Sony has announced its latest IP and imaging products, as well as a series of new upgrades and innovations across its range of professional media products. Sony says it has worked to match recent dramatic changes in market needs with useful and pragmatic innovations including new IP extender tools.
   

“As remote, distributed production coupled with efficient workflows, becomes the de-facto way of working, we will continue to propose innovations based around IP, Cloud and Imaging quality,” says Anthony Kable, Content Creation Group Manager, Sony Australia. “These are tools that enable customers to transform their business.”

Sony says it has delivered IP Live production systems to more than 120 facilities and OB trucks worldwide as of April 2021, including at Polsat and University of Alabama.

Kable adds “Over the last year, there has been an increased demand for a more holistic end-to-end IP approach. In parallel, the appetite for workflow efficiency is also pushing many broadcasters and production companies to mandate an IP infrastructure for their productions.”

With this context in mind, Sony announces two compact IP extension adapters, the HDCE-TX50 HDCE-RX50 which provide the current HDC camera line-up with IP capability in 4K.

With their high frame rate (HFR) features allowing up to 6x slow motion in HD when using with HDC-5500 and an optional license HZC-HFR50, these adapters will prove indispensable for efficient resource and asset sharing for existing HDC users. Both models will be available in December 2021.

To respond to the appetite for IP beyond 4K, Sony is also announcing its new 8K ST2110 Interface option board and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) Agent Software, both to be available in October 2021. Adding to the CCU of its 8K camera system, the new Interface board UKCU-8001 enables IP operation of the 8K system. This new optional board has already been adopted by China Central Television (CCTV) in response to increased demand for 8K in China.

In order to meet the accelerated demand for remote environments, the BRC-X400, SRG-X400, SRG-X120 cameras will support the SRT protocol, bringing high quality video transmission with low latency, with firmware version 3.0, available in June 2021.

Sony’s unique Adaptive Rate Control function provides a more stable connection, optimized for the network environment and available bandwidth. Supporting RTMP/RTMPS (Real Time Messaging) Protocol, the cameras will directly stream to social media platforms with a simple and quick connection. The new application “Virtual Cam Driver for Remote Camera” is also planned to be released in June 2021, which enables remote cameras to be used as web conference tools.