Pansonic adds new IP based UHD camera and expands its AK series studio and field camera family.

Panasonic-2

Panasonic: The new AW-UE100 PTZ cameras come in black or white

Panasonic has added a new IP-based UHD camera to its range of integrated pan/tilt/zoom cameras, and expanded its AK series studio and field camera family with a cost-effective AK-HC3900 1080p HDR system camera that is upgradable to native UHD 60p/50p.

The AW-UE100 PTZ unit is designed for high-quality live remote and studio production for broadcast, staging, corporate and sports events. Its IP support includes high-bandwidth NDI, high-efficiency NDI|HX and Secure Reliable Transport (SRT).

It has a newly-designed direct drive motor for smooth pan and tilt movement and offers installation flexibility, low noise and high-resolution image capture from its 1/2.5in UHD MOS sensor to produce 50/60p video and offers a variety of interfaces, including 12G-SDI, 3G-SDI, HDMI and IP. It has a wide-angle lens with a horizontal view angle of 74.1º and a 24x optical zoom.

For low latency, live transmissions, the UE100 offers high-bandwidth NDI transmitting UHD video at up to 250Mbps and HD at about 100Mbps, over a single Power-over-Ethernet LAN cable. It also offers high-efficiency, low bandwidth NDI|HX to enable video transmission at low bitrates. SRT is used to maintain stability when transmitting high-quality video, even in unstable network environments; and its RTMP/RTMPS function provides direct streaming via a single cable to live broadcasting services such as YouTube Live and Facebook Live. For redundancy, it simultaneously outputs video over both baseband and IP.

It has FreeD output for connection with AR/VR systems and allows camera tracking information (pan/tilt/zoom/focus/iris) to build systems without an encoder. The inclusion of a Direct Drive mechanism with roll compensation improves stillness and quietness during pan/tilt operations.

The new AK-HC3900 is designed for users who need 1080p HD now, with HDR (it can output simultaneous HDR and SDR signals) but might want to upgrade to UHD in future.

“The AK-HC3900 represents a cost-effective and highly capable professional camera system for broadcast, education and corporate markets that has been future-proofed for long-term use,” said Stefan Hofmann, manager sales engineering, Panasonic Broadcast & ProAV. “The AK-HC3900GJ/GSJ captures its raw image from an internal 4K imaging system to deliver its HD HDR images with ITU-R BT.2020 wide colour space. The Internal 4K capture also means that the future optional 4K system upgrade will yield a full 2000 TV lines horizontal resolution.”

The AK-HC3900 achieves a high sensitivity of F10 at 59.94Hz (2,000 lx) and a S/N ratio of 62dB. The camera offers a built-in motorised ND filter.

Also introduced is a new camera control unit (AK-HCU250), in combination with the new AK-HRP250 remote operation panel, which will connect the uncompressed video and control to the camera head via optical fibre or utilise SMPTE Hybrid cable to provide camera power as well.

The new CCU includes all the system features of the HC3800 along with simultaneous output of HDR/SDR, and the HC3900’s expanded multi-format capability and UHD upgrade path. New features include 3G trunk and 3G prompter functions. The new ROP includes PoE (no power supply required) for easy installation.

Both the CCU and the ROP are equipped with SD card slots, which can be used for storing various settings or upgrading firmware. Camera operators will have a choice of two electronic viewfinders, either the AK-HVF100GJ nine-inch or AK-HVF75G seven-inch LCD colour models.

The AK-HC3900, AK-HCU250 and AK-HRP250 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2020.