Archive of the Cameras Category

Thomson announced three new models to the LDK series of cameras. They include the Thomson Grass Valley LDK 4000 Elite, LDK 8000 Elite (in Standard and WorldCam versions), and the LDK 8000 SportElite.

Among the new enhancements, the LDK Elite and SportElite HD series significantly improve on the existing cameras’ internal DSPs with new DSP circuits. It’s a completely updated software platform that performs all camera image management functions — such as knee, gamma, contours, and variable matrix — with three channel 22-bit digital precision. The SportElite adds 2x Super Slow-Motion sampling functionality in both 720p and 1080i HD formats. more

Thomson declared 2008 to be the year of HD sport on the eve of the opening of IBC2008 in Amsterdam.

Gathered at the Amsterdam Arena home to the city’s Ajax professional soccer team, the company’s management laid out exactly why to the press. Pointing to HD coverage of the just-completed 2008 Beijing Olympics, Euro2008 soccer championships and Wimbledon Championships, Thomson made the point that HD has entered the mainstream of television around the world.

In keeping with the theme, the company turned to a couple of skilled soccer ball kickers — which Thomson Grass Valley VP of communications Laura Barber-Miller referred to as keepsie-upsies — to illustrate the effectiveness of Thomson’s Grass Valley LDK 8300 HD Super SloMo camera. more

Autoscript is showing the Magno Footcontrol a frictionless magnetic technology to overcome one of the main handicaps of existing control devices which use a compression spring mechanism. Brian Larter, Autoscript Worldwide Managing Director said, “Even using high-quality tension springs and tempering the repeated pushing and twisting action used to work all current foot controllers will inevitably lead to a weakness over time. With a design based purely on magnets there is no spring to break. In fact the Magno Footcontrol is 100 percent service free.”

The Magno control connects directly with the WinPlus prompter software and features in-built intelligence to allow production staff or multiple presenters to allocate any controller for use at any time and with fail safe accuracy. Users can see and add hardware in house to quickly adapt to changing needs. The controller will be available in both wired and wireless configurations.

The new controller is being demonstrated in stand 9.C40e. Stop by for a demonstration of these products and to inquire about more.

Related article: Autoscript to debut new controllers

Friday started with Snell & Wilcox, a company we associate with their advanced motion estimation technology. They lifted the curtain on a new technology, the subject of a session paper, that provides a smart way to change aspect by removing “white space” in the picture. It detect seams between objects, then removes video between seams. That way face don’t get stretched, and important content isn’t cropped. It’s not a product yet, but if it sounds interesting to you, track down the technical paper and have a read.

Next to the impressive Sony booth for a guided tour. Sony announced it is to be a lead technology partner with the UK’s BSkyB in the construction of an all-new broadcast center for 1080P production and broadcast.

Another announcement was that JVC has licensed the EX SxS solid-state record format, a move that will aid the move away from videotape for all but high-end production, where the high bandwidth of HDCAM-SR still offers a video quality that the newer media formats cannot equal — for now!

Our time at IBC starts with a round of press conferences. For the kick off, Thomson took us to the Amsterdam Arena, the home of world famous Ajax soccer team. The connection here is sport, and Thomson cameras. The new LDK8300 shoots at three times frame rate, but also incorporate flicker reduction technology to deal with the problems that ac lighting causes when your not shooting at power frequency.

The IT-enabled Infinity camera adds support for 24P, opening opportunities to use the camera in “film-style” productions. Because JPEG2K codec is 10-bit, color grading can be applied dowstream, a key differentiator from the 8-bit MPEG record formats.

New developments in the K2 server line, again in the sports area. The new K2 Dyno slo-mo controller marks a broadening of the server apps away from straight playout into the production server space.

We left the stadium by very hot bus to the next hot venue (Amsterdam is hot and humid — very little air conn), the Harris press event. Story here was more 3 gig, as broadcasters look to future proof infrastructure investment. The NEXIO AMP platform in version 2.0, now 3Gb ready. For European broadcasters, Harris has returned to the transmitter market with ROHSS-compliant products with a new digital exciter range, software programmable for different modulation standards, and more efficient — saving on those huge power bills.

The new Fujinon HA23×7.6BE is designed to support a wide range of demanding, high-end applications, including HDTV broadcast news, sports, special events, commercial, and network television production.

“The lens is especially well-suited for high-end HD field production. The HA23×7.6 is a superior, advanced 2/3in HD lens incorporating high optical and mechanical specifications while ensuring unmatched performance in the most rugged of production environments,” said David Waddell, marketing manager for Fujinon. more

Let me tell you about some of the press conferences I went to tonight.

Now if you’re a member of the press then you’re given exclusive access to press conferences at the major tradeshows. Some companies keep their new product releases top secret until those press conferences. Tonight I went to the Thomson Grass Valley, Harris and Omneon press conferences.

Thomson Grass Valley held its event at the Amsterdam ArenA, a stadium with the capacity for about 55,000 seats during sports matches. It was a huge soccer stadium and when we pulled up I half expected to see David Beckham standing outside.

So why did Grass Valley hold its press conference there? Because according to the company, 2008 was the year of sports in HD. The company used the stadium to demonstrate its new Elite HD camera series, which has the ability of 3X super slow mo. They had a couple soccer players on hand, bouncing the ball back and forth, which the company showed in 3X super slow mo on a big screen to the press. more