Blackmagic Design Announces the Acquisition of Fairlight
Blackmagic Design acquires cutting edge professional digital audio technology!
Blackmagic Design today announced its acquisition of Fairlight, which creates professional digital audio products for live broadcast event production, film and television post production, as well as immersive 3D audio mixing and finishing.
Fairlight has an impressive history of productions, giving customers leading edge audio processing and control surfaces that range from 12 to 60 faders, along with audio I/O interfaces with full redundancy for mission critical work in broadcast facilities, outside broadcast trucks, performing arts venues and houses of worship.
For post production solutions, Fairlight creates everything from compact desktop audio post systems to large format mixing consoles with dedicated controls. Fairlight audio engines can deliver up to 1000 tracks which lets customers create complex productions without premixing, along with a massive 64 channels of monitoring. designing and manufacturing integrated audio control surfaces and software that are renowned for their speed, flexibility and exceptional sonic quality.
Fairlight’s editing software and fully featured audio post consoles give customers complete tactile control along with unique features like time compression and expansion that allows audio within a single clip to be precisely aligned to picture. Designed for the film and television post production markets, Fairlight also creates immersive 3D audio workstations so customers can deliver 3D sound in formats such as 5.1, DTS MDA, Dolby Atmos, NHK’s 22.2 and more. Fairlight’s 3D audio workstations are large format mixers with complete support for both 2K and 4K video playback.
“Fairlight creates the world’s most powerful digital audio software and hardware for video production,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The exciting part about this acquisition is that it will add incredibly high end professional audio technology to Blackmagic Design’s amazing video products. We look forward to working with the Fairlight team to build even more exciting new products for our customers!”
Blackmagic Design Announces the Acquisition of Ultimatte
Blackmagic Design acquires the world’s number one realtime blue and green screen compositing solution!
Blackmagic Design today announced its acquisition of Ultimatte, the worldwide leader in blue and green screen removal technology for the broadcast television, commercial and feature film industries.
Ultimatte is known worldwide for delivering broadcast quality compositing results that make virtual sets indistinguishable from real sets. Ultimatte creates realtime blue and green screen removal hardware that is used in broadcast studios around the world to seamlessly composite reporters, talk show hosts and more into virtual sets. Almost every newscaster and weather reporter stands in front of a green or blue screen while delivering the news and weather. For the past 40 years, Ultimatte has been the industry standard hardware or software responsible for keying these people in front of weather maps, stock charts, and other info graphics. In fact, many of these newscasters are using Ultimatte to place them into completely virtual sets.
Ultimatte uses advanced 4:4:4:4 image processing and provides enhanced matte controls that lets customers accurately separate the subject from the background. Customers also get matte correction features, indirect and direct lighting features, spill suppression tools, edge artifact controls and more, all in realtime.
Ultimatte was founded in 1976 and has won an Emmy for their realtime compositing technology, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as an Oscar.
“Ultimatte’s realtime blue and green screen compositing solutions have been the standard for 40 years,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Ultimatte has been used by virtually every major broadcast network in the world. We are thrilled to bring Ultimatte and Blackmagic Design together, and are excited about continuing to build innovative products for our customers!”
Blackmagic Design Announces Major New Video Assist 2.2 Update
Major new update adds improved DNxHD and DNxHR support, as well as new monitoring options!
Blackmagic Design today announced Video Assist 2.2, a major new update for Blackmagic Video Assist 4K customers that dramatically improves DNxHD and DNxHR support, adds false color monitoring, expanded focus options and new screen rotation features. The Video Assist 2.2 update will be available for download from the Blackmagic Design website next week, free of charge for all Blackmagic Video Assist 4K customers.
Video Assist 2.2 Update will be demonstrated at IBC on the Blackmagic Design booth in Hall 7, Stand 7 H.20.
The new Video Assist 2.2 update lets customers save DNxHD and DNxHR files in MXF containers which improves compatibility with Avid systems running on Windows and removes dependencies on the .mov file format. In addition, customers can now choose between DNxHD 220, 145 and 45 bit rates, or between DNxHR HQ, SQ and LB formats when recording.
The Video Assist 2.2 update also adds false color monitoring exposure tools to the Blackmagic Video Assist 4K. False color exposure tools make it easier to properly set exposure in different parts of the image by highlighting specific color ranges of luminance with a solid color overlay. For example, green indicates neutral grey, while pink tones are good references for skin, which is typically one stop over neutral grey. Using false color helps camera operators keep exposure consistent from shot to shot.
In addition, Video Assist 2.2 update also expands the options for focus assist so customers can now choose whether they want to see red, green, blue, black, white or traditional focus peaking indicators. This makes it easier for customers to accurately adjust focus in a wider range of scenes and under a variety of different lighting conditions. Customers will now also have the ability to manually control the screen orientation and turn off the auto rotate feature which makes it easier for customers to use Blackmagic Video Assist 4K with handheld gimbals and other equipment designed to move the camera and rig simultaneously.
“Customers love the new Blackmagic Video Assist 4K and it has become an indispensable part of every filmmakers toolkit,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This new update is exciting because it gives customers more recording and file compatibility options than ever before, along with some incredible new monitoring tools that will help filmmakers properly expose their shots and focus them more quickly than ever before so they can shoot with confidence!”
Blackmagic Design Announces Teranex AV
The world’s first standards converter designed specifically for AV professionals with 1089 broadcast quality standards conversions!
Blackmagic Design today announced Teranex AV, a new broadcast quality standards converter designed specifically for AV professionals. Teranex AV features 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0a inputs, outputs and loop through, along with AV specific features such as low latency, a still store, freeze frame, and HiFi audio inputs for professionals working on live, staged presentations and conferences. Teranex AV will be available in September for $1,695 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
Teranex AV will be demonstrated at IBC 2016 on the Blackmagic Design booth in Hall 7, Stand 7 H.20.
The new Teranex AV features low latency that’s as low as 67 milliseconds, which means that customers can convert any HDMI or SDI video format instantaneously to a different format and output it for projection in sync with the live event. For example, customers using Teranex AV at a concert can project a close up of a virtuoso pianist as their fingers fly across the keys on a big screen projector in synchronization with the live performance.
In addition, customers get advanced HDMI 2.0a processing with input, loop through and output connections. This lets customers convert HDMI to SDI without any additional hardware. They can loop the HDMI signal out to a big screen projector while simultaneously converting it and and sending it to downstream equipment like decks and monitors.
For audio, Teranex AV also features 2 channel consumer HiFi connections, as well as XLR connections for 4 channels of AES/EBU or 2 channels of balanced analog audio. The consumer HiFi connections are critical for professional AV customers because they allow lapel microphones, laptop computers and other devices with consumer audio connections to be used with Teranex AV. Now customers can connect virtually any audio source to Teranex AV and use it to embed the audio with the video and output the signal in any format.
Teranex AV also features a still store that can capture a video frame in any format and hold it in memory, even when the power is cycled. Customers can preload corporate logos or graphics to display between presenters at conferences, or for outputting sponsor logos at concerts and events between acts. Plus, Teranex AV has built in resynchronization, so customers always get clean switches between the still store and live feeds for professional looking presentations.
There’s even a live freeze frame feature that temporarily holds any current frame on the screen until Teranex AV is switched to another video output, a black frame, or the still store. This is ideal for conferences and events where customers might need to hold a slide on screen while the presenter makes changes to their presentation in the background. The freeze frame and still store make it possible to always have something on screen at all times.
In addition to HDMI and 12G-SDI connections, Teranex AV also includes quad link 3G-SDI outputs, making it compatible with a wide range of older Ultra HD monitors and projectors that only support quad link SDI 1080 HD inputs. This also makes Teranex AV a great video wall processor because it can split Ultra HD into 4 HD screens, or it can scale regular HD up, split it and output it onto 4 large screens for a tiled video wall. That means customers can create massive multi-screen outdoor displays and digital signs that will amaze the crowd at live events!
Customers also get BNC input and output connections for generating or receiving reference signals. The built in ethernet connection allows for remote control, and an optical fiber cage is available for adding optional SMPTE fiber optic modules so customers can send video and audio over massive distances. Teranex AV even has rear brackets to protect cables and connectors from damage during portable, outside broadcast, or field work.
With Teranex AV, customers get 1089 up, down, cross and standards conversions for all formats up to 2160p60 in full 10-bit quality. Like all Teranex processors, Teranex AV features patented algorithms and powerful processing that give customers visually transparent conversions that are indistinguishable from the original. Conversions use optical quality scaling, have advanced de-interlacing, noise reduction, automatic 3:2 cadence detection, removal and insertion, and retain timecode, ancillary data, audio and more.
“Teranex AV brings Teranex’s legendary broadcast quality standards conversions to AV professionals for the first time ever,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This product is exciting because it has exactly the features customers need for working at live events and conferences. They get 1089 incredible SD, HD and Ultra HD conversions, along with incredible new features designed specifically for audiovisual professionals!”
Blackmagic Design Announces new DeckLink Mini 4K models
Popular DeckLink PCIe cards are now upgraded with Ultra HD and HDR support!
Blackmagic Design today announced new DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K PCIe capture cards that include all the powerful features of the HD models but include new Ultra HD and HDR (high dynamic range) features.
These new cards are available in two models, DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K and both models support all SD, HD and Ultra HD formats up to 2160p30. DeckLink Mini 4K models are available from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for only $195 each.
DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K will be demonstrated at IBC on the Blackmagic Design booth in Hall 7, Stand 7 H.20.
The new DeckLink Mini 4K models are low profile 4 lane generation 2 PCI Express cards that include 6G-SDI and HDMI 2.0a connections. This means the high quality connections support broadcast quality 10-bit YUV and 12-bit RGB video, along with the latest Rec. 2020 color and support for high dynamic range (HDR) formats and HDR metadata. Both DeckLink Mini 4K models are fully compatible with the Blackmagic Desktop Video SDK, making them perfect for OEMs or developers that are building custom playback or recording solutions.
DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K delivers better than broadcast quality SDI and HDMI monitoring and playback in all formats up to 2160p30, making it incredibly popular with editing and color correction customers who work with systems such as DaVinci Resolve. The outputs automatically switch between all video formats, making it perfect for use with televisions, professional monitors and the latest HDMI projectors. In addition, support for HDR playback makes DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K the world's most affordable HDR playback solution available.
DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K lets customers capture broadcast quality video directly from SDI and HDMI sources like decks and cameras to their computer. The low profile design of DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K makes it incredibly versatile and ideal for integrating into mobile live capture environments and outside broadcast trucks. Both models work with uncompressed and compressed video in open standard file formats such as QuickTime and DPX so they are compatible with virtually all professional editing, color correction and visual effects software. That means customers can use the DeckLink Mini 4K models with software such as DaVinci Resolve, Fusion, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and more.
To ensure customers don't have to purchase costly extra accessories, both DeckLink Mini 4K models include both a full height and a half height PCI shield so the user can simply install into either a standard computer PCIe slot or into systems with low profile slots such as rack mount server style computers.
“Customers have been asking for an Ultra HD version of our incredibly popular DeckLink Mini Monitor and Recorder cards,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We are very excited that we’ve been able to add Ultra HD as well as high dynamic range support in our popular PCIe cards. Now customers can work with the latest equipment more affordably than ever before, which means that it’s possible for every editing and color correction workstation to monitor or record Ultra HD and even HDR!”