Mega ultra IBC2024 pre-show news roundup

Rounding up the first round of stories ahead of the show with news from Filmlight, KLVR, Marshall Electronics, Mo-Sys, PAG, Perifery, The Prismatic Company, Proton, SmallHD, SSL, and Vizrt.

Featuring flagship control for live-to-air broadcast applications in a compact and cost-effective format, the new S400 (above) from SSL (8.B73) is available in standalone frames of 16+1, 32+1, or 48+1 fader versions. The company says the S400 sits between the compact, fixed frame S300 and flagship, modular S500. Handily, it also offers the same high-quality fader experience as the S500, featuring premium 100mm touch-sense faders and a dedicated OLED display for every fader. Level metering and status LEDs covering dynamics, automix, and external control are also present by every fader to further enhance visual feedback for operators.

The newest auto-tracking camera from Marshall Electronics, the CV612-TBI/TWI PTZ camera (above), will be on show on Stand 11.A17. The cameras feature the ability to automatically track, follow and frame presenters using AI facial learning for accurate and smooth self-adjusting manoeuvres. With advanced AI tracking, the company says the PTZ camera “learns” who is the prime subject and won’t “lose” the presenter when other persons or objects enter the shot. 

Mo-Sys Engineering (7.B45 ) will showcase MoViewer, an AI-assisted system for multi-camera virtual production projects that integrates with existing studio infrastructure and provides a real-time, perspective-accurate previews for directors and is compatible with all LED screen manufacturers. The company will also introduce a new miniature remote head for its robotics line-up and invite audience participation with MoCaptury; an innovative suit- and marker-free motion capture technology. Alongside all of this, it will host ‘Mo-Mentum’ panel talks featuring guest speakers discussing complete solutions and client success stories.

The miniature Proton Rain from Proton (11.A06, above) measures only slightly bigger than the flagship Proton Cam, coming in at just 30mm x 30mm, but maintains a heavy-duty casing which allows the camera to be used in conditions where the risk of impact or jolt are higher. Most significantly, the IP67 camera is weather-proof and is suitable for outdoor environments under severe rain or dust without compromise to image quality nor risk to the camera itself.

Disposable AA/AAA batteries are a huge environmental and cost issue. Just one medium-sized production company in KLVR’s (8.D31) home country of Norway estimates it uses 20,000 batteries a year — powering devices like wireless microphones, in-ear receivers or other pro audio equipment. Compared with proprietary charging solutions from major audio manufacturers, the KLVR Charger Pro (above) is cheaper, more flexible and takes up less rack space. It ships with 48 custom KLVR batteries with 1200 charging cycles, a 30% higher capacity than regular commercial rechargeables, and a more accurate discharge curve. Shipping is early 2025, pricing is TBA.

PAG (11.B39) is launching its new 150Wh MPL150 battery (above), an addition to its MiniPAGlink range of smaller, lighter, intelligent linking batteries. The company says no other broadcast camera battery boasts as many output options. It features a built-in USB Type-C (5V, 9V or 12V 30W); USB-A (5V 2.4A) and D-Tap (12V unregulated). In addition, it has a plug-in USB Type-C PD 36W output unit which can be swapped for other output unit options that include Hirose, Lemo and 2.1 - 2.5mm DC (available separately). The MPL150 can be linked with other MPL batteries, of any rated capacity, for discharge or charging and is available in V-Mount and Gold Mount formats.

Nara (above) is a FilmLight venture and an integrated media tool offering a streamlined and sophisticated solution for media access, streaming and indexing. With the latest version users can now stream media directly to clients' external devices, while guaranteeing full colour accuracy, see all media within a project in a single window, control project access (improving security while minimising distractions and enhancing focus), implement custom colour pipelines (including industry-standard options like ACES 2.0), and utilise custom project templates to tailor workflows to specific needs (such as file types, input colour space, format mapping and more). It also has, as you would kind of hope,  enhanced integration with Baselight. Catch it at AWS (5.C90), pixitmedia (5.H79), and Quantum (7.B55).

Perifery (7.D18)  has announced a new comprehensive workflow solution that seamlessly integrates storage, asset management, applications, and artificial intelligence functionality. It’s built on a three-layer architecture that consists of: A storage layer providing robust and scalable storage with Object Matrix, and Swarm, enabling secure and efficient data management; an asset management and applications layer facilitating seamless asset organization and accessibility, with Vision, an integrated asset management interface that enables interoperable workflows with industry-standard tools; and an AI layer featuring AI+ to enable true media asset understanding and an intuitive search that goes beyond traditional metadata tagging.

Anyone rocking a SmallHD (13.A05) Ultra 7 can now spec a range of customizable color options on the buttons and bumpers. And while it seems gimmicky, given the many hours crews have spent cutting and applying color coded tape on set to make sure Monitor A goes with Camera A and so on, it’s not a bad new option.

Viz Libero Free (above) is a new and agreeably free edition of Vizrt’s flagship sports analysis software, Viz Libero (10.A41). This puts cutting-edge sports analysis technology, including AI capabilities, into the hands of any sports content creator that wants to learn and upskill and offers access to a range of powerful features and more than 70 analysis tools including player tracking, goal analysis, virtual runs, and area measurement. Only caveat is that any clips created with Viz Libero Free are watermarked and intended for training purposes only.

Finally, The Prismatic Company (7.P18) is one of the many currently developing new tools from the ground up rather than just grafting AI etc onto existing workflows. That means you often get something a bit different such as its new LightWeave Scribe, a desktop app for creating videos and other media where the central interface is a document. Much like editing a document in Word, the Scribe workflow begins with a Scribe document where users capture ideas, create outlines, or draft scripts—as well as insert images, video, or audio clips. Rather than apply styles like bold or italic, here you can specify ‘VoiceOver’ or ‘animated text’. Along with LightWeave Interactive, a mobile app to create branching videos, the software is currently in development with the company accepting applications for early access testers.