IBC SHOWCASE has seen plenty of new products launched. Michael Burns rounds up some of the new tech unveiled at the virtual event

The IBC Show is traditionally the big global occasion when the broadcast and film world chooses to reveal its newest wares. Although we’re not all mingling at the RAI in Amsterdam this week, there’s still plenty of new products to get excited about being announced around IBC SHOWCASE.

Here is just a taster to whet your appetite for a wander among the virtual IBC exhibitors.

Mark Roberts Motion Control: Polymotion Stage Truck is the world’s first 3-in-1 mobile volumetric studio on wheels

Mark Roberts Motion Control and Dimension have together rolled out the Polymotion Stage Truck for mobile volumetric video capture. Developed to support the time-sensitive content creation needs of broadcasters, sports teams and creative agencies, the platform is capable of shooting volumetric video, taking 3D stills and allowing full avatar creation, anywhere in the world.

Maxon: Cinema 4D upgraded and all products now available under one subscription

Maxon has debuted its Cinema 4D R23 at IBC SHOWCASE, offering enhancements to animation, character and UV workflows, Magic Bullet Looks integration and a Scene Nodes system among the many new features. It has also announced Maxon One: a new annual and monthly subscription for all of its products in one package.

Slomo.tv: new replay server set for 4K live production

The new Fulcrum ATM/12G 4K/3G/HD recording and replay server has 12 bidirectional SDI I/O and offers flexible architecture and a large number of channels in addition to the company’s DMR technology for direct recording of NLE native video files. It significantly boosts performance when working with 3G/HD video, while support for 4K can be installed as a remote upgrade when required.

Stream Labs: multiple upgrades boost OTT playout capabilities

Multichannel UHD broadcast playout server VPlay5 now supports files and external sources in HDR formats, adds audio channel mapping for MXF files, allows adaptive compression of animated graphic elements, and offers new functionality for operating with live sources. Also updated are compliance monitoring system Stream MultiRec and the MultiScreen visual and instrumental monitoring system.

Collabora: Super Resolution scaling enabled by deep learning

Recognising that bandwidth is set to become a pressing issue, Collabora created an accurate and lightweight open source solution able to achieve a higher level of video compression than existing methods. With a superior performance compared to traditional upscaling approaches, it can process high-definition video streams with a smaller bandwidth.

 

Black Box: one-touch management of control rooms

Black Box has unveiled ControlBridge, a single touch panel that can offer multisystem and control room management. Users can simply use a fingertip to switch between KVM sources, control room temperature, operate video wall controllers, turn lights on and off remotely, or launch a preset room configuration.

 

DataScouting: holistic approach to complete media monitoring

The MediaScouting suite offers recording and archiving of TV/radio and IP audio-visual streams. It also crawls information in online and social media and imports scanned or digital newspapers and magazines to the automatic enrichment of streams, including all the necessary user interfaces for locating content of interest, clipping, reviewing interfaces, and reporting.

 

Shotoku Broadcast Systems: automated face tracking comes to control system

Shotoku has added intelligent automatic face tracking to its TR-XT robotic camera control system. AutoFrame can initiate tracking without any human intervention, recall the shot and start tracking immediately in one operation. It requires a minimum of selection and set-up choices, the rest is automatic - tracking can be based on a single face, or two faces simultaneously.

 

Crystal Vision: picture-in-picture device on the cards

The M-PIP app is designed for IP or SDI playout applications that require one or two picture-in-picture boxes to be inset on the main programme. It allows two input flows to be sized and positioned in advance and then layered over either the third input flow or an internal matte generator.

Nordija and Verimatrix: cloud-based IPTV and OTT bundle

Stratos is a new IPTV and OTT offering that runs in the cloud and is pre-integrated with Nordija’s video platform. It features an advanced HTML user interface, EKT’s device management, and Verimatrix’s content security. Stratos is designed to enable the operator to focus on creating video offerings and growing its subscriber base.

wTVision: enhanced social media interaction with Studio CG

An integration between Flowics’ platform for interactive content production and wTVision’s Studio CG means that producers can create multiple interactive experiences, such as conversations, polls, voting, quizzes and competitions, while in the same platform, operators can follow these interactive experiences, set up rules to filter through these conversations, choose the most relevant content and display it through live graphics.

IDX Technology: battery capacity boosted for latest Li-ion line

The new Cue‐H90, Cue‐H135 and Cue‐H180 series of lithium-ion V-mount batteries pack more power into the same space as their predecessors, while still being affordable. All three Cue-H batteries also feature a four-LED power indicator, as well as over-charge, over-discharge and over-current protection, and a max output voltage of 16.8v.

Video Clarity: new production format support for ClearView

The audio and video quality measurement and analysis systems company is introducing new support for 4K and UHD formats for its ClearView test and measurement solution. Provided first in the new ClearView 9.4 update, the capabilities will be supported in specific new ClearView system models or on-premise ClearView software.

Metrological: Partnership offers STB app and UI development in lightning deal

The Metrological Application Platform is to be integrated onto the Fetch TV service. The deal will see Fetch able to integrate premium OTT services and niche and localised apps into a single viewer experience. Fetch will also be utilising the Metrological Lightning Framework to provide GPU accelerated rendering of the Fetch user interface, resulting in smoother transitions and animations.

Matrox: 4K/multi-HD encoder and decoder set for next-level remote production

Maxon’s new Monarch Edge is claimed to deliver exceptional quality, low-latency 4:2:2 10-bit video at resolutions up to 3840x2160 or quad 1920x1080 over a standard 1GbE network. As well as improved connectivity, Monarch Edge extends the production studio by transporting up to four synchronised HD-/3G-SDI camera feeds or a single 12G-SDI signal, with glass-to-glass latencies as low as 100ms