A Glasses-Free IBC -Part 1

Anticipating a great IBC: George Jarrett picks out some of the conference and new product attractions. A long-serving member of the IBC conference committee, he urges visitors to look very seriously at the sessions on stereoscopic 3D and digital cameras. It is a total experience, not just a show.
The big talking points at IBC will be 4K workflows, higher frame rate and glasses-free 3D, IT-based production, IP networks, the bandwidth revolution in satellite transmission (DVB-S2 annex) and the rise of the professional app and our total trust in software.
IBC has always been much more than a show, because the six days give people ample time to get round the halls, meets friends, and check out a huge number of knowledge boosting conference sessions, a whole strand of which (Industry Insights) are free to attend.
One of the hottest issues comes up on the Friday with sessions looking at the convergence of broadcast and the Internet, and the great connected TV debate – will the Internet be the end of television, as we know it? Another big subject will be the rise of the second screen, and its impact on content innovation. Surely the second screen is the family TV set?
One certain highlight on the Saturday will be Alan Roberts’ What Caught My Eye look at cameras, and on the Sunday morning new laser projection technology will be demonstrated. Sunday will also offer a What Caught My Eye look at convergence, and a consideration of the impact of the Arab Spring on broadcasting technology trends. The session not to miss is on hyper reality and the rise of digital cameras. The late afternoon offers the very attractive and diverse EDCF/SMPTE cinema workshop for technicians, and a session looking at the urgent need of new talent and new skills in the industry.
The Monday of IBC looks the richest in terms of mixed sessions, starting with a loudness breakfast event for those involved in implementing EBU R128 and -23 LUFS. The What Caught My Eye on small acorns will point you at things you might easily miss, and stereoscopic 3D fans get two sessions – one demonstrating why budget wary drama and comedy producers should adopt 3D, and another looking at the new grammar of stereoscopic 3D filmmaking.
Monday also offers ‘Who’s the second screen now?’ with mind boggler Ken Blakeslee at the helm, and the chance to learn if digital imaging has now surpassed film. This will be a presentation of the Image Control Assessment Series (ICAS) findings – which tested sharpness, low light sensitivity, exposure latitude, highlight and shadow detail, colour quality, skin tone reproduction, and compression and shutter artefacts. The cameras involved were Red Epic, Canon C300, Arri Alexa and Arri 35mmm film camera, and Sony F-65, Sony F3.
Products to study in detail
Blackmagic Design and AJA are ‘must see’ because of Blackmagic’s versatile camera, and the Ki Pro Quad solid-state recorder.
Introduced as a “cinema” unit and aimed at music videos, low cost TV and news, the Blackmagic camera has a 2.5K sensor, 13 stops of dynamic range, and a 30 fps frame rate. Users can extract raw 12-bit uncompressed images or work with HD and use the 3Gb SDI output. There are Zeiss and Canon lens options. Thunderbolt is another useful feature.
AJA has pulled off the trick of making 4K look imminently practical - piggy backing a Ki Pro Quad on a Canon C500 and taking the raw camera output in via SDI being the start point. Debayered 60/120p files arrive at a Mac via Thunderbolt. Users can work with 4096x2160 or 3840x21260 and work with the removable media SSD and 10-bit 4:4:4 (or 4:4:2).
Autodesk was another to cause waves with a new product, in the shape of Smoke on Mac. The summer trial downloads will have indicated what FCP users think of it, and IBC will be the launch pad for what is a brand new UI and a canny mix of editing and VFX tools.
Sony will again be trumpeting the mantra ‘Believe Beyond HD’, the big elements being a 4K workflow set up and 3D clips from its stereoscopic 3D coverage of Wimbledon and the Goodwood Festival of Speed. With Hawk-Eye winning FIFA approval as a goal line technology, the F65 winning plaudits from cinematographers, and its latest consumer 4K projector producing stunning images, it will have a lot of visual potency to show off.
Expect new sports production technology, and the cameras to check out are the F65 in 120 frame rate mode, the NEX-FS700, which works happily at up to 960fps, and the palm-sized HXR-NX30E.
Billed as a Super 35 and built round a 4K CMOS sensor, the first of these has a 3G HD-SDI output and integral ND filtering. You get full resolution in the 120-240 mode but have to accept reduced resolution between 480 fps and 960; you choose 16- or 8-second bursts. The hot features include face detection and the probability that we will see an output upgrade – a 4K bit stream with partnering 4K recorder.
The tiny camera has a host of nice features, including ‘SteadyShot’, full 1920 X 1080 resolution, and built-in projector.
JVC has turned its attention to newsgathering through the new GY-HM600 and GY-650 cameras, the latter having built-in FTP and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Also look for the DT-X series of 7-inch portable monitors, and a new 17-inch, full HD RGB monitor. Check out the skin tones.
The two cameras - with three 1/3-inch 1920x1080 12-bit CMOS back-illuminated sensors – come with a wide-angle 23x zoom lens from Fujinon that gives you a focal range of 29mm-667mm. The media used is SDHC or SDXC cards.
Users should ask Panasonic about the 4K Varicam. It will be plugging MicroP2 cards, the new compression platform AVC-ULTRA, and up and coming 1080p 60 cameras. One camera to have advanced since NAB will be the AG-HPX600 P2 HD camcorder. This gives you 10-bit, 4:2:2 AVC-Intra recording, support for AVC- ULTRA, a new 2/3 CMOS sensor, wireless metadata input, proxy recording, and variable frame rates. Ask about the smart phone link, which takes it into the news market more fully.
Telestream’s big news for IBC is the Vantage Transcode Multiscreen Pro, a mix and match bundling of its Vantage Multiscreen software, The Telestream Lightspeed server, and the Vantage Transcode Pro software. The result is a broad spectrum of transcoding format support and improved device interoperability.
Features of the new Vantage Transcode 4.0 that catch the eye are the 16-bit 4:4:4:4 YUV image quality, much better up, down, and cross conversion performance, and de-interlacing, plus support for the x264 codec for high-quality H.264 transcoding, support for broadcast and sports file formats (like AS02), and automated loudness control.
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