In Broadcast - May 2018 - 42

42

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 5 | May 2018

InForm

Post Las Vegas NAB Show
With rising video production and pressure to alleviate the data bottlenecks
the industry delivered with scores of innovations at NAB2018,
Contributing Editor Adrian Pennington reports...

M

ore than in recent years, the NAB
Show exhibited a wider number
of exciting innovations as vendors
attacked the need to create and deliver
more video content with less money.
Unifying much of this activity is the
media processing potential of AI, the
underpinning connectivity of IP and
the growing acceptance of UHD and
especially HDR as the new production
norm.
"From a consumer perspective
UHD is becoming commonplace with
a variety of devices and distribution
platforms now available," was the take
of analyst Futuresource Consulting.
"However,
from
an
industry
perspective there is still a significant
amount of ongoing grappling with
the technology, more specifically,
justifying and providing the return on
investment across both hardware and
content."
Cameras & Camcorders
With that context let's turn to some
of the show's product highlights
beginning with acquisition. Here,
Sony offered three new 4K XDCAMs,
one of which, the PXW-Z190, came
billed as the "world's first 4K threechip handheld camcorder". This is
built around three 1/3" CMOS sensors
designed for a fixed 25x optical zoom
lens. It incorporates face detection
autofocus and will record simultaneous
4K and HD proxies to two SD cards as
well as having 12G-SDI output. There's
a Wi-Fi module or optional cellular
modem for live streaming. It replaces
the existing PXW-X200 in Sony's lineup and is expected to ship in July.
All these camcorders support Instant
HDR, a Sony specific workflow which
bakes HDR into the live output (in HLG
format) for
broadcast or on

set previews, while leaving wriggle
room for finessing the
grade in post.
For those looking for
a more cinematic look,
the FS5II is a 4K Super
35mm imager which
updates Sony's FS5
with fresh colour science
adapted from its Venice cine
camera.
Among other full frame cameras to
debut was the Canon C700 FF which
records 4K 60p from oversampling a
5.9K sensor to an optional CODEX CDX36150 recorder. Putting the camera
into 2K crop mode allows 168fps to
be captured, all with a dynamic range
of up to 15-stops. SD card slots allow
the simultaneous recording of proxy
files. The C700 FF incorporates a Dual
Pixel auto focus system with facial
recognition. Other features include
app control from mobile devices, HD IP
streaming, support for ACES 1.0, and
output for HLG and PQ gammas for
HDR monitoring.
Canon also released a new sensor
capable of an astonishing sensitivity
of ISO 4,560,000 at 100fps. It's an
improved version of the one in the
firm's existing ME20F-SH low light
camera, and while there is no new
camera housing the chip at this point
Canon suggests the tech is best used
for night time wildlife productions,

Canon EOS C700 FF

deep underwater imaging and unique
documentary productions.
Blackmagic Design's new 4K Pocket
Cinema Camera shoots at 60fps (or
120fps in HD) and deploys a MFT (Micro
Four Thirds) lens mount. It houses a
dual ISO with a maximum sensitivity
of 25,600 for low light performance
as well as 13 stops of dynamic range.
Blackmagic says the camera's design
eliminates the need for "expensive
external recorders", as it can use the
internal SD/UHS-II and CFast recorders
or record directly to the same external
disks users may have for editing and
colour correction. It is available from
September.
Not every camera needs to be
4K of course, since the majority of
content broadcast today is, by a
country mile, SD or HD. So, if you're
in the market for a new HD camcorder
primed for newsgathering or even
documentaries then JVC's GYHC900 should be of interest.
It's fully HDR ready
of course with the
ability
to
record
with HLG gamma,
or J-log gamma via
Blackmagic Pocket
Cinema Camera 4K

Sony PXW-Z190

JVC GY-HC900

three 2/3-inch CMOS chips. It's
capable of up to 120fps in HD
and has very decent 62db
signal to noise ratio.
But it is the camera's
connectivity
smarts
which is the main reason
to look at this. The GYHC900's incorporates a
processing engine that
enables recording and
streaming plus simultaneous
decoding for return video over
WiFi or with JVC's optional ProHD
Dockable Bridge. This makes it
possible for a reporter to take part
in a two-way interview with the main
newsroom without needing to add
any more hardware to the camera.
Latency can be as low as 500ms for
both outgoing and incoming video, it
is claimed.
Post-Production
Moving
to
post-production
Blackmagic Design is bundling a
visual effects and motion graphics
suite into DaVinci Resolve. Previously
available as separate application
Fusion, this is being integrated into
Resolve 15 with the final version ready
in about 18 months. Among the 250
tools are solutions for compositing,
vector paint, particles, rotoscoping,
stabilisation and animated titles.
Blackmagic also now claims that
Resolve is "the fastest growing
nonlinear video editor in the industry",
though it would be fair to say that few
would make its NLE functions their
sole reason for download or purchase.

http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.canon.co.uk/video-cameras/eos-c700-ff/ https://www.canon.co.uk/video-cameras/eos-c700-ff/ https://www.canon.co.uk/video-cameras/eos-c700-ff/ https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera http://pro.jvc.com/pro/pr/2018/nab/gyhc900.html https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera https://pro.sony/en_PT/products/handheld-camcorders/pxw-z190 http://pro.jvc.com/pro/pr/2018/nab/gyhc900.html

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