IBC Lively in a Difficult Market (Part 1 – Cameras & Content Capture)
Although it’s always a very busy time and is usually just a few days after the IFA show in Berlin, I usually enjoy IBC in Amsterdam as a reporter. 2024 was no exception and there was plenty to see at the show with my smartphone recording a new record for steps on my first day!
Plenty of Innovation
Like NAB, there is always a good level of technical innovation and plenty of new products. However, while NAB always feels like a US show, IBC is genuinely international. Even the French (who tend to like their own shows in their own language) come to Amsterdam and there are visitors and delegates from all over EMEA, as well as the rest of the world. Feedback on the equipment market was that it remains a tough market and several price reductions announced at the show highlighted that sales volumes are not where everyone would like them. The move of the streamers from chasing quality (in terms of technology and content) to trying to make profits and develop FAST services combined with the hangover from Covid and the strikes in the US have made life a lot harder with almost everyone cautious about budgets.
The big technical trend was, again, the move to ST2110 and IP network-based products. This is a real game changer in the longer term, but challenges remain in financing such a technology move for many broadcasters. Few have the budgets available to rip out the dedicated SDI and other technologies that they have installed and switch across. Still, the trend is clear, with many companies telling me ‘This year’s new product has had ST2110 connectivity added’. I did get a sense that there are more companies and interest in VR and immersive technologies, helped, no doubt by the arrival of the Apple Vision Pro with its high quality displays. There were plenty of firms talking about VVC and its advantages and one company said to me “We know HEVC encoding is a commodity, now”. Having said that, everyone is looking to save power both for environmental and cost reasons in coding and distribution.
We’ll be splitting up our coverage with cameras and content capture in the first article and other topics in the second. There were few completely new cameras at the show, with the most recent 8K camera probably the Canon Eos R5 Mark II announced in July. Canon was highlighting its stereo capture for 3D applications at the show and in this application, 8K is really essential.
Blackmagic Design had the stereo 3D version of its new 17K cinema camera in a glass case at the show. We were told that it is not quite finished (although it may have been used already by some early testers to create content for the Apple Vision Pro) and technical details may be finalized by the end of 2024, with shipments around the end of Q1 2025. However, that could still slip. The firm was showing the Ursa Cine 12K camera announced at NAB 2024 with a wide range of accessories and lenses and revealed the pricing as being from $30K.
Sony was at the show in force, as always, but the focus was on the new 4K camcorders announced last month and two new 4K monitors based on dual panel LCD technology. The Burano 8K camera is becoming more established and it showed the full range of mirrorless cameras.
Achtel was drawing a lot of attention with its 18.7K high end camera for professional applications. The 8K Association has spoken a lot with Pawel Achtel who remains a fierce proponent of true image resolution. He is developing a revised camera based on a new sensor chip and he told us that he hopes to get an additional three or so f-stops of dynamic range, taking it to as much as 20 or 21 stops! He told us that this level of capability is desired by some Hollywood DPs who want to have some color when the sun is in a shot and not just have a white area. His existing camera has proved very popular with the VFX industry and once the new sensor arrives, he is optimistic of wide acceptance.
At the professional end of the market, Laowa showed a high end 12-120mm 8K zoom lens, the Ultima 12-120mm T4 8K S35 Broadcast Zoom. It has a constant T4 aperture and can be paired with an optional MOVCAM Servo Unit for control of focus, zoom, and aperture. It is initially available in ARRI PL mount with the possibility of a B4 mount version in the future if there is a demand. As we hadn’t spoken to the firm before, we asked what was its speciality and were told that it is particularly strong with wide angle lenses and close focus. One of the demonstrations was of a lens actually touching the subject (a flower). That’s close! They had a new range of macro cinema lenses as well as anamorphic models.
Also in the professional area was Z Cam. They were not showing the 8K version of their box camera at the show but were highlighting the lower resolution models. We asked what made their cameras different from the rest and they highlighted the physical robustness. “They’re bulletproof” they said. As evidence, they showed a video sequence from Mission Impossible that included a train shooting off a cliff. This was not done with CGI, but with a full size dummy train. The camera used was from Z Cam and survived the experience!
NHK’s Research division was at the show and highlighted its future technologies. Althought there was some 8K showing, there was not much discussion as ‘8K is done’ from a research point of view, they told us. They haven’t stopped with their quest for more realism and they told us that the ITU has set a target for 32K video with frame rates of 120P for 360 degree immersive content! At the show, they had an intriguing new camera sensor that allows different parts of the sensor to operate at different frame rates and with different dynamic range, resolution and exposure. At the moment the prototype is just at 1K with a clear path to 4K resolution, but the aim is to get to much higher resolutions. It calls the concept ‘scene-adaptive imaging’ and, of course, it uses AI to analyze the image and optimize the different parameters.
Vislink was showing work it had done with FocalPointVR to mount an 8K stereo VR camera on top of a race car with a wireless feed (using Vislink technology) back to the control centre. FocalPointVR told us that it uses a system that can exploit different levels of resolution on each part of the sensor image to optimize bandwidth use. For example, the instrument panel is capture in high resolution, but the sky is in low resolution. The sensor itself can capture 8K x 8K and currently 7K x 7K is being captured. The system allows playout with a latency of just 280ms, so effectively ‘in real time’. The aim is to deliver live immersive content for headsets such as the Apple Vision Pro.
Red was at the show with its new owner, Nikon, but most of the emphasis on the booth was on the Nikon cameras, although a couple of Red units were being shown in a motion demonstration.
