Ikegami reports accelerating demand for IP-Interfaced UHD HDR broadcast production at IBC 2022

Ikegami Electronics (Europe) reports a successful IBC 2022, held at the Amsterdam RAI exhibition centre early mid September. The event attracted over 1,000 exhibiting companies and a total of 37,071 registered attendees from 170 countries.

“The three coronavirus-lockdown years since the previous IBC show have seen big advances in television technology,” says says Michael Laetzsch, Ikegami Europe’s Broadcast & Professional Video Division Manager. “One of the most significant was the accelerating adoption of IP-interfacing which offers many advantages for camera control and long-distance networking.

“Back in 2019, HD-HDR was the mostly widely preferred mastering format for broadcast TV production. This is gradually being superseded by UHD-HDR which offers four times the image resolution, allowing production companies to maximise the commercial life of new content.

“Making its first IBC show appearance, our UHK-X700 is a robustly built UHD HDR HFR camera which can be pedestal mounted for studio-floor operation, tripod-mounted for outside-broadcast production or shoulder mounted to allow maximum mobility. It incorporates three 2/3-inch CMOS UHD sensors with a global shutter to minimise artifacts when shooting LED screens or scenes illuminated with flash or strobe lighting. High frame-rate shooting at up to 8x in HD or 2x speed in UHD via the base station is possible as an option for applications such as slow-motion sports replay.

“We also debuted our UHK-X750 studio camera which offers all the UHK-X700’s advanced features plus a lower centre-of-gravity and easier staging as well as greater emphasis on ease of service and cool operation.

“For aerial video capture and studio robotics, our UHL-F4000 is a compact and lightweight 3CMOS UHD HDR camera with low power consumption, small form factor and low weight: just 1.1 kg. Features include haze reduction, image sharpening, vertical image reversal, noise removal and digital zoom. A 40 Gbps duplex optical fibre communicates between the camera head and CCU which can be positioned up to 10 km apart. HDR-compatible UHD and HD video can be delivered simultaneously.

“Also introduced since the previous IBC, the Ikegami BSX-100 UHD/HD fibre base station offers an efficient upgrade path for broadcasters and production companies as they progress from SDI to IP, from SDR to HDR and from HD into UHD, including HD/UHD dual-format workflow. It is fully compatible with Unicam HD, Unicam XE camera models, or both. Features include HDR to SDR conversion and the ability to operate in any desired combination of HD or UHD resolution and SDR or HDR simultaneously.” BCS Bureau