NAB 2012 Product Launches

Well it’s been an exciting NAB show so far! There’s been some great new broadcast product launches, notably from AJA, Blackmagic Design and Panasonic.

Here’s a few of the NAB 2012 product launches that got us talking.

AJA

The T-TAP (yes an odd name) is a fantastic little bit of kit. Thunderbolt to HD SDI / HDMI. That’s all you need to say. And it’s only £160. Fantastic.

The Ki Pro Quad – a chunkier looking Ki Pro Mini – ups the ante in the 2K and 4K world and comes complete with Thunderbolt connectivity.

Here’s the AJA Ki Pro Quad brochure

The Ki Pro Rack is also a nice addition to the Ki Pro family – it’s essentially the Ki Pro as we know it and love it – but it’s in a 1RU 19" rack-mount form factor. There’s some options already out there to rack-mount the Ki Pro but the Ki Pro Rack – with it’s dual storage docks – is perfect for flyaways, OBs and studio installs. The Ki Pro Rack also supports DNxHD as well as Pro Res.

Here’s the AJA Ki Pro Rack brochure

Blackmagic Design

The HyperDeck Studio has been granted the all-important and long awaited Apple Pro Res codec. A sigh of relief from every HyperDeck owner out there!

Blackmagic have also released a new version of the HyperDeck Studio – the HyperDeck Studio Pro – a 4 channel version with Thunderbolt connectivity. Interesting stuff.

And last out of the Blackmagic Design press department – and no doubt a product that wil garner much publicity – the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera. Yes, Blackmagic Design now make cameras! We hear they’re also designing a new solar powered jet ski and a range of white goods – all with Thunderbolt connectivity. Ok that was a joke, but they really have launched a new camera!

I think the new Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera has to be seen to be believed but the specs read well and as usual, the Blackmagic price tag is extremely competitive.

Panasonic

Panasonic have announced some interesting upgrades and enhancements, including microP2 cards – a P2 card in an SD card form factor – and a new version of the HPX250, the HPX255 which can be controlled via Panasonic’s AG-EC4 RCP – good news for us multi-camera types.

Panasonic also announced the new HPX600 camera – a big brother to the HPX371. Panasonic say it’s future proof, so when AVC-Ultra is finally rolled out, the HPX600 will be one of the first cameras to support it.

New Sony NEX-FS100 Super 35mm Camera Announced

Sony have just released their new super 35mm NXCAM NEX-FS100 – yes a bit of a mouthful! Is it a camcorder? Is it a DSLR? Does it matter?

The specs look pretty good and there’s a fair bit of hype surrounding it. Interesting Sony chose to launch it prior to NAB – presumably to help build up a bit of momentum leading up to NAB rather than competing with the rush of other camera releases at NAB.

It looks a little bit brick like – similar to the RED cameras, but it’s packed full of nice features. A low recording bit rate is saved somewhat by outputting uncompressed 4:2:2 footage (with embedded timecode no less) on the HDMI output.

Anyway, here’s some further reviews, notably from Den Lennie, at F-Stop Academy who contributed to the design of the camera through a focus group, took part in the video promo campaign and was the first people to use it (or a prototype of it) to shoot a music video:

Reviews:

Den Lennie, F-Stop Academy News

Trusted Reviews

Nigel Cooper, DV User

Here’s some Vimeo videos about the Sony NEX-FS100 – the music video, Vertigo, shot by Den Lennie and James Tonkin, Den’s review of the camera and the official Sony promo for the Sony NEX-FS100: