Suggestions for Camera Converters

Hi Guys,

Ok, a quick suggestion to include in camera / studio converters- a send & return data port- I could then have my RCP's talking to my Sony cameras without the need for any other pieces of kit. One box for video, audio, return pgm, tally, comms AND data would be brilliant.........so a data send, return and ground on a connector at either end would be perfect please.....

Anyone else got any good ideas......


Cheers
Dave

A good Idea

Being able to push data would be nifty keen!

I could be mistaken, but I believe the audio input on the camera converter is TRS which means a simple 1/4" TRS to XLR adapter would be easy and fully supported today.

Proper power would be nice.

One other thing that would be great is better comms. If I already have a comm system like ClearComm or RTS I would love to be able to better integrate with that. I can wet the comms at the camera as needed, but an improvement there would be awesome.

As I think about this more, I see why BMD made some design decisions that they did. Keeping the cost down is important for many broadcasters. So maybe keeping the current model as-is would be a good idea.

Just like the format converters though, there is a heavy-duty and battery version of the same converters. Along the same lines, a heavy duty version of the camera converters that maybe costs $200.00 more per unit but provides more professional interfaces would be ideal. That allows the units to have a pricepoint that meets whatever the broadcasters needs may be at the same time offering a product for broadcasters who need something a bit more... stable.

Yes i agree with the need for a robust camera converter system for grown up cameras.

It would be great to see an alternative to the telecast system for maybe 2% of the price of copperhead!

Heh, that would be awesome! Although Copperhead does a lot of stuff... Maybe something between what we have today with the ATEM camera converter and a Copperhead.

SDI to and from the camera
2 channels of audio from the camera unit to the base unit
Tally
Genlock from the base unit to the camera unit
4 wire intercom bi-directional
Some form of remote RCU/CCU would be awesome. Maybe that could also include PTZ? Add-on option of sorts?

I go back and forth on timecode. Nice to have in some scenarios, but in a live production not really needed. Return audio back the camera is another nice to have, but not uber needed.

Personally I would pay $1k for a unit that had the above features per unit and another $4k for a 4 channel base unit that could also tie to my 4 wire intercom.

Other thoughts?

I'd love to see a option to directly pass embedded audio from SDI. Sometimes we need more than 2 channels.

With the built in battery backup, the Camera Converter is perfect for feeding a Satellite truck. Except for stripping out all embedded audios, and reembedding 1 and 2 only.

That's true. Although do you really need bi-directional data for a SNG feed? Other than comms, wouldn't a HD-SDI to Fiber adapter work? SNG doesn't really need much and it feels like a full camera converter may be overkill. Dunno, maybe I'm craaaazy!

The important features that i'd like to see on a prolevel converter are.

HDSDI from camera
Genlock (blackburst / trilevel) to camera
Return video to camera (SDI and Composite)
Tally to camera
Intercom (2 wire clearcom / RTS compatible)
Data to camera from RCP (iris control etc)
Removable battery + DC power (4pin XLR)
Robust fibre connections (opticon)

One product that i'd like to see (which nobody currently makes) is something which combined all the above with a 6" LCD monitor. The monitor should have a feed from the camera and also from return video, with a tripod mountable switch to select returns. Integrated tally lights in the monitor would tell the cameraman when he was live. This would be a killer product for people doing live production with smaller cameras (such as the Sony PMW200) as you'd have a one stop solution to turn affordable cameras into decently capable studio units.

Composite? Really? Dude. -4 video points for you.

If the camera unit has a built in screen, would a composite out still be required, or could you get by with a 3G-SDI? As for removable battery, I like that but what if instead it used the same integrated battery with an option V-Mount or Anton Bauer plate to add to it? Maybe no internal battery and just the V/AB mounts. Might be cool to place the unit inline which would kill the screen idea. Or an external power tap may work too. Dunno, just dreaming and thinking out loud.

100% agree on the fiber connection. Not a huge fan of what we have today. Super frail.

B

As i understand it Telecast have a patent on sandwiching the converter between the camera and battery.

Composite returns allows compatibility with lots of monitors and autocue systems.

Hello, i'm french, sory for my english !
Why Blackmagic don't make Camera Converter fixation under the camera possible ?
It would be so great like Datavideo DC-7. Look on this picture :

CameraConverter like Datavideo DC-7

CameraConverterTrepied.jpg (43.28 KiB) Viewed 6163 times