocating higher spaces. frame rates for production since in Among the 20 or so such systems Trumbull’s opinion it “creates a sense on the market by year end will be of realism.” two each from Panasonic and Sony. One other innovation to note is Joining Panasonic’s AG3DA1 is a shoulder mounted version (AG-3DP1) with a larger chip recording 10 bit AVC intra to twin 64Gb P2 cards. Sony also has handheld and shoulder-mount integrated models in the works to accompany a raft of consumer-oriented stills and video stereo imagers launched at CES. The aim is to encourage stereo adoption, awareness and acquisition of all stripes as it seeks to bring 3DTV into the mainstream. Sony’s PMWTD300 3D camcorder, due around IBC, is based on the XDCAM EX 3ality digital camera rig platform and records

the Meduza camera from British developer Meduza Systems. Based on technology originally forged in the US defence industry, the Meduza has the potential, and marketing chutzpah, to upset the apple cart just as Red did before it. The Meduza, which will be ready this Autumn, has been designed so that it can easily incorporate the very latest components including sensors, when they become available and is touted as the world’s first stereo 4K imager. “With Meduza, in essence, you get a one year jump on everyone else, in a professional package that is never obsolete,” said Chris Cary the company’s CEO. “Keeping pace with technology is the greater message behind the camera system. The day of building a camera around a sensor has passed. We believe that capability, flexibility and expandability are now the critical criteria in this field.” Who’s to say he’s not right?

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In Broadcast - May/June 2011

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