MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Solutions is bringing a new version of its flagship SilverBack-V series fiber camera adapters to market that reduces the cost of creating high-resolution, cinematic quality productions for a much broader customer base. Ideal for content producers of live concerts, sports and church services, the new SilverBack-VB retains the main features required for HD, 4K and even 8K productions while streamlining the feature set for smaller budgets.
The SilverBack-V and SilverBack-VB both convert digital cinema cameras into SMPTE studio cameras for use in live multi-camera productions. SilverBack-VB users will save costs for content producers that can now use lower-priced digital cinema cameras that today provide comparable images to more expensive cameras. For example, a live production company can now mix and match high-end and lower-cost digital cinema cameras to reduce expenses, while houses of worship and live performance venues can achieve cinematic emotion for every in-house production at less than half the cost.
“Digital cinema cameras were traditionally used for filmmaking, but a larger sector of content producers now desire these cameras for their 35mm and larger image sensors,” said Jesse Foster, Director of Product Development and Western Region Sales. “The larger imager size provides a shallower depth of field and greater emotion by having the foreground on a different focal plane than the background. Digital cinema cameras also bring 4K resolution, HDR and Wide Color Gamut, as well as 24fps support for film-like motion blur as well as high framerate acquisition for slow motion. These benefits are now available to users that could not achieve their storytelling goals because they were priced out of the market.”
The SilverBack-VB is a 1RU half-rack-width enclosure that provides a robust, full-bandwidth fiber optic link between any 12G, 4K or HD camera and a truck, control room or video village position. The design puts more emphasis on video payload across four I/O options, including bi-directional 12G-SDI and 3G-SDI, while streamlining audio transport options to the essentials. Live multicamera production features such as intercom, genlock, timecode and serial data, along with colorful front-panel status monitoring, are retained to optimize live cinematic production flexibility.
The SilverBack-VB is also vendor-agnostic, allowing customers to mount the adapter onto their digital cinema cameras of choice, including cameras from ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon, Panasonic, RED Digital Cinema and Sony. When paired with MultiDyne’s JUICE-48 power supply, users can operate on a hybrid cable and provide power to the camera, or use lightweight, robust tactical fiber and power the camera locally for further cost reduction. The SilverBack-VB also adds PoE capability to power remote control panels and other production workflows over Ethernet – a first for the SilverBack series.
“The modular design of the SilverBack-VB ensures that the system can be customized with various types, amounts and directions of video inputs and outputs, while our agnostic approach provides no limitations to camera choice for our customers,” said Frank Jachetta, CEO, MultiDyne. “Our latest SilverBack innovation, one of our flagship product lines today, incorporates the proven connectivity solutions of MultiDyne’s decades of experience outfitting high-end, broadcast-quality production requirements.”
