CAME-TV Crystal V wireless video transmission kit has been announced at this year’s IBC. It features HDMI and SDI in and outputs, SDI loop out, and up to 500m signal reach. The transmitter can be powered with V-mount batteries and the receiver with NP batteries. Both units also offer DC7-24V Lemo connectors. Chinese camera accessories manufacturer CAME-TV was present with their new products at the IBC 2019 show in Amsterdam. One of their new devices is the wireless video transmission kit called Crystal V. What features does it have? CAME-TV Crystal V Image credit: cinema5D Previously, CAME-TV only offered Crystal 800 wireless video transmission set, which only had HDMI ports. The new Crystal V includes both HDMI and SDI connectivity. The new video transmission kit consists of two units – the Crystal V TX (transmitter) and Crystal V RX (receiver). According to CAME-TV, this set offers up to 500 meters (1,640 ft) distance (unobstructed) signal reach, which (if true) is a very good reach. It can be monitored with an app (available for both Android and iOS). CAME-TV Crystal V TX includes both HDMI-in and SDI-in ports. Additionaly it features SDI loop out and USB 5V output. It has a V-lock mounting plate, so it can be powered via a V-mount battery. Thanks to a DC 7-24V two-pin Lemo power connector, the V-mount battery can also be used to power other devices, or even the camera itself at the same time. There is an optional NP battery plate for it as well. Image credit: cinema5D The Crystal V RX unit features HDMI out and SDI out connectors. It also has a DC 7-24V two-pin Lemo connector and an NP battery plate on the back. There is also a display to check the receiver status and adjust some controls. Price and Availability CAME-TV Crystal V wireless video set is available now for pre-order. Shipping is estimated to start at early November 2019. Price for the set has been set to $680. What do you think of CAME-TV Crystal V? Do you use some kind of wireless transmission system for your work? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

SmallHD announced new 13-inch and 17-inch wireless production monitors, which will be on display at CineGear 2019 (starting tomorrow). The 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick and 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick can receive full HD video from Teradek 500, 1000, or 3000 Bolt transmitters at distances up to 500 feet line-of-sight. They have high-brightness 1080p screens and variety of smart functions with the SmallHD OS3. New SmallHD 1303 and 1703 Bolt Wireless Monitors SmallHD has been offering their 5″ and 7″ monitors with built-in wireless technology from Teradek for a while. Last year at NAB SmallHD introduced the Focus Bolt 5-inch monitors following with the 7-inch Focus Bolt this year. SmallHD is now expanding their range of wireless monitors by announcing bigger two larger screens. The SmallHD 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick and 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick are new 13″ and 17″ production monitors with built-in Teradek Sidekick II receivers. SmallHD 1303 HDR and 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick Monitors The 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick and 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick can receive full HD video from Teradek 500, 1000, or 3000 Bolt transmitters at distances up to 500 feet line-of-sight. Both new wireless monitors have 2 SDI inputs, as well as 1 HDMI and 2 SDI outputs. There is zero latency when cross converting from SDI to HDMI. The monitors provide a wide viewing angle of 178° horizontally and vertically, so a number of crew members can view simultaneously. The 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick features 1500 nit daylight viewable 13-inch screen with full HD (1920×1080) resolution. It delivers 10-bit color at 100% of Rec.709 color gamut, 1150:1 contrast ratio. As the name already implies, it is HDR capable. With a dense 170 pixel-per-inch (ppi) display, it is suitable for focus pulling. The dimensions of the monitor are 13″ x 9″ x 2.88″ (33.02 x 22.86 x 7.32 cm) plus antennas. The weight is 9 lbs (4.1kg). SmallHD 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick The 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick delivers 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and 10-bit color depth. The screen is Full HD (1920×1080) at 1000 nit-brightness. It features a 1400:1 contrast ratio, and a pixel density of 133 pixels-per-inch (ppi). The dimensions of this monitor are 17″ x 11.7″ x 2.5″ (43.18 x 29.72 x 6.35cm) plus antennas. The weight is 12 lbs (5.4kg). SmallHD 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick Both monitors can be powered either by Gold-mount or V-mount battery packs via an optional battery pack adapter. AC power is, of course, also supported. These monitors feature a rugged milled aluminum chassis. The 17” offers hardened rubber corner bumpers and user-replaceable 3mm-thick screen protectors that drop-in and self-lock, as well as the RapidRail system that provides easy accessory mounting. The 17” also offers an ergonomic carry handle as well as multiple ¼-20 and ⅜-16 threaded mounting options around the frame. The new monitors are equipped with SmallHD OS3 software, so they offer quick-customizable professional tools including HD Waveform, Vectorscope, False color and Focus Assist/Peaking, Anamorphic De-squeeze, Framing Guides, and unlimited 3D LUTs via SD card. Price and Availability Both monitors are available now for pre-order. The price has been set to $5,500 US for the 13-inch 1303 HDR Bolt Sidekick and to $5,700 US for the 17-inch 1703 P3X Bolt Sidekick. We will update this post with buy / preorder links to B&H and CVP as they become available. SmallHD is of course present on CineGear Expo in LA and they will have their new wireless monitors on display in their booth 118. Our cinema5D team will try to get early hands-on with these new monitors so stay tuned for that. What do you think about the new 13″ and 17″ wireless monitors from SmallHD? Do you have experience with the 5″ or 7″ SmallHD Bolt wireless monitors? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Teradek has announced the industry’s first zero-delay 4K wireless video transmission system. The Teradek Bolt 4K will be able to transmit 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 HDR video at a range of up to 1,500 feet line-of-sight over the unlicensed 5GHz band. The company will showcase the Bolt 4K during NAB (Booth C5725). Teradek Bolt 4K. Source: Teradek Teradek, now part of Vitec Group, is known for huge innovations in the field of wireless video transmission. Their current top-of-the-line system, Bolt 1000, can transfer zero-delay video signals at up to 1080p resolution 60fps to a distance of up to 1,000 feet line-of-sight. With the recent announcement, Teradek improves the wireless video transmission technology significantly. They have just announced the Teradek Bolt 4K. Let’s take a brief look at this new product! Teradek Bolt 4K The Teradek Bolt 4K transmits 10-bit, 4:2:2 HDR video at a range of up to 1,500 feet line-of-sight over the unlicensed 5GHz band, and can multicast to 6 receivers, simultaneously. For HDR workflows, the Bolt 4K supports HDR-10, PQ, and HLG standards and can transport extended camera metadata, timecode, and record triggers over the wireless link. It will come in two version: a Teradek Bolt 4K 750 TX/RX set with range of up to 750 feet (about 228 meters) and a Teradek Bolt 4K 1,500 TX/RX set with the maximum range of 1,500 feet (about 457 meters). Teradek Bolt 4K. Source: Teradek The Bolt 4K is the first 4K HDR wireless video system, providing uncompressed, zero-latency (<1ms) transmission. The new Teradek Bolt 4K features interoperability – any model range can transmit and receive from another. For example: a Bolt 4K 750 is compatible with a Bolt 4K 1500. The transmitters feature dual 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 inputs, while the receivers feature two 12G-SDI outputs and an HDMI 2.0 output. Every Bolt model supports timecode and start/stop flags from major camera manufacturers, including RED, ARRI, Canon, Sony and Panasonic. Bolt 4K TX’s offer various mounting options, including an ARRI ⅜-16” pin-Lock mounting point for camera arms, as well as an optional camera-back mount with Gold/V-Mount pass-through power. Bolt 4K receivers offer optional Gold and V-Mount battery plates with pass-through power and a built-in NATO rail. Teradek Bolt 4K. Source: Teradek Like Teradek’s existing Bolt devices, the Bolt 4K offers strong protection with AES-256 encryption and RSA 1024 key pairing. Combined, these two technologies ensure that nobody may decrypt the wireless feed or connect another receiver to the system, without explicit authorization. Both, transmitter and receiver feature OLED displays to access the Bolt 4K settings and software features, such as spectrum analyzer, channel selection, 3D LUTs and more. Teradek Bolt 4K. Source: Teradek To further simplify the use of wireless video on set, Teradek has launched a free iOS application to manage and monitor every parameter of a Bolt 4K in real-time. The smartphone communicates with the Bolt 4K via Bluetooth and enables users to manage transmitter/receiver pairing, wireless channel selection, and the application of 3D LUTs. The app also offers a real-time quality and range analyzer to determine the best transmission distance for a given area, as well as the popular 5GHz spectrum analyzer to detect congestion on specific channels. Pricing and Availability Both Teradek Bolt 4K sets are now available for pre-order. The units should start shipping in June 2019. Price points are $3,990 for the Bolt 4K 750 and $7,990 for the Bolt 4k 1500. Teradek is of course present at NAB 2019 in Las Vegas, so if you want to see this new technology live, make sure to visit them at booth C5725. What do you think of the new Teradek Bolt 4K? Do you need 4K wireless video for your productions? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

The Accsoon CineEye is a new WiFi HDMI transmitter, able to send video signal at up to 1080p 60fps to a maximum distance of 100m. During NAB, we have talked about this new product with Neil Zhang from Accsoon. Accsoon is a Chinese startup company producing camera accessories. In their portfolio, they already have a one-handed gimbal A1-PRO with a CineEye wireless image transmission technology. Now at NAB 2019, they are presenting a standalone HDMI image transmitter called CineEye. Accsoon CineEye HDMI Transmitter The CineEye transmitter is capable of sending a video signal at up to full HD 1080p resolution and 60fps frame rate. The transmitter features one HDMI-in port and uses 5G WiFi signal to send video wirelessly to a tablet or phone with both, Android or iOS system. When it comes to the range of the transmitter, its signal can go for as far as 100m (328ft) in unobstructed environment without interference. Inside a building and at places with strong interference that will of course be less. CineEye has a very low delay given it is a WiFi transmission. Accsoon claims the latency is 60ms (for iOS). The system supports bandwidth up to 300MB/s and one transmitter can send a signal to up to four devices at the same time, regardless of the OS – Android or iOS. The CineEye module features compact aluminum housing with two foldable antennas. Once folded, it’s only the size of a credit card (90x63x21mm). The company also worked on optimizing heat generation. They claim that even after hours of transmission, the CineEye transmitter still won’t exceed the human body temperature. There is a built-in battery within the transmitter, which currently lasts for around three hours of runtime. The company wants to improve that to 4 hours, when the final version of the product will be released. The module charges through a USB Type-C port (5V 1.5A power input) and it also works when it’s being charged, so it can serve well on long shoots too. Accsoon App for iOS and Android To receive the video signal from the CineEye transmitter, Accsoon has developed an app, which can be downloaded for free on Google Play (for Android) and in the App store (for iOS). The Accsoon app has a variety of useful functions for image monitoring. There is focus peaking (available in three colors – green, blue, and white), false color, histogram, zebra, and markers (different aspect ratios, safe zones, grid, center marker), monochrome (red, blue, or green only). Users can also select various 3D LUTs included in the app, plus there is the possibility to add custom LUTs (via cube files). CineEye transmission system will automatically find a clean channel before the transmission starts, and as the distance increases it will automatically lower the streaming bitrate to maintain real-time monitoring. Users can also manually change the Wifi channel directly in the app, in case there is an interference (there are 9 selectable 5G channels). Pricing and Availability The price for the transmitter is $219 USD and it is now available for purchasing at Amazon and CVP. What do you think of the Accsoon CineEye HDMI transmitter? Would you add a device like this to your kit? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

The Teradek Serv Pro can provide a wireless video feed for those in your crew using iOS devices, but is it really as useful as it sounds? Stewart Addison takes a look. The Teradek Serv Pro – the first device of its kind – allows you to stream a HDMI/3G-SDI 1080p video feed over Wi-Fi (2.4/5 GHz) to ten different iOS devices via the Teradek VUER app (not available on Android). I got to play with one for a few hours and, while I ultimately appreciate the vast number of features Teradek has included with the Serv Pro, I also have some reservations about its actual usability on set. The Teradek Serv Pro As with everything Teradek, the build quality is very good. With blue anodized aluminium that feels super-sturdy, this is the best-built Teradek body I’ve come across. It feels really solid. The ports on the back allow you to stream your camera outputs – HDMI, 3G-SDI at 1080p over a Wi-Fi connection or LAN if you don’t want to work wirelessly – and it uses a regular 2-pin Lemo connector for power. The Teradek Serv Pro didn’t get as hot as other Teradek products I’ve used, only becoming somewhat warm after the few hours. Operation The Teradek Serv Pro has two operational modes: if you’re in the studio and have your own Wi-Fi network, you could connect to it and everything would be on the same network. If you’re out on location, the Teradek Serv Pro can create its own Wi-Fi access point for all of the iOS devices to connect to. Obviously, it doesn’t provide an internet connection, just a Wi-Fi network. Connection The Serv Pro facilitates ten iOS connections, but for this review I was only able to test it with two, my iPad Pro and iPhone 7 Plus. Finding out how many devices are connected is as easy as scrolling through with the small button next to the screen. You can’t connect Android devices, PC or Mac computers, or browsers to the Serv Pro feed, which feels a bit limiting in 2017. More details on that later. The tools and options in the Teradek Serv Pro VUER app, however, are comprehensive. You can apply looks, focus assist, peaking, false colour, vectors, scopes, waveform monitor, histogram and frame guides to your image. You can also grab stills and magnify specific areas on the image, the latter of which is helpful to anyone viewing on a small iPhone screen. Moreover, the VUER app also allows you to easily view up to four devices or feeds simultaneously. I wasn’t able to test this feature out as I only had one Serv Pro to connect to my camera, but navigating through the options was very easy. The Wi-Fi technology used in the Serv Pro is 2.4/5 GHz which should offer good range, but when I was testing my demo Serv Pro the image started to become laggy and degrade at around 50 feet, and I totally lost my connection to a “Loading” screen a couple of times. Naturally, the connection was stronger when I had a line of sight to the camera, but having problems at 50 feet certainly wasn’t encouraging, especially when compared to the distance and feed you get out of the more robust Teradek Bolt Pro. Hopefully the performance will improve with a future firmware update, as mine was a brand-new pre-release version of the product. UPDATE: Please see the bottom of this article for my more recent experience with the product. Cost The Serv Pro will set you back around $1,800. It’s not insignificant, especially for multi-cam shoots that would require an additional Serv Pro for each camera. However, being able to connect ten devices to one feed does cut down the cost of extra monitors on set. In single-camera environments, the Serv Pro pays for itself pretty quickly. Let’s Get Back to the iOS Thing If the USP of the Serv Pro is to connect many accessible devices to one Wi-Fi feed, why then limit the kinds of devices that can be used? Yes, modern iPads and iPhones have excellent image quality with wide colour gamut displays that are both consistent and accurate, but if you want to use the Serv Pro, you now have to make sure you have access to enough iOS devices to make the Serv Pro cost effective to buy or rent. Adding support for Android devices would be the obvious win here, but I have no idea if that will be a future feature. Everybody having their own iPhones on set isn’t going to be sufficient. I could barely see my iPad Pro image out in the sun as the Apple screens are very glossy and reflective, and that’s not going to get any better on different and smaller iOS devices. Neither is battery life, meaning you will eventually have to tether these devices to an AC charging outlet on full 12-hour shoot days and, as we know, getting your iPhone through a full day without running out of battery isn’t easy with even moderate use. If you then factor in running live video streaming on full brightness, managing iOS devices and battery levels will become an additional challenge. Also, once the iOS device is connected to the Serv Pro’s Wi-Fi, you will no longer have an internet connection (See the bottom of the post for the latest on this). The additional battery consumption and a lack of access to regular email or iMessage data will no doubt put off many of the people who will want access to the video feed from wanting to use their own iOS devices. Just try telling a client, producer, or executive that they can’t check their email on set once connected to the Serv Pro’s Wi-Fi. In other words, unless you have extra iPads hanging around, you’re probably going to have to rent or buy additional dedicated iOS devices to get the most out of this already costly investment. Not to pile on here, but these devices are typically banned on a lot of film sets. Almost all of the sets I work on have a zero-tolerance policy on using phones on set due to social media leaks and unauthorized behind-the-scenes. Having to manage a set where some devices are OK but others aren’t could be tricky, and is it even worth the overhead to get a few more iPads in on the action? I’m not sure. It will suit smaller indie productions more, where crew already have access to their own iPads and can use them instead of buying/renting production and director’s monitors. Powering them for 12 hours on full brightness could still be an issue, though. Conclusion The Serv Pro sounds very useful in theory, but I worry about the cost/benefit of actually using it on set. For single-camera and indie productions with access to some sort of charging station, the Serv Pro is a great way to give everyone a look-in at the action. In other situations, though, the Teradek Serv Pro looks like it could possibly complicate more things than it streamlines. Pros: 10 iOS device Wi-Fi + LAN (2.4/5 GHz) 1080p Streaming 2-Frame delay (within Wi-Fi range) HDMI / 3G-SDI over Wi-Fi + Ethernet Solid build quality iOS devices have great image accuracy, with wide Colour Gamut and accurate, consistent displays Ideal for single-camera shoots Theoretically provides cheaper monitoring of the HDMI-3G-SDI video feed Cons: iOS exclusivity is a clear limitation iPhones and iPads aren’t the most practical monitors iOS devices when used heavily can bring battery woes Fairly expensive Signal degrades and lags with shorter-than-expected distances (with current firmware) Serv Pro Update I went out to a completely different location (nearby field) with the Serv Pro for a second bout of testing and I had a much-improved experience. The wireless range was greatly improved (to about 250 feet) and the connection was strong throughout. I’m not sure what caused my laggy first experience, but I had no issues the second time around. In fact, I tried the device with a larger third-party antenna and found the included ServPro antenna matched its performance quite nicely. I would also like to issue a correction: using the ServPro over WiFi will not hinder the cellular connection, so you can use the VUER app and receive calls/LTE data without any issue. Also, here are some points provided by Teradek on the Serv Pro: We are planning on porting VUER to Android and desktops in the future, but we do not have an ETA just yet. With regard to security of these wireless streams, we offer in-app encryption that only allows those with the stream password to access the live video footage. We will be introducing watermarks in the near future as well. Finally, regarding wireless performance, just like our Bolt products, users need to keep interference in mind when operating the device. Utilizing a wireless access point with Serv Pro greatly enhances range and performance, while also making it easier to switch wireless channels and bands (2.4/5) to avoid interference from other systems. What do you think? Could the Teradek Serv Pro be a powerful tool or more of a headache in your kind of productions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.