AJA has beefed up the capabilities of its popular RovoCam 4K block camera as well as announcing a number of new IO convertors, firmware updates and software addressing the current industry hot spots of IP, UHD and HDR.
Topping the list are improvements to its RovoCam UHD camera system with the new RovoRx- SDI HDBaseT receiver and updated RovoControl v2.0 software.
“One of the things hotly requested [by users] were presets that could be cloned across multiple cameras as well as spot focus that can hold focus in one area of the frame or hold exposure to one area of the frame,” explained company president, Nick Rashby.
The RovoRx-SDI is a companion receiver for RovoCam with four integrated 6G/3G-SDI outputs and HDMI for UHD/HD support.
The RovoControl v2.0 adds multicam setup and control and several workflow enhancements to the RovoCam HDBaseT compact block camera ecosystem.
The HDBaseT interface itself offers a method of supporting uncompressed video, audio, control, and power over a single Cat 5e/6 cable at lengths of up to 100 meters.
RovoCam costs $2,495; the RovoRx-SDI companion receiver — coming soon — will cost $995.
Also new is ROI-SDI, a scan-converter in the form of a Mini-Converter. It offers flexible image scaling, region-of-interest and image-rotation capabilities, with 3G-SDI input and simultaneous 3G-SDI and HDMI outputs. It is also capable of splitting an image over multiple display monitors.
Running AJA Mini-Config software on a computer, ROI-SDI users can also select a region-of-interest in real time and on-screen and have full control over how that region is scaled to the output resolution, ideally delivering the cleanest picture quality possible.
“Other boxes that are able to do these sort of functions are at least four times as expensive,” says Rashby. The ROI-SDI is priced at $995.
These are joined by a pair of Mini-Converters designed to segue signals in and out of SDI and IP-based video and audio workflows.
The IPR-1G-HDMI (priced $795) decodes VSF TR-01 and other JPEG 2000 streams, and formats the data for output on a full size HDMI 1.4 interface. The IPR-1G-SDI (also $795) decodes VSF TR-01 and other JPEG 2000 streams, and formats the data for 3G-SDI BNC output. Source monitoring, digital signage, and video walls are key applications.
The company also announced a free piece of software for KONA IP that adds SMPTE 2022-7 to the unit for ease of sending uncompressed data stream around IP networks, and HDR 10 metadata support. Support for SMPTE 2022-2 workflows with JPEG 2000 is planned for future updates.
The Ki Pro Ultra, AJA’s file-based all singing all dancing video recorder and player, is also getting improvements. Fresh support for Avid enables users to record and play back DNxHD files. The portable device is already capable of capturing Apple ProRes files in a range of video formats and frame rates up to 4K/60p.
The addition of Avid DNxHD .mov support ensures compatibility among files recorded by AJA’s Ki Pro Rack, Ki Pro Mini, and now Ki Pro Ultra products for Avid workflows. MXF OP-1A wrapper versions of these codecs will be added in an upcoming firmware update.