Broadcast Beat Magazine 2018 NAB Show Edition | Page 112
your expectations.
And if you’d like to use your
favorite non-PTZ production
camera on a pan/tilt head,
there are now high-quality, low-
cost options. One of the new-
est entries with this capabil-
ity is available in two sizes;
one for the current generation
of smaller production camer-
as and ‘box’ cameras, and the
other for larger, cinema-style
video cameras.
And here’s another significant
development: these pan/tilt
heads can be controlled by
RS-422 VISCA connections,
as well as by DMX hard-
ware and software. This
means you can integrate
video cameras into your
DMX lighting universe, which
opens the doors of opportu-
nity for enhancing your cov-
erage and IMAG routing
from camera shots
designed into your
lighting dynamics.
Additional available
software supports (1)
Dynamic Auto Zoom
(user-defined rules for preset
and/or continuous slow zooms
in and out), (2) motion pre-
sets where you set a start and
end position and speed for the
move, and (3) a touch screen
‘switcherless’ interface that lets
you touch-and-take your shots
based on a gray-scale rend-
ing of your production stage,
populated with picture icons
of people, musical instruments
and singers.
If you want or need more
sophisticated production capa-
bility for video tracking of mul-
tiple individuals and objects,
there are systems available with
more robust configurations.
These systems utilize tiny infra-
red (IR) “tags” with LEDs that
are detected by two or three
sensor cameras on the perim-
eter of your production stage.
Each tag generates a unique
digital signature, so you can
track a virtually unlimited n um-
ber of targets, locked on with
high precision in three-dimen-
sional space.
These systems receive pinpoint
data precision
for each
tracked object,
so you can track objects not
only with PTZ cameras, but also
with robotic light fixtures. Just
assign one or more cameras,
and one or more lights to any
person or object and everything
tracks automatically when Auto
Tracking is activated.
You can use this kind of system
with any production switch-
er, taking the video output of
the cameras to the switcher
inputs. Since you always have
112 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com
good ISO shots of the tracked
objects, you just monitor all the
cameras in a multi-viewer and
take shots at your discretion.
Some systems further support
ISO recording of all the cam-
eras, so you can easily load the
synchronized files in your NLE
for post-production editing.
And finally, there are some
interesting available software
utilities that are worth consid-
ering. These are workflow tools
that can reduce your pre-pro-
duction prep time and increase
your efficiency. For example,
there is a text editing and for-
matting utility that converts
meeting agendas into PNG files
for use with many video pro-
duction systems.
There are also inexpensive but
powerful file transcoding soft-
ware solutions that recognize
over a dozen differ-
ent video file types
and can convert
them into H.264
or MPEG-2 files.
During the conver-
sion the software
will optimize the
audio levels for consis-
tent output, making your
job a lot easier if you’re using
file playback in your video pro-
duction or automation systems.
Since technology evolves so
quickly, it’s always good to be
aware of what’s available. Only
if you’re educated and informed
can you make budgetary and
operational decisions that keep
you “on track”, enhancing your
production and playback capa-
bility, and increasing your work-
flow efficiency.