In Broadcast - January 2018 - 39
39 www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 1 | January 2018 InTech Bluebell Opticom: Looking Back and Moving Forward Paul McCann, Managing Director, Bluebell Opticom, looks back over the company's achievements in 2017... 2 017 was certainly an eventful year for Bluebell Opticom. Our developers were busy delivering some real problem-solvers - including oneof-a-kind products you won't find anywhere else. Products that give broadcasters the technology they need to tackle fibre transport in the age of 4K UHD and IP. One-Cable 12G-SDI Connectivity For 4K For example, with Bluebell's new series of 12G-SDI cards, broadcasters and remote crews no longer need high piles of copper cable. Instead, they get one-cable 12G-SDI connectivity in 4K broadcast applications. Our BN390 module converts four 3G-SDI inputs to one 12G-SDI output on fibre - making it possible to reduce four coax cables down to one wavelength on one single- mode fibre. Now, with wavelength management, Bluebell products can carry 16 wavelengths on a single fibre. Even better, they can also handle 16 4K camera outputs on a single fibre. Couple that with the standard SMPTE hybrid cable, which has two fibre cores, and you can immediately move 32 4K UHD channels over a single SMPTE hybrid cable - something every truck in the industry carries by kilometres. Edgware Bluebell also launched a simple product that allows standard 3G-SDI video signals to be wrapped up and sent over IP networks. In effect, it sits on the edge between traditional broadcast and the IP world. Hence its name: Edgware. By interfacing 3G-SDI signals directly with IP networks, Edgware enables robust, resilient IP delivery with unprecedented compactness, affordability, and simplicity. Edgware consists of a compact, cost-effective pair of modules - an encapsulator and a decapsulator - that transport SD/HD/3G-SDI signals over IP networks using SMPTE 2022-6, SMPTE 2022-7 or ST 2010. The result is adaptive IP transport with hitless IP Bluebell Hothead Silhouette routing according to the latest videoover-IP standards. There are larger, more complex solutions on the market, but nothing competes with Edgware in terms of size, sophistication, price, and ease of use. Hothead Silhouette When it comes to power insertion and long-distance 4K remote-camera operation at live events, Bluebell has broadcasters covered with the new Hothead Silhouette, an end-to-end, self-contained power, control, and video tool for 4K robotic-camera productions. It replaces copper cabling with one hybrid cable and, importantly, allows camera operators to sit far away from the robotic head - a combination of benefits not previously available in conjunction with 4K UHD production and remote powering. Especially well-received during this year's festival season, Hothead Silhouette is intended for ingest and production of live events at sports arenas, theatres, stadiums, and other venues. It combines 4K UHD transport, an open-architecture data-control system, and up to 60 Watts of power insertion to run the robotic camera head - all in a self-contained, fully integrated system. By placing the portable unit between the robotic camera head and the base station and adding an external interconnect, users can remotely power, control, and receive 4K UHD pictures from a robotic camera head over a single hybrid fibre cable at distances up to 20 kilometres. As a result, instead of standing on the wings of a stage using copper cables to connect to the robotic heads, operators can now be several tens of kilometres away if required and still have full control - even with dataheavy 4K shoots. Single-Cable 4K UHDTV Transport This year we made upgrades to our BN390 stand-alone interface that supports single-cable 4K UHDTV transport in broadcast studios and outside broadcast applications. Among other improvements, the BN390 multiplexer and demultiplexer modules are now capable of converting between all the various formats of 4K UHD (not just 12G-SDI) for both copper and fibre, and they come with an intuitive new software interface for easy remote configuration and signal monitoring. The improvements come as part of Bluebell's rollout of remote production tools and will be most helpful in OB trucks, stadiums, news facilities, and event venues, especially for sport applications. An Emmy Award! Perhaps the 2017 accomplishment we're most proud of is our Emmy Award, which we earned for our pioneering development of SDI over fibre optic networks. When Bluebell began making equipment that converted SDI to light, we did so out of academic interest. However, when broadcasters saw the advantages, they were quick to adopt the new technology. As a result, SDI signal transport over fibre is commonplace today, and Bluebell has become a trusted vendor for thousands of broadcasters, OB truck companies, stadiums, governments, and satellite uplink stations throughout the world. I am very proud of what we have achieved and am so pleased that we have been recognised for those achievements by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. As we head into 2018, Bluebell will continue the innovation that has been our hallmark and for which we were honoured this year. Here's to a prosperous and productive 2018! "I am very proud of what we have achieved and am so pleased that we have been recognised for those achievements by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences " Paul McCann, Bluebell Opticom