Blackmagic Design have introduced two exciting new products for professionals working in Live VR – an 8K Recorder and an 8K switcher. The recorder costs $4,995 and the switcher $9,995. This complements their existing 8K I/O card released last year, available for a relative snip at $695.
The new devices are fully compatible with our Mini EYE™ cameras, StitchBox™ and Live VR workflow. You can now master with a single recorder in 8K, and run an 8K live VR workflow with zero latency, and all the benefits that ATEM based switching provides.
New 8K Live Switcher from Blackmagic Design enables hardware based switching of 8K Live VR workflows
Mini EYE 3 currently outputs 6K natively, but until now that resolution could not easily be unlocked for live, as the only switchers / vision mixers available were 4K.
By combining multiple Mini EYE™ 3’s, StitchBox™ and the 8K switcher, you can pull off productions at the very highest standards of VR. Out of the box native 6K, scaled 8k, or native 8K Live VR possible with future upgrades.
Benefits of a broadcast-standards based workflow for Live VR:
- Lowest latency in the business. Zero latency from camera to stitcher, compared to ‘all-in-one’ 360 cameras’ that have 1-3 second latency using streaming IP formats such as RTMP
- Highest quality image in the industry – 10 bit 4.2.2 uncompressed video, at 13.5 Gbps bitrate, all the way to your ISO recorders, master recorders, video village, streaming encoder, etc. Compare to 150 Mbps with prosumer 360 cameras.
- SDI cabling – all locking robust BNC connections, tried-and-tested broadcast standard (for 30 years), many accessories available, ultra long cable runs possible – 300+ ft with a single cable (versus 50-100 ft for ethernet and 25 ft for HDMI)
- 48 channels of uncompressed audio from each camera position over SDI to the control room – easily mux in professional microphones from remote positions, or out of the box relay the 6 on-camera microphones on Mini EYE – for room audio, confidence monitoring, emergency crew comms etc
- Ultra reliable, hardware based switching – professional grade panels can be used, featuring dual power supplies, dual network connections and more
- Easy to use, professional, hardware based camera control panels can be used
- Professional DaVinci Resolve color correct hardware panels can be used
- DVE based features for overlays, picture-in-picture, zoom, effects, plus chromakey and more
- Instant compatibility with a world of existing professional broadcast equipment including slow motion replay systems, playout devices, optical fiber (for unlimited length cable runs), distributers, splitters, matrix switches, test equipment, broadcast grade monitors…. and more!
- ATEM remote control of playback decks, recorders and 360 cameras – Incredibly useful. Adjust camera settings from the control room such as: shutter speed, gain, white balance and even live DaVinci Resolve color correction, with each 360 camera acting as a single camera to the system
- Instantly troubleshoot any video connection easily, ‘anywhere along the line’, with a handheld video monitor. IP video by contrast is far more complex and tricky to troubleshoot
- Return video connection enables monitoring of the program feed at each camera position
- Multiview monitoring out of the box – use a single 4K or 8K display to display up to 16 different video sources
- Add logos, bugs, etc with ease, store them and go live with them from within the switcher
- Tally lights on the cameras for a professional touch
- Talkback / intercom over SDI or fiber for crew communications
- All rack-mounted equipment for building fly-packs and for studio installations
This is just a sample of the many advantages of using a broadcast-standards workflow for live VR or live 360/180. For more information, please contact us. We provide specialized live VR consulting, live VR systems integration, custom camera design and manufacture, custom live VR server builds, and live VR production services.