Announced at NAB 2016 last month, the Sony FS5 firmware version 2.0 is now is available to download the free. Firmware 2.0 is quite a substantial update as it mainly enables the 4K Raw recording to an external recorder (you still have to buy the raw license separately) and the Auto ND feature, which is killer as you can now compensate for exposure changes without affecting depth of field as you don’t have to step down the aperture or open up, which in most cases can’t really be done with high precision unless you use high end cine lenses and use wireless motors. Canon EF lenses are notorious for their stepping aperture, even though it’s done in 1/3 increments, it can still be quite jarring to the casual viewer.

Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS) is centralizing its media operations on the Dalet Galaxy Media Asset Management (MAM) platform. The vision will provide a unified infrastructure to facilitate greater content collaboration across all SBS departments, and orchestrate the program acquisition, preparation and distribution workflows under a single system.

SAM’s Kahuna, IQ Modular and Sirius technology has been chosen for Euromedia’s new fleet of three hybrid 4K OB vans commissioned to address the growing market for live events broadcasting, including sports, music and entertainment. The new OB fleet, comprising one large and two smaller vehicles, has recently been used by broadcaster Canal+ for a 4K HDR football broadcasting trial between Olympique Lyonnais and PSG in February. The fleet will also be used for European football championships, the Tour de France and other sporting events later this year.

NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected RTS to provide broadcast intercom systems and support for its production of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. The announcement was made by John Pastore, director of broadcast communications for NBC Sports & Olympics and Ralph Strader, director global product management, RTS.

Sony’s latest XDCAM shoulder-mount camcorder, PXW-Z450 is capable of capturing 4K (3840 x 2160) picture quality from its new 2/3-type Exmor R CMOS sensor. The camcorder combines enhanced weight balance and low power consumption with field production features needed by broadcasters, including pool feed and multi-format recording.

At the NAB Show the Optical Devices Division of FUJIFILM North America introduced its cutting-edge FUJINON UA107x8.4 (UA107x) broadcast lens - the longest and widest 4K lens ever created for Ultra HD (UHD) broadcast applications. Destined to set a new standard for 4K UHD and HD production worldwide, the UA107x provides superb 4K optical quality across the entire zoom focal range - a hallmark of the FUJINON ZK series of Cine-Style lenses.

At the 2016 NAB Show, Calrec Audio unveiled RP1, a remote production engine that directly addresses an increasingly prevalent requirement for high-quality content from remote locations. Remote production offers the ability to capture a broader range of live events, such as sports, news, or regional music festivals. Broadcasters cannot always justify the time or expense of sending a dedicated outside broadcast truck and a team of skilled on-site operators for these niche events, but they must always ensure that the same high broadcast standards are met.

FOR-A introduced its innovative LTO-7 open standards linear tape server and its latest multi-codex archiving recorder. A highlight of FOR-A’s file management solutions display, the LTS-70 server is a powerful, cost-effective tool for broadcast and live video producers.

TVU Networks, the global technology leader in live IP video solutions, today announced the availability of TVU RPS (Remote Production System), a new, cost-effective alternative solution for live, remote, multi-camera news and sports coverage. Traditionally, major broadcast and sporting events are produced using on-site production trucks and a large number of production crews at the location. However, a mobile production truck with full crew and dedicated transmission equipment can be an expensive and complex proposition. That changes with the official launch of TVU RPS.

Sony unveiled the second generation of its Optical Disc Archive System, which adopts a new, high-capacity optical media developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic. This newest media, rated with a 100-year shelf life, doubles the capacity of a single cartridge to 3.3 TB. Generation 2 of Optical Disc Archive System also introduces an 8-channel optical drive unit, doubling read/write speeds over the previous generation, accommodating 4K video in real time and meeting the users’ increasing data storage needs.