Infinity: The Debut

At IBC 2007, Thomson Grass Valley showed footage shot by final phase beta testers that will be used on-air in both high-definition and standard-definition programming, as well as real world? uses.

In this interview, Infinity Series Program Director John Naylor talks about some of the changes the camcorder underwent as a result of recent beta tests, compares Infinity with its principal rivals in the ENG space, and tells us who's been using Infinity and for what.

I was talking with an independent producer recently who said: "People are excited about Infinity and the flexibility it promises, but we don't know when we can buy one. When can they?

We've already started shipments, but we already foresee a backlog with fulfillment until almost NAB 2008 time.

Did you announce orders at IBC?

We only announced the first order as we shipped that order just prior to IBC. That customer was Flevoland in the Netherlands.

Are the beta tests over?

That's an interesting question. We've finished what we consider beta testing and now have real world users that are using Infinity for broadcast programs and other uses.

So Infinity is already being used by producers?

Yes.

Of all the things that Infinity is, the media is probably our biggest differentiator.

Can you say who they are and what they are doing?

I can name a few.

Flevoland, as our first delivery customer, is using Infinity for newsgathering and newsmagazine production in standard-definition with an EDIUS/Aurora workflow. When they convert to HD, all they will have to do is change a menu setting on their camcorders.

One project is for Discovery Channel. It will air in January and is a combination live action and green screen. GRB Entertainment is producing the program. They used Infinity in HD mode recording to a disk-based recording system direct from the Infinity's uncompressed BNC connection. The program itself will be in SD.

Another project is a pilot for a major cable network which was shot and will air in HD.

NASA also used Infinity on a tracker head during the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in August. That footage is used as part of NASA's Ice/Debris Image Analysis Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

So if people are using Infinity, when will producers be able to order Infinity?

We'll be taking new orders starting in January, 2008 to give us time to fulfill our backorders.

Are you in limited production now with shippable camcorders?

We're in full production at this point.

Is the station community open to the idea of Infinity?

We're seeing a very high level of interest in Infinity. The flexibility is appealing. The file-based workflow is appealing, but what gets people really excited is the media that we've chosen for Infinity: the Compact Flash and the REV PRO. There's something about these media that's very familiar to people.

How so?

It's a lot like tape. It fits into their culture. It's not too big a change. You can use it just like tape because it's cheap enough to do that but at the same time, it sports all these great flexibilities and the benefits of a file-based workflow. Of all the things that Infinity is, the media is probably our biggest differentiator.

What percentage of TV stations in the U.S. have not yet decided on what HD ENG camera they will use?

As you know, the majority of the almost 100 stations doing HD news are still shooting SD, albeit in 16x9, in the field. So in reality, almost all of the stations in the US still need to make that decision. Conservatively, there are probably close to 1,000 stations that either still need to decide, or have decided but not yet committed to purchase.

But a lot of the interest in Infinity comes from the EFP community that produces entertainment, corporate, and documentaries. They see Infinity, with its choice for worldwide formats, compression, and recording media as a moneymaker that they can use anywhere.

Infinity uses a standard B-4 lens mount and that means lots of choice in your supplier of lenses.

What are the key differences between Infinity and say, the Sony XDCAM?

Let's see. I'll compare Infinity to Sony's F-330 [PDW-F-330 XDCAM] because that's the most similar to ours. The first difference is the way that Infinity collects light. Infinity has full two-third-inch sensors, compared to the F-330's half-inch sensors. The sensor is the most important part of the camera, and you get a lot of advantages just by using the 2/3-inch sensors. Number one, the minimal focal distance is smaller. You can get closer to the action. You can also get better control of your depth of field. It just puts more control in the hands of the camera operator.

The other thing is that the half-inch sensor requires different glass and mounting, compared with the standard two-thirds. Infinity uses a standard B-4 mount and that means lots of choice in your supplier of lenses. You might even be able to continue using your existing lens stock instead of replacing it.

That's appealing from a cost point of view.

From a management point of view, it's a potentially big impact.

Are there other differences between Infinity and the Sony F-330?

When we launched Infinity we called out The Power of Choice as the main difference between our offering and those of Sony and Panasonic. That's true today and becoming moreso now that the product has been in people's hands. Infinity doesn't restrict people to using MPEG. No question, MPEG is good. It has the benefit of having been around a long time. The workflows are fairly streamlined around the MPEG codec. That's why we have an MPEG feature in Infinity, but we also offer a choice of a DV25 codec for standard definition, and JPEG2k for both SD and HD.

Have the beta testers and real world users been using all three?

What we've heard from the beta trials is that they really like the picture quality they get with the DV25. I guess that's because we start with a very crisp, high-resolution image from our sensors that takes advantage of over-sampling. The rule of any composition is that the better the image going in, the better the image coming out. So we're seeing very favorable reaction to our DV25 compression. I know that the real world users used a variety of formats, with one major cable network using HD-SDI out of the camera to a hard disk recorder.

So the key differences between the F-330 and Infinity come down to…

The lens, the sensor, the choice of codec and finally, the choice of medium. With the F-330, you are restricted to using spinning optical disk media. It's good, it works, but in certain circumstances, you might want to switch from moving media to solid state, let's say because of vibration and G-force, or extreme temperatures. With Infinity, you can do that.

REV PRO is spinning disk technology…

Yes, but as I said, we also offer compact flash recording in Infinity using accepted Compact Flash technology. So the person on the job can make the choice of medium when they are going out to do the job, rather than when they sign the purchase order for the product.

So lens, sensor, choice of codec and medium…

The final difference is all the connectivity, both in terms of broadcast type connectivity that comes digital in-digital out, analog in-analog out, time code, gen-lock—it is all part of the base package of the camera, whereas normally you'll find they are cost options.

The other connectivity we really bring to bear is all the IT connections. We've got two Ethernet ports, a lot of USB connections—both host and slave—and we've got the fire wire port. That all adds up to a lot of choice and a lot of powerful ways for using these products.

So it makes a difference in workflow…

Yes and another major difference between us and other camcorder manufacturers is that, at the moment, once you've taken a REV PRO disk out of the camera and put it into a computer you can use a Rev Pro drive to read it. That device costs about $500, and it puts you right there in a file-based workflow. You can use Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder to actually go and look at the files you've captured in your camera and then do stuff with them. If you're using an XDCAM with a Blu Ray professional disk, for example, you'll need a $12,000 VTR-like device to actually make your media accessible to a computer.

What about the differences between Infinity and P2?

The Panasonic offerings do have the two-third sensors but they don't have the same resolution as the Xensium sensors that we have in Infinity. We have 2.1 megapixel sensors whereas the Panasonics have 1-megapixel sensors. Which is great for doing 720p—it's all you need. But for 1080i, if you take 1080 and multiply by 1920 you get 2.1 million. That's how many active pixels we have on our sensors so we can do true faithful representations of 1080i. With the Panasonic, you have to take a few extra steps to actually synthesize a 1080i signal from their 720p sensors.

The Panasonic doesn't have the issue with lenses but they do share the single codec, no-choice issue that the Sony has. With the Panasonic you are restricted to DVCPRO, although I believe that some of their future offerings also offer AVC-I.

That's correct…

It's an interesting profile. It kind of validates Grass Valley's decision to use JPEG 2K as a codec because it's in the class of what we call advanced codecs—second or third generation of video codec technology.

What's really significant is the way [Infinity] brings the newsroom out into the field.

And that does what for the camera?

These advanced codecs really give you the benefit of being able to operate at acceptable bit rates. The higher the bit rate, the higher your media costs. High bit rates aren't necessarily a good thing, so because they are so much better at compressing, you keep the bit rates down but crucially, you can stay with an I-frame format, which makes editing much easier than with the long GOP that users of the Sony camera have to use.

It means that, due to the better compression efficiency of advanced codecs we can stay with an I-frame-only compression but at lower bitrates (think media costs) than the I-frame-only profiles of older codec technology. I-frame encoding makes editing much easier than with long GOP. Another I-frame-only benefit is the avoidance of one source of multi-generational picture corruption that affects long GOP if the parent & child GOP structures are misaligned.

Thomson Grass Valley's offering has the MPEG-2 for high definition, because it fits in with the workflow, as I said earlier, but we also offer an advanced codec, the JPEG 2000, for people who are interested in capturing the best picture at the time of acquisition, and worrying about the workflow later.

What if I'm the chief technology officer at a TV station group, what are my primary reasons for considering Infinity, if I'm converting my ENG operation to HD?

Number one, it's a great camera that makes spectacular pictures. It compares very favorably to the competition, and we would argue it has advantages. We have moved the goal posts somewhat with the introduction of our Xensuim sensors.

It's the first use of CMOS in broadcast. We're getting very good sensitivity and performance. As I said earlier, the DV25 works better with an Infinity sensor system in front of it, which is great for operations needing new cameras but not ready for HD yet.

So the use of CMOS is one thing to consider.

Yes, and another technical asset is the way we've embraced IT by incorporating Linux, gigabit Ethernet, and USB based software updates. It's something new and powerful that we are doing.

The third thing that really addresses the news operation isn't part of the camera but it's part of the system that goes with the camera, and that's the LCP 400 application. It's a software application that runs on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device, and communicates both with the DMC 1000 camcorder via Bluetooth. And if this Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device is also a cell phone or connects to the Internet some way, then it can communicate back to the newsroom.

What does that do for the station?

There are efficiencies and cost savings, but what's really significant is the way it brings the newsroom out into the field.

How so?

This is a workflow that we demonstrated at IBC. I'll walk you through a very novel, powerful operation that this enables.

A news story doesn't actually happen until the assignment editor decides to cover the story. He or she calls and assigns the crew, but in the meantime the assignment editor can get a story identified with the electronic news production system. The assignment editor can actually put together a little package of things that are required. They can put together an XML file and over the wireless Internet send that XML file to the handheld device that is also running the LCP 400 application.

That's actually called descriptive metadata. The metadata that we use is compliant with SMPTE, RP 210. So that's the package, and it can be separated from the email by the crew in the field, they can review it, edit it and transfer it to the camcorder. Then the vital thing is that while people are shooting that story, the descriptive metadata, which is vital to later recall of that story, gets burned right into the MXF file along with all the video and they are never separated again.

That's nice.

And along with that, each take gets the unique ENPS identifier associated with it so that when it comes back to the edit suite there's a system there that's expecting this slug at a specified time. So the editors can say it's due in 10 minutes, let's go and do the Intro and the Outro while we're waiting… now it's arrived, let's just drag it into the timeline & tidy up the finished piece

So it really helps smooth operations in the newsroom, in the field, in assignments. It closes the loop between having the idea, capturing the material, and creating the content into an edited piece.

And the metadata can go to a phone or PDA?

Yes I've got a PDA that runs this application. I use it for phone calls, email and also to control the DMC and put metadata into the DMC.

So that's something that's unique to Thomson Grass Valley. And it's a feature that is supported by the camcorder. A strong differentiator as to why one should consider the Infinity solution.