In Broadcast - December 2014 - 60

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 38 - DECEMBER 2014

N E W S

InMEDIA

2014 'The Year Of 4K'

While the mass market still remains elusive, in many respects 2014 has been the year of 4K...
By Andy Stout
Contributing Editor

oth NAB and IBC were
dominated by news of new
camera models and other 4K kit
filling all the remaining niches
further down the production
pipeline, while several large-scale
high proﬁle test transmissions from
multi-day events underscored the
successful work done on individual
matches and concerts over recent
years.
Indeed, within the rather rareﬁed
walls of tradeshow halls 4K seems
to be a done deal.
All major manufacturers now
have a 4K camera chain in place,
even Panasonic whose VariCam
35 astonishingly enough made
it the company's ﬁrst foray into
the 4K field when it eventually
shipped in October.
A new super 35mm MOS
image sensor is embedded in
one of two usefully modular and
thus detachable heads, while the
recording module uses Panasonic's
AVC-ULTRA codecs for internal 4K,
UHD, 2K, and HD recording. The
camera also provides 14 stops
of dynamic range, and features a
standard PL lens mount, while a
new expressP2 card provides 72
minutes recording time in 4K/25p.
The VariCam 35 has a 35mm 4K
sensor with a PL mount, while the
VariCam HS is a 2/3" HD sensor
with a B4 mount and the ability to
capture at 240fps.
The last is interesting. The shallow
depth of ﬁeld you get with PL lenses
is not good for sports or even light
entertainment as the shallow depth
of ﬁeld makes focusing problematic -
an issue that can be cruelly exposed
at 4K resolutions. B4-mount

Blackmagic Design's URSA 4K
features an upgradeable sensor

lenses allow users to zoom in as
they would an HD camera, while
a 100x zoom lens for a 2/3-inch
camera - common in large sports
stadia - is a lot smaller and lighter
than a 100x lens for a large sensor
camera would be.
While the pricing of the VariCam
puts it at the top end along with
the ARRI Alexa and the Sony
F65, there is plenty of activity
below this level with an increasing
concentration on sport broadcast.
Hitachi also belatedly entered the
fray this autumn, launching its SKUHD4000 camera which uses four
2/3-inch MOS sensors to produce
its 4K images, and must have done
something right as Gearhouse

AJA's CION offers 'edit-ready' Apple ProRes 4444 output

a remote head camera system.
There is even a crowdfunded
camera on the way, the AXIOM Beta,
which developer apertus° hopes to
release to backers in the spring. It
is an OpenSource project and, as
Dan Mulligan, MD at Rogue Element
ﬁlms explains, that implies a certain
degree of home-brew ethos.
"You will be able to tweak and
tune the camera to your desires,"
he says. "The companies are asking
what voltage inputs you would like
so you can affect your ISO settings
and other factors. With open ﬁle
formats and capturing capabilities
you can then create your processing
paths and develop your digital ﬁlm
neg exactly how you wish."

Workflows

Crowdfunded range - AXIOM beta

Broadcast immediately snapped
up the complete ﬁrst production
run of 50 units.
Most manufacturers favour a
pragmatic approach. "For our
productions we use large sensor
cameras for 4K acquisition," says
Sony's Norbert Paquet. "The
beneﬁt of these is the improved
dynamic range, precision colour
reproduction and shallow depth of
ﬁeld. Combined, these are perfect
for the customers in the "non-sport"
business. For sports applications,
we developed a 2/3'' lens adapter
that can easily adapt
traditional HD lenses
and benefit from
the wide zoom
coverage they offer."
New 4K units are
coming to market
almost every day. The
day this feature was
ﬁled JVC announced its
new 4KCAM product
line, which should
ship next spring and
comprises three new
professional handheld
camcorders, including
a palm-sized unit, and

Post is not the problem. Yes,
4K post production needs more
resource, but the industry as a whole
is very used to that from the movie
side of things and the workﬂows
are understood and robust. "We
had to overcome storage and
pipeline issues due to the greatly
increased volume of data that 4K
represents when compared to HD,"
says Peter Hampden, Managing
Director, LipSync Post. "With our
experience in feature ﬁlms, many of
which have long 4K sequences or
are even entirely posted at 4K, we
addressed these issues in 2011 and
have created a proven workflow."
Post also contributes a workable
and established standard in
the shape of the 4K DCI spec.
Elsewhere there is a fair degree of
confusion surrounding standards,
none of which has been helped by
a muddying of the waters on the
consumer side of things and early
sets not playing current streams

Exactly where the industry is
though in the great 4K project is,
of course, far more complex than
just assessing the rude health of
the camera side of the equation.
Despite some extremely high proﬁle
projects - notably in live sports
with the Commonwealth
Games and the FIFA
World Cup - the workﬂow
aspects of 4K production
can still be considered to be
under development.
It's fair to say that
Sony probably has more
experience than most in this
side of things, the company's The GY-HM170 is part of JVC's revamped range
Norbert Paquet estimating that it
and loading apps that rely on HEVC
has around 30 live camera chains
chipsets, for example.
in operation in Europe.
However, AJA Video Systems'
"The most difﬁcult point currently
Product Marketing Manager,
is the infrastructure impact of 4K,"
Bryce Button is amongst those
he says. "With four times more data
that feels that standardisation is
to carry over an OB Truck, you need
naturally coalescing out of evolving
to use four times as many cables,
working practices.
"We believe there is a fair amount
sources or destinations, but with
limited resources. In this area Sony
of standardisation already," he says.
is working on the Network Media "The primary workﬂows involve either
Interface which is to be launched
a Raw path from the particular
at the end of 2015. This technology
camera being utilised and the tools
will enable our customers to move
needed for the debayering and ﬁle
from SDI to IP and so carry a 4K Live
creation from its output, to ProRes
signal over a single gigabit Ethernet
link instead of 4x BNC cables."
CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

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