Audio Makes the Rounds at NAB
April 2015 – Amidst all of the 4K and UHD video at NAB 2015, Sennheiser and Roland Pro AV introduced several new professional grade products to the mobile and live production marketplace. Sennheiser introduced two new products focusing on the bringing professional level quality and clarity of sound to the new AV capture platforms. Roland focused on live performance and production with their introductions at the show.
Sennheiser AVX Handheld Mic Set
The lead item for Sennheiser was the new AVX wireless microphone system. This is a full 24b/48KHz high reliability wireless microphone system with sub 20ms latency and is USB chargeable. The microphone has an over 90db SNR, and can operate for 4 hr on a single charge. The new component is a redesigned intelligent receiver can plug directly into the XLR audio input of the new smaller cameras, camcorders and DSLRs, and uses phantom power. It switches on and off automatically with the camera, so it is instantly ready to record and saves battery power when the camera is turned off. The smart receiver manages the channels automatically. Before any interference becomes audible, the AVX selects the best operating frequency and switches to a clean channel in the unlicensed 1.9GHz band. The receiver also has a smart control for the Dynamic Range management. The AVX matches perfectly to the camera’s input sensitivity so the operator does not have to adjust the audio level on the microphone by hand. The new AVX is available as a handheld and a lavalier or a combo set, in June 2015.
Sennheiser Clip Mic Digital for iPhone
On the mobile capture side, Sennheiser has partnered with Appogee to bring a high quality 24b/96KHz digitized audio stream to the Lightning connector on the iPad/iPhone/ipod touch. The recoding and conversion subsystem is supported by the MetaRecorder and Maestro apps on the software side, and with a high quality lavalier microphone on the intake side. The essential features of MetaRecorder can be controlled from Apple Watch – start and stop recording, add a take to Favorites, add Markers or set your microphone input level. This brings professional recording to interviews, presentations or performances.
Roland Pro AV made their debut at NAB for the first time since the restructuring at Roland. The division is now under the leadership of former Roland USA President Kim Nunney. Roland showed off three new products – the M-5000 Live Mixing Console, the V-1200HD Multiformat Switcher and asset of seven new expansion boards to provide enhanced I/O and connectivity to the consoles. These cards are all part of the new Roland XI-Interface. Roland’s new XI-Expansion Interface Cards future-proof the V-1200HD and M-5000 by enabling them to interoperate with any equipment supporting the REAC, Dante™, MADI, SDI, Waves SoundGrid®, DVI and SFP digital audio and video transport protocols. Similarly, the new XI-SDI, XI-DVI and XI-SFP cards allow de-embedding and embedding of audio directly from or to video signals by the M-5000. Both the V-1200HD and the M-5000 feature two available XI-Expansion Interface card slots.
Roland M5000 Live Mixing Console
At NAB 2015 Roland introduced the new M-5000 Live mixing Console. The M-5000 based on the O.H.R.C.A platform delivers freely definable audio paths, with support for multiple audio formats & protocols, plus 96 kHz sound quality throughout the system. The architecture of the M-5000 allows the 128 audio paths to be freely defined to include 5.1 surround mixing and monitoring, Mix-Minus busses, GPIO triggers and delay important for broadcasting applications and OB (Outside Broadcast) Vans. Today’s OB Vans require lots of features in a small footprints and the flexibility to handle a variety of remote broadcast event varieties such as sports, concerts, newscasts, and awards ceremonies. The back panel of the M-5000 includes 16×16 analog I/O, 4×4 AES/EBU, a 16×16 USB audio interface, connection for control via an iPad connected or wireless, and control ports including footswitches, GPIO, RS-232C and MIDI. All of this capability enables the console to see up to 300 inputs and 296 outputs, all at 96kHz and even more at 48kHz.
Roland V1200HDR video switcher
On the AV side, Roland introduced the V-1200HD. It is a 2 M/E Broadcast and Live Production Switcher with a Hybrid Engine, adding to the existing V-800HD, VR-50HD, and V-1600HD video switcher family. The new V-1200HD features a new “hybrid” engine that combines a 4:2:2 / 2 M/E switcher with a 4:4:4/10-bit multi-format processor presentation switcher. M/E modes are selectable and a configurable bussing structure allows up to six video layers of composition and two independent auxiliary video outputs making the unit well suited to broadcast applications. The multi-format processor enables RGB 4:4:4/10-bit processing best suited for computer formats with full scaling that allows for splitting content across two screens. A 4K switching mode simulates a routing switcher by combining four SDI inputs or output to achieve a single 4K source. Installing the XI-SDI expansion card enables 4K routing of up to three inputs and two outputs.
The V-1200HD also supports control of up to four PTZ cameras that support the VISCA protocol using RS-422 with scene storage for direction, zoom, and pan positioning useful for live production and broadcast studio applications. The digital audio processing engine enables a total of 92 input/output channels from SDI, HDMI and can embed and de-embed analog or digital audio. The on-board digital audio mixer supports up to 16 channels of audio.
