
MultiCAM: world-class video switching solutions powered by Blackmagic Design posted: 22/05/2020
by Andrey Okunev
MultiCAM Systems, founded in 2003, is a French company that offers video production services and builds easy-to-use video production systems shipped throughout the world. I had a conversation with co-founders Stan Walbert and Prasad Ramassamy, both of whom are now self-isolating: Prasad in his apartment in Paris and Stan in a country house out of town. Stan, who is also a world-class VJ, had his performance at the Dubai Expo cancelled, which now leaves him with more time to do marketing and product development for MultiCAM, as well as to discuss how a Medialooks Video SDK and hardware by Blackmagic Design have helped develop their business.
When Stan and Arnaud, also a co-founder, were 17 years old, they started a pirate radio and had a lot of fun broadcasting whatever they wanted. Later, with Prasad, they started a web TV channel, which eventually led them to offer video production and live streaming services to customers in France.
We started the company with the production services background. We had to record and livestream city councils at first, and we didn't find any all-in-one solution that would meet all the requirements for very low-cost and very small demands of technical crew.
Stan's team kept running into inconveniences because it had to manage a lot of different equipment, which was expensive, difficult to carry and operate.
We had to simplify the setup in order to reduce cost. We wanted to have one solution with everything in it. This way we could send minimum people with minimum training and technical knowledge. If you have a lot of different equipment, you need to make it work together, and you take the risk of failures and misconnections. As a production company we needed something simple for people to operate with less support needed.
At some point, Prasad began his own coding in order to solve this problem. Having discovered Medialooks, he found it was the easiest way to prototype a new solution, which was designed to control and to recall camera presets, have a video preview, perform switching, recording and take snapshots.
We were using manufacturer panels, something that has buttons with numbers on it. But if you look at the numbers, you don't know what is the shot behind. We wanted to develop something where we could identify a camera shot with a certain name and preview thumbnail We didn't want to use a stack of devices and we believed that one piece of software can deliver switching, recording and streaming at the same time.
Since MultiCAM wasn't transforming an existing solution, trying to make it more user-friendly for the inexperienced user, it started from a blank page and went on to design a completely new user experience: by analyzing specific user segments and their behaviour patterns.
This approach, along with the fact that MultiCAM had their own team to provide instant feedback, led to the fact that ease of use is ingrained into the DNA of each product. A distinctive feature of the company's solutions is a touch screen interface, which is not very common in the industry.
Stan clearly describes his customers as those who need to broadcast and engage online, but don't want to have a dedicated crew, technical knowledge and go through a long learning curve:
Our customers are people who want to create video but don't want to know about the process.
Today, the company serves four distinct markets, where it helps organizations produce quality content: visual radio, education, conferences and medical. Each system was designed to fit specific needs and work well within the constraints of specific environments: depending on what resources people have to manipulate the system, the product is adapted for fully-automated, semi-automated or manual operating modes.
With semi-automation, you don't control, but you influence the system.
For instance, radio stations have no budget for a team to produce their visual program, they want a fully automated solution, driven by automatic speaker detection - availability of such solutions has formed a booming trend with more and more radio stations making content available on live and on-demand platforms such as YouTube.
The conferencing solution is similar to that for visual radio: it is integrated with the room's audio system and reacts to the microphone activity and automatically chooses the best shot. In the e-learning solution, image tracking is used instead of audio detection: the system switches between the speaker and his PowerPoint presentation depending on where he stands, how he moves and whether he had switched to a new slide. Medical institutions use MultiCAM systems to produce video training materials, which allow them to quickly focus and highlight a specific situation.
In order to provide customers with a predictable experience, MultiCAM ships integrated ready-to-use systems equipped with up to 9 branded PTZ cameras:
We don't sell separately software and hardware because we provide full support It's really important that we deliver the hardware as this is the guarantee of performance.
Several kinds of capture and playback cards - all from Blackmagic Design - are used for input and output. For example, a 4-camera setup would use a combination of DeckLink Quad 2 (8 SDI inputs) and the DeckLink Studio 4K (embedded audio input and audio & video output via SDI). The e-learning solution is usually a two-camera setup, so the DeckLink Duo 2 is used.
It's great that we have a choice of cards from Blackmagic to pick from depending on how many inputs and outputs we need. It's cost-effective and really versatile to combine and build the solution for every use case we provide.
MultiCAM also works with other Blackmagic devices, such
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/06/2026
Free Program Supports IPMX Education from Foundational Concepts Through System and Network Design
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced t...
16/06/2026
Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry 15 June 2026
Your feedback matters.
Following the instrumental insights provided in 2025,...
15/06/2026
One of the more exciting internal video production divisions within a college at...
15/06/2026
The deal valued at $22 Billion is expected to close in the first half of 2027...
15/06/2026
Golf Channel and the Arnold Palmer Cup have announced a partnership to livestream the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup on Golf Channel Mobile and GolfChannel.com. The tou...
15/06/2026
TikTok and Panini have announced a partnership to bring a digital collectible ca...
15/06/2026
Cosm and Monster Energy have announced the debut of the first full-dome immersiv...
15/06/2026
Real American Freestyle (RAF) and Fox Nation have announced an exclusive streaming agreement for three RAF international events, beginning with RAF Georgia on J...
15/06/2026
FanConnect has announced a partnership with Extreme Networks integrating FanConn...
15/06/2026
Ten Emerging Filmmakers Ages 18 to 25 Will Start Fellowship Year at Ignite Lab from June 14-19
LOS ANGELES, CA, June 15, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institut...
15/06/2026
Innovative three-band soft synth introduced
UVI's latest synth takes an interesting approach to synthesis, offering a trio of synth engines that each op...
15/06/2026
Applications now open for 2026
The Oram Awards have returned for 2026 to celebrate the unusual, unique and unfiltered creative worlds of women and gender-di...
15/06/2026
New intelligent auto-fader plug-in revealed
PSPaudioware's latest release offers automatic level adjustment and provides more detailed control than many...
15/06/2026
4.78M AUSSIES TUNE IN FOR SOCCEROOS WIN OVER T RK YE ON SBS
15 June, 2026
Media releases
Match had a Total TV average audience of 3.035 million, with over ...
15/06/2026
SBS Head of Commissioning John Godfrey to depart after 18 years
15 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS Head of Commissioning John Godfrey will depart the broadca...
15/06/2026
Greater Manchester Police installs Rohde & Schwarz security scanner for custody ...
15/06/2026
Insights from NAGRAVISION's latest industry webinar featuring One Hungary, Liberty Global and Media Press Group
In this blog, Laura Rognoni explores the k...
15/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/06/2026
Clear-Com has introduced Avalon , a purpose built 1RU IP intercom communication platform for modern networked production, designed to simplify and scale workfl...
15/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/06/2026
MiLB Club Deploys LDX 110 Cameras at CarMax Park to Deliver A New Standard in Engaging Fan Experience
Grass Valley today announced that the Richmond Flying Sq...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
15/06/2026
Techtel Completes Media Production Setup for a major AFL sporting organisation
Sports
15 June Written By Suzanne Costello
(Sydney, Australia 15 June 2026)...
15/06/2026
Monday 15 June 2026
Sky News takes viewers inside Minab in new film investigati...
15/06/2026
Fox Corporation to Acquire Roku, Inc. Combination Creates a Scaled Media and Technology Platform with Superior Reach, Engagement and Monetization Capability
...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...