News

This year's IBC 2016 in Amsterdam was not as rich in news as the previous years, but on the other hand, most of the presented news will be available in a very short time. Hopefully other brands will follow this trend and not announce new products sometimes even a year in advance.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that six Micro Studio Camera 4Ks were used by live virtual reality (VR) production specialists 360 Designs to capture and live stream an interactive, 360-degree experience with Bee Gees legend Barry Gibb.

In anticipation of the October release of his upcoming album, “In The Now,” legendary Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter/producer Barry Gibb invited fans to join him virtually and in person at Miami's legendary Hit Factory Criteria studio for an intimate performance. During the exclusive rehearsal, Gibb performed brand new material from his upcoming album, as well as classic Bee Gees songs, and also hosted a Q&A. The entire event was live streamed in 360 degrees on YouTube and www.BarryGibb.com/360, giving fans around the world a better than front row seat to this special performance.

In order to capture the 360-degree performance, Alx Klive, founder and CEO of 360 Designs, used six Micro Studio Camera 4Ks, as part of two Mini EYE 3 Professional 360 Camera rigs, with three cameras per rig. One rig was situated on a motion track near Gibb, which allowed for remote movement of the 360 camera setup. The other rig was positioned next to keyboardist Doug Emery, providing an alternate 360 viewpoint for the audience.

360 Designs also used several of Blackmagic's DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G and DeckLink SDI 4K capture and playback cards as part of its live stitching technology, a number of Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio Pro broadcast recorders to record ISOs and the live stitched output and several Blackmagic Mini Converter Sync Generators to synchronize the Micro Studio Camera 4Ks for 360 capture.

360 Designs used its own live stitching, switching, grading and encoding boxes, which feature the DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G and DeckLink SDI 4K cards, to produce the one hour live stream and has used similar setups to live 360 stream from the Oscars red carpet, among a range of other high profile events.

“Over the past 15 months, we’ve built a rock solid broadcast technology workflow for live 360 video that leverages the 6G-SDI 10-bit capabilities of the Micro Studio Camera 4K, as well as our in-house expertise in designing and manufacturing 360 camera rigs and stitching equipment, to provide the highest possible standard of live 360 video with utter reliability,” said Klive. “Coming from a broadcast background, we designed a system that works within broadcast standards and 6G-SDI. For us, this is the only way to go as these events become larger and higher profile.”

He continued, “We had an incredibly talented team, and everyone involved in the production, from the engineers, to the musicians, to Columbia Records and Sony Music, all came together to create a unique and emotional experience for Barry’s fans. We didn’t just want to create another 360 experience; we wanted an intimate, live event where 360 was the focus instead of an add-on to traditional 2D production. Thanks to Barry’s enthusiasm for the project, we were able to plan ahead and design the production to work well for 360. We were able to get the Micro Studio Camera 4Ks much closer to the action than ever before, which was unprecedented and made a huge difference to the quality of the output.”

“This is an incredible technology which immerses you completely in the performance itself,” said Barry Gibb. “Pretty scary really when you're being streamed around the world, but as kids Maurice, Robin and I always had to perform on live television. You could never previously record anything. Hats off to the 360 Designs team.”



Press Photography
Product photos of all Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

This year's IBC 2016 in Amsterdam was not as rich in news as the previous years, but on the other hand, most of the presented news will be available in a very short time. Hopefully other brands will follow this trend and not announce new products sometimes even a year in advance.

Tohtoročné IBC 2016 v Amsterdame nebolo na novinky až také bohaté ako pomynulé ročníky, na druhú stranu však väčsina predstavených noviniek bude dostupná vo veľmi krátkom čase. Snáď tento trend budú nasledovať aj iné značky a nebudu ohlasovať novinky niekedy aj rok vopred.

Panasonic announced support for software-driven IP workflows using NewTek Connect Pro software enabling Network Device Interface (NDI) connectivity. The Connect Pro Software application makes Panasonic PTZ cameras recognizable as a source by NDI-enabled applications and devices connected to a standard Ethernet local area network. NewTek's royalty-free NDI technology allows video and audio sources to be shared bi-directionally across a network, eliminating the need for costly direct connections, expensive cable runs and infrastructure upgrades, while turning every source into a destination instantly available anywhere on the network.

IBC 2016 conference attendees recently had a chance to see how far this technology has come in just a few years. At IBC 2016, NewTek and Panasonic for the first time demonstrated IP interoperability between multiple NewTek Connect Pro-enabled Panasonic AW-HE130 PTZ cameras and multiple NewTek video production systems located at both companies' booths using the convention center's standard Ethernet infrastructure

“When we first showed the ability to connect Panasonic PTZ cameras like the AW-HE130 and AW-HE40 with IP streaming directly to a TriCaster that was an eye opener, but as we enable NDI using NewTek Connect Pro software in the system, possibilities increase dramatically,” says Panasonic Senior Business Development Manager Michael Bergeron. “We have been talking to customers looking for IP-based video systems across all video markets from broadcast to audio-video. There are many requirements for different applications but the emerging markets are looking for IP on a simple Gb Ethernet like this. Panasonic PTZ customers continue to become more diverse as these configuration options have increased.”

NewTek is also providing additional features in NDI version 2 in an updated software development kit (SDK) available in Q4 2016. The NDI SDK is royalty-free for any company looking to establish IP workflows within their organization, or in commercial products and applications they deliver. Version 2 adds higher performance, resolution independence, 16-bit per channel support for the highest precision color of any IP standard, 16 channels of floating point audio, improved cross subnet support, integrated fail-safe support, network-based re-routing support, and more.