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Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) video production team will monitor all of the action at this year’s French Open using eight Blackmagic MultiView 16s. The purpose built 3.2 meter by 1.3 meter video wall provides a complete preview of all the action as it happens at Le Stade Roland Garros, Paris’ international tennis venue.

As part of a major video production upgrade for the venue, four of the hardware multi viewers will be used all year round in order to monitor 1080i50 signals across all 20 courts at Roland Garros, including smaller FFT tournaments and training analysis. During major championships, such as the French Open Gram Slam tournament and Davis Cup meetings, the additional four MultiView 16s provide the FFT team with a full overview of every camera feed being produced by up to 40 international sports broadcasters on site, as well as outputs of video systems such as keyers and video walls.

“Blackmagic’s hardware multi viewers replace several full IP mosaics and SDI video quads that we previously used for monitoring. As well as assisting in our overall upgrade of our inhouse production capabilities from SD to HD, the multi viewers also allow us to be more flexible by taking video outputs straight from our SDI video routers to see whatever we need directly up on our screens,” explains Christophe Chatain, head of AV, FFT. “Whilst most of our sources for this Grand Slam tournament are HD, as is the case with other international events, the fact that we can support Ultra HD monitoring in the future, and select how we view those inputs; either full screen or 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4 means we have a flexible, reliable monitoring solution that is future proofed.”

The FFT has also recently installed two Blackmagic Smart Videohub 40x40 routers as part of its upgrade of the venue’s audiovisual infrastructure. The first is used to distribute video feeds between the stadium’s multiple control rooms via optical fiber out to giant screens for spectators or to the venue’s IPTV network while the other manages all of the incoming sources for the video wall in the master control room, routing the MultiView 16 inputs and outputs.

“As the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay, the French Open is a major international tennis event, attracting sell out crowds and broadcasters from across the globe, so it goes without saying that our on court coverage has to be flawless, and the production team has to have its finger on the pulse as the drama unfolds,” concludes Christophe. “The installation of Blackmagic Design’s routing and monitoring equipment delivers a reliable and seamless video production workflow that enables us to provide broadcast standard video coverage of some of tennis’ most exciting matches, from the very best in the sport.”

Press Photography

Product photos of MultiView 16, Smart Videohub 40x40 and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com.

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.

NewTek TriCaster Advanced Edition is an option available for TriCaster Mini through TriCaster 8000, capable of elevating productions to new heights of connectivity, creativity, and efficiency. More than 60 new major capabilities and enhancements in TriCaster Advanced Edition help multiply audiences, streamline repetitive tasks, and make productions more riveting in an ever-more-connected world. TriCaster Advanced Edition is available now as a one-time purchase.

Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, is launching EDIUS 8, the latest version of its editing platform designed for production and broadcast news. Version 8 features multiple new capabilities, including refreshed GUI, Canon XF-AVC support, a new workflow clip management tool, accelerated 4K H.264 playback and an aggressive development program to introduce many new creative tools over the coming months.

EDIUS offers best-in-class camera support to allow editors to concentrate on the story, not the technology. Plus, EDIUS 8 is the first nonlinear editing system to support Canon's recently announced XF-AVC video format which is at the heart of the new 4K XC10 camcorder. EDIUS 8 also includes a new GV browser tool to manage video and still image content on your PC, prior to importing into EDIUS for editing.

EDIUS delivers exceptional performance using Intel's Quick Sync Video—providing editors with super-fast H.264 export capabilities—great for dealing with smartphone footage and repurposing for uploads to social media channels, including YouTube—and amazing playback, even when editing 4K material.

EDIUS 8 will be available in two versions, EDIUS Pro and EDIUS Workgroup. EDIUS Pro is targeted at production professionals looking for flexible editing that offers speed and the ability to handle any file format with a range of creative tools. EDIUS Workgroup is aimed at collaborative news and sports editing for broadcasters, and can be fully integrated with the GV STRATUS video production and content management system, or other third-party media asset management tools and server offerings.

EDIUS Pro 8 and EDIUS Workgroup 8 will ship towards the end of June 2015.

Panasonic has introduced P2Cast, a cloud-based news production system that leverages the network features of the company's next-generation P2HD camcorders with AVC-ULTRA recording - the AJ-PX5000G, AJ-PX800 and AJ-PX270. P2Cast integrates these camcorders' network capabilities so content uploaded to the cloud is immediately available for reviewing and editing.

P2Cast dramatically expedites the delivery of news to air, while at the same time expanding the editing function to any device connected to the internet. A major P2Cast advantage is its ability via the cloud to move low bit rate, yet high-quality proxy video off a camcorder in the field, create a video sequence of the desired clips, and then allow newsroom systems to automatically pull back high-resolution video for air from the camera. This high-resolution video can range in quality from AVC-LongG12 through AVC-Intra100, depending on preference and available bandwidth.

AVC-ULTRA cameras in the field are connected with the newsroom through mobile networks (4G/LTE, Wi-Fi, or dedicated connection) and the cloud, making it possible to instantly produce news out of events as it occurs. The service has been tested for several months by major international and domestic broadcasters, including Time Warner Cable NY1 News, the cable network's 24-hour news channel in New York City. P2Cast is immediately available in the United States and Europe on a free trial basis through September 2015, at which time the service becomes chargeable.

The AVC-ULTRA camcorders will require a firmware upgrade that enables the cameras to communicate with P2Cast. The firmware is available for the AJ-PX5000G, and the AJ-PX270, the AJ-PX800 P2Cast-ready firmware will be available in 3Q 2015.

P2Cast Workflow Features:
– Proxy file sharing. Shared storage is prepared on the server. The proxy files uploaded from camcorders can be browsed and played from stations. The proxy file can be downloaded and used for breaking news.

– Highlight editing, high-quality footage transfer. At a station, the editor can highlight edit (In point / Out point) the proxy files that have been uploaded on the server, thus creating and EDL (Edit Decision List) and transfer it to the camera. Based on the EDL, the camera selects just the desired high-quality footage and transfers it back to the server.

– New, efficient workflows using metadata. Cameras and cameramen are pre-assigned IDs and metadata is sent from the newsroom to the camcorders in the field. Metadata can be automatically recorded with footage shot in the field, and the data can then be used in the editing process to dramatically increase the searchability of the raw footage and shorten the time required for archiving and targeting secondary uses.

Panasonic released several updates for their cameras, including Panasonic VariCam 35 / HS, and AJ-PX270. The update 3.01 for VariCams adds support for new formats, including Apple ProRes HQ (HD) VFR 1-120p/1-100p, AVC-Intra444 (HD), AVC-Intra200 (HD), and AVC-Intra2K 444 (2K), the latter being for VariCam 35 only. The new update also adds water mark functionality, false color, noise reduction, fan speed based on codec, MON OUT (4K/2K) aspect selection, Interval / One Shot / PreREC function, and VFR (up to 60p) in SUB recording for both VariCam 35 and HS models. Specifically for VariCam 35, there is also low ISO support, and LDS lens data support. Update version 27.73 for the AJ-PX270 series adds enhanced FTP transfer function for P2 Cast, enhanced streaming function for external servers and for LiveU, support for Direct Mode of USB-N53 (a Wi-Fi adapter by ASUS), and support for SIM-lock-free dongles.