Trained to expect the unexpected, Fifty Frames (GmbH) Founder Christian Heinzel sees every live event production or installation as an opportunity to embrace emerging techniques and confront challenges head on. It s something he puts into practice nearly every day as owner of a boutique shop that s trailblazing 4K HDR and IP live event production and video streaming workflows for luxury car brands, bands, and major corporations across Europe. While his team is unafraid of a challenge, they ve come to depend on AJA gear to provide a level of certainty in high pressure environments. It s one of many reasons, Heinzel says, they regularly employ technology like AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G recorders, FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converters, and KUMO 3232-12G SDI routers across projects.
Capturing the unseen: A secret UltraHD HDR recording
Fifty Frames recently covertly produced an UltraHD HDR concert for a German punk band, designed to prevent performance anxiety the band previously felt when made aware of concert recordings. The three-day event took place on a former airfield in Berlin and drew in an audience of more than 150,000 fans. Upon receiving the first stage and LED screen drawings, Heinzel realized the event's massive scale. Recognizing the nontraditional nature of the concept and use of UltraHD screens, he opted to produce in UltraHD and tap into HDR to ensure more striking visuals.
"The lighting situation was quite complex, and we knew it would include changes from bright to dark and a lot of effects that you normally don t see. SDR wasn t an option because we'd need camera shaders all the time, whereas, with HDR, we knew that we d get a bigger dynamic range so we could see all the light, but it wouldn t come across as overexposed," he explained.
Due to the clandestine nature of the recording, his team strategically placed the ten remote and broadcast grade cameras out of the band's sight lines. Over the course of the three-day production, the team collectively captured 75 terabytes of footage from the cameras using 14 AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12Gs. "The Ki Pro Ultra 12G was an easy choice," Heinzel recalled. "It s reliable, affordable, and flexible. I can record eight HD camera feeds with just two units, saving rack space. Plus, I don t need a specialist to operate it."
Heinzel s team then color matched the mix of remote and broadcast grade cameras using AJA FS-HDR. Heinzel noted, "FS-HDR is an absolutely brilliant tool for color matching cameras; it s truly a Swiss Army knife for color conversion."
Finding unique solutions to unique challenges
Heinzel and his team have tackled many other outside-the-box productions as well. While previously working on an HDR live event project for a major car brand in Frankfurt, they realized their media servers only had HDMI and display port outputs, so they couldn t transport the HDR signal. Together, Heinzel and his colleague Oliver Derynck came up with a solution: if they could convert the signals of the media server to 12G-SDI and run it through an FS-HDR, they could then tell the signal it was HDR and run it through the switcher. "We tested it out, and it worked, so we were able to retain the HDR metadata," Heinzel explained. "FS-HDR helped provide a simple solution to a really complex challenge."
For the occasional augmented reality (AR) project Heinzel's team encounters, he's built custom real-time rendering machines with integrated AJA Corvid 44 12G cards for I/O. We've done a few AR projects with Zero Density, and they're a lot of fun, even though the workflow is different," he explained. "Our systems for these are presently baseband SDI, but the goal is to move them to SMPTE ST 2110.
Marching toward an IP future
As Fifty Frames continues to innovate across client productions and studio installs, Heinzel is looking to SMPTE ST 2110 to simplify the transport of uncompressed media. He noted, SMPTE ST 2110 will enable us to work with high bandwidth media as we would with SDI, with no compression, while introducing many benefits, from a reduction in equipment to substantial power and performance gains. Less equipment means a lighter load for travel, and with the right IP router, I can easily get 400 UltraHD signals using a 1RU device, which is amazing. Next year, I think we're going to see a lot more SMPTE ST 2110 products surface.
For the time being, he plans to continue maximizing his KUMO 3232-12G SDI routers to support routing needs across projects. Heinzel concluded, KUMO 3232-12G provides an affordable way for us to get signals where they need to go, whether to the shaders or for monitoring needs; it does what it's supposed to do well, and it's reliable. The usability is also perfect. You don't have to study the manual in-depth to operate it. That's important because my team doesn't have time to fiddle around with equipment. We need our gear to work.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
14/07/2025
The Royal Moroccan Air Force hosted a C-130 award ceremony with L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert a...
14/07/2025
UK launch set for September, following on from recent US and Germany releases
London - UK, July 14, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, da...
14/07/2025
SHENZHEN, China Telycam has added control options for its portfolio of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of con...
14/07/2025
The awards are open to IBC2025 show exhibitors and offer a valuable platform for companies to raise awareness for the new products and solutions they will be la...
14/07/2025
Clear-Com is excited to announce a significant expansion of the award-winning Arcadia Central Station with new software updates. Together, these releases dram...
14/07/2025
Grass Valley and Daktronics today announced a strategic technology partnership that unites Grass Valley's live production expertise with Daktronics' lea...
14/07/2025
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset, and swXtch.io, provider of cloud-based multicast and reliable networking solutions, are partnering to deliver multicast...
14/07/2025
Tintri , a DDN subsidiary and leader in AI-powered data management solutions, today announces a game-changing and award-winning refresh to its global Partner P...
14/07/2025
HighField AI, the broadcast industry's first agentic and multimodal AI platform for automating graphics production, is now commercially available. Developed...
14/07/2025
Encompass Digital Media has today announced that it has been delivering a complex global services project for DAZN, the world s leading sports entertainment pla...
14/07/2025
MASV (massive.io), the fastest, most reliable large file transfer platform trusted by over 10,000 global organizations, announced today it will showcase its nex...
14/07/2025
Calrec is introducing a series of usability, customisation and system enhancements across the entire range of Argo consoles at IBC 2025, on Stand 8.C47. Look ou...
14/07/2025
Fincons Group, IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce a new engagement...
14/07/2025
Stand 5.F45, IBC2025, Amsterdam, 12 15 September 2025 Intinor returns to IBC to present the latest updates to its Direkt series. A key development on show is ...
14/07/2025
Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...
14/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for June 2025
Product
14 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
One percent of Internet Service Providers (ISP...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Begins Filming The Map of Longing With Al cia Falc , P...
14/07/2025
This July marks 100 days since I officially stepped into the role of CEO at Grass Valley, a milestone not of abrupt change, but of confident continuity.
Unlike...
14/07/2025
Enhancing Public Service Broadcasting with
Innovation, Accuracy & Sustainability
New regional detail and local towns featured...
13/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Expands B&B Universe' with Yu Jae Seok's B&B ...
13/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...
12/07/2025
Ryan Coogler accepting the 2013 Vanguard Award. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez.
Editor's Note: In honor of Fruitvale Station s 12th anniversary, we're d...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, the professional training division of Key Code Media, proudly announces a major update to its Adobe Premiere Pro Engineering and Advanced Op...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, a leader in instructor-led post production training for over...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
Trained to expect the unexpected, Fifty Frames (GmbH) Founder Christian Heinzel sees every live event production or installation as an opportunity to embrace emerging techniques and confront challenges head on. It s something he puts into practice nearly every day as owner of a boutique shop that s trailblazing 4K HDR and IP live event production and video streaming workflows for luxury car brands, bands, and major corporations across Europe. While his team is unafraid of a challenge, they ve come to depend on AJA gear to provide a level of certainty in high pressure environments. It s one of many reasons, Heinzel says, they regularly employ technology like AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G recorders, FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converters, and KUMO 3232-12G SDI routers across projects.
