IBC 2017: Grass Valley intros enhanced live production solutions with support for HDR
The ability to capture every second of a live event or breaking news story — and to quickly play and replay that footage in multiple formats across different channels — is the key to broadcast success. To efficiently shoot, deliver and archive live content, Grass Valley adds three new compact models to its LDX C86N Series Compact Camera portfolio, and has upgraded the K2 Dyno Replay System to feature the smallest footprint per channel of any 4K replay solution. All these new solutions complement Grass Valley’s support for native High Dynamic Range (HDR) capture and processing that help deliver pristine images to viewers.
In addition to these newly enhanced options, Grass Valley’s full live production portfolio features solutions for content in any format across every step in the broadcast production chain. Some of these solutions, including the LDX 82 HD/3G Cameras with extended dynamic range (XDR) capabilities and Kayenne K-Frame S-series production switcher with full multi-format support including 1080p and 4K UHD, will be demonstrated in the Live Production area of Grass Valley’s stand at IBC.
“Broadcasters need to be able to work effectively from any environment and in any format and do it all cost-effectively,” says Mark Hilton, VP of live production, Grass Valley. “With our extensive live production portfolio, Grass Valley’s cameras, switchers, replay and networking solutions are ready for anything, supporting HDR, wide color gamut and 4K content in IP or SDI workflows.”
From robotics and spidercams, to helicopter, remote studio and augmented reality applications, compact cameras can meet a variety of broadcasters’ diverse programming needs. The LDX C86N camera comes in five models with differing features. The two original offerings: LDX C86N WorldCam, and the LDX C86N 4K, and the three new models: LDX C86N HiSpeed which offers all the WorldCam (HD) formats as well as the 3X 1080i/720p functionality; LDX C86N XtremeSpeed which offers 3x1080i/720p/1080p and 6x 1080i/720p functionality; and the LDX C86N Universe, which combines all the HiSpeed and XtremeSpeed formats plus native 4K UHD.
All five LDX C86N models feature three native UHD in-house developed 2/3” imagers and utilize DPM (an enhancement to Grass Valley’s Dynamic Pixel Management) to manage the acquisition format and capture high-quality native HD/3G/4K images from anywhere, both in SDR as well as HDR. When it’s time to combine the footage into a cohesive program, the LDX C86N Compact Series is fully compatible with the LDX 82, LDX 86 and LDX 86N Series cameras to match perfectly in color reproduction and wide-gamut acquisition.
The K2 Dyno S supports SD, 10-bit HD, 3G, SSM and 4K UHD formats in less rack space, using significantly less power than its competition. In addition to flexible format options, K2 Dyno S offers added efficiency through workflow tools that simplify user tasks including Dyno A.R.T (automated rules based transfer), which builds file-based workflows users can set and forget, allowing them to easily build editorial, social media and archive components. K2 Dyno S also offers configurable storage, Apple ProRes support and Shareflex to provide fast content transfers between replay system pods.
Each solution plays an integral role in getting high-quality content to eager viewers’ screens. Not only do live production solutions need to perform their own role in the production process, but they also need to work together for a smooth glass-to-glass transition. Each solution in Grass Valley’s live production line-up works with the others to do just that.
Grass Valley is demonstrating the features of the LDX C86N Series cameras and K2 Dyno S replay system, as well as the LDX 82 camera series and Kayenne K-Frame S-series switchers, at IBC in stand 1.D11. In addition, IBC 2017 attendees can see Grass Valley’s Karrera K-Frame S-series switcher, LDX 86 Series cameras and XCU Universe UXF camera base stations live and in action at IBC TV in Hall 13, stand 13.A05. This year, IBC TV, IBC’s annual dedicated news channel which delivers live news, interviews and more to screens throughout the RAI Exhibition Centre, is demonstrating an all-IP workflow built around these flexible tools.