Portable Power Backup System for Long-Distance SMPTE Fiber Previews At NAB
LOCUST VALLEY, NY—Sat 04, 2016—
At the 2015 NAB Show booth C7920 MultiDyne® Video & Fiber Optics Systems will show a new and unique portable power source system for camera operators working in the field solo or those that are located far away from a mobile production truck or other AC power source. The company will also show a related product designed specifically for Grass Valley cameras linked to MultiDyne’s SMPTE-HUT system.
On virtually every remote production, standard copper or fiber cabling is vulnerable to power outages. What MultiDyne, a leading provider of fiber optic-based video and audio transport solutions for broadcast and professional A/V applications, is showing at the 2015 NAB Show is a highly portable battery backup system designed to protect against situations such as what occurred during the 2013 NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans. Once the entire power grid to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome failed, camera operators were left with no power and went black. If they had used a MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT with an internal battery, they could have continued to operate. As such, the Super Bowl XLVII telecast on CBS was interrupted for some 34 minutes in the third quarter before power was restored.
The unique backup power system is also ideally suited to sports organizations covering multi-venue events (e.g., The Olympics and ESPN’s X Games) as well as golf tournaments, where camera positions are spread out and typically located a good distance from the onsite production truck (with its onboard generator). Power signals run on SMPTE fiber typically lose strength over long distances. This system solves that problem. It’s also invaluable when working at venues that do not have SMPTE fiber connectivity.
“We feel this battery backup system has far-reaching implications for our industry,” said Frank Jachetta, president of MultiDyne. Jachetta added that no manufacturer currently offers the ability to operate a camera on battery power over long SMPTE-compliant cable runs. “No one wants to be stranded without power, although we all know it happens from time to time, so this new SMPTE-HUT system will be available with backup power to keep the camera running over Fiber-optic cable in severe weather and other situations of unpredicted power loss.”
The new battery backup system, available as a standalone external battery pack, rack-mountable battery enclosure, or fully integrated into a MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT system for convenience, was co-developed by MultiDyne and Connexion Design based in Chatsworth, California. The system uses an industry-standard Anton Bauer or “V-lock” mount to accommodate a variety of popular professional batteries that can be easily swapped out in the field. The external unit features a series of two or four battery mounting plates linked together in a carrying rack that provides more than 150 watts, enough power to run most cameras, including 4K and high-frame rate cameras that require more power than standard HD cameras.
“This technology enables operations that were previously not possible using battery technology most operators already own,” said Eugene Baker, CEO of Connexion Design. “Hard cameras on lengths of SMPTE cable driven from ENG-style batteries has not been previously possible. This really changes the game.”
In fact, by linking two professional high-capacity batteries together, MultiDyne can offer up to 300 watts of power that can be taken virtually anywhere a tethered camera operator can go. The new MultiDyne external enclosure can accommodate up to four batteries while the MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT features two internally. The unit can also be plugged into an AC power source and utilize the batteries only for redundancy and full protection against the camera going down or off-air.
“This device fools the camera CCU into thinking there’s a camera there and takes only the optical signals and sends it over standard fiber-optic cable,” Jachetta added. “At the other end, the backup battery unit will receive the signal over the same fiber run, where it is then passed on to the camera connected to our SMPTE-HUT system and the power re-injected. Power to run all of the cameras is then instantly restored.”
The MultiDyne SMPTE–HUT system is a universal camera transceiver designed to free cameras from the limitations of hybrid cabling. Not only will users achieve transmission distances that are simply impossible over hybrid copper/fiber cables, they also benefit from the absence of RF, EMI, and grounding issues; faster set and strike times; and lighter OB vans, B-units, and cable shipments. The plug-and-play system can be used both as a passive, unpowered system where local power must be supplied to the camera head or as a powered system, using the new Grass Valley SMPTE-HUT system, where the camera-mounted device actually powers the camera head over up to 1,000 meters (over half a mile) of 14mm SMPTE hybrid cable. With either powering scheme, at the CCU end is a small adapter that accepts the hybrid cable from the CCU.