LAS VEGAS – With the various products on the exhibit floor at NAB 2019 last week, the last day on site at the Las Vegas Convention Center, offered some intriguing products that were either rolled out for the show or shortly before it.
Quality portable options, such as the Solid State Logic SiX and Shure MV88+, offer cost-effective and worthwhile products for houses of worship.
A number of the products that caught the eye were of the smaller variety.
Among the most impressive was the Shure MV88+, a video kit that includes a microphone that simply connects to an iPhone’s Lightning port, mounted on a tripod, while also using a phone clamp, shoe-mount mic clip. Paired with the SharePlus MOTIV iOS app, users can adjust gain control, compression and EQ. Audio capture can be done in AAC, WAV and ALAC formats.
As noted by Allison Dolegowski, global media relations manager, after talking with customers on ways to improve the original MV88, the benefits that come with this kit allows one to avoid “lugging the full gear, and it’s livestream ready. This kit allows for a more flawless connection.”
While the MV88+ was an update from a previous model, the Solid State Logic SiX is a completely new offering by the company. A desktop mixer much smaller than its earlier cousins, it offers “larger format console quality sound for someone who needs the portability,” noted Ross Gilbert, Sales and Marketing Technical Support Coordinator. While the Solid State Logic booth also highlighted an updated L550 digital console, with its 256 inputs and 256 outputs, at 96K at 24 bit, the SiX provides two super analog mic pres, two channel compressors and very good monitoring, all for $1,500.
Where the SiX would be ideal regarding its portability, especially for webcasting or podcasting, with a presenter and a monitor mix. The SiX has been in the design pipeline for three years, working on providing an affordable, portable option, explained Gilbert, with it being released a week before the show.
For an easily portable console, but on the video side, Roland showed off the V-600UHD switcher to a U.S. audience for the first time, after it was first shown at an overseas conference in February. Slated to begin shipping in June, the 4K HDR multi-format switcher supports DCI Cinema 4K resolution (4096 pixels wide), along with delivering full 60Hz framerate support. With the switcher’s ability to work in both HD or 4K, it will allow one to transition slowly to upgrade HD gear to 4K, one piece at a time.
Among the more interesting features of the V-600UHD, is called “regions of interest” where one can take a single 4K wide shot from a 4K camera, and separately feature a zoomed in section of the shot, to show what looks like a different angle or perspective, to where one can do such an arrangement with four such different views, all from a single 4K camera wide shot. By rotating between the different sections of the wide shot, it “increases production value, while maximizing your investment,” explained Chriss Wissinger, global strategic product marketing manager for Roland.
The Roland switcher was built from the ground up with the 4K processor, and also incorporates HDR, to natively balance out the brights and darks, to make a view of a worship band with a LED video wall behind them both look good, as often the issue is that the LED wall is too bright, or the worship band is lost in the shadows.
For other notable updates on the show floor, one of the more intriguing ones was Panasonic’s latest PTZ entry, the AW-UE150, a slightly camera over the very popular AW-UE130. The AW-UE150 has been shipping for the last two months. The most notable feature with the newest PTZ is the addition of 4K 60p imaging, paired with 20x optical zoom. The camera also features various output connections, from 12G-SDI, HDMI, optical fiber, as well as IP.
Among the more interesting partnerships learned about at the show was one between StreamMonkey and the company, Zixi. Known for providing broadcast-quality video over IP for the likes of NBC, HBO, has been able to work with houses of worship as part of the partnership, including Trinity Fellowship, located in Texas, where Worship Tech Director contributor Kevin Penrod is based.
As noted by John Wastcoat, senior vice president, alliances and marketing for Zixi, the company has worked with Trinity for a number of years, with its service superseding that of satellite, it has reached a 99.999 percent reliability, he noted, with its services able to be managed through ZEN Master, a control plane, for Zixi users on the network.