Homebrew Films Diversifies with Blackmagic Design Ultra HD Studio

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Blackmagic Design today announced that South Africa-based Homebrew Films has completed an Ultra HD 4K facilities upgrade that relies on broadcast infrastructure products from Blackmagic Design, including the URSA Broadcast and ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K.

Based at Atlantic Studios in Cape Town, Homebrew Films delivers a huge variety of programming, from wildlife documentaries to soap operas and lifestyle magazine shows, including Tussen Ons', an Afrikaans version of The View' talk show, and local current affairs show Kwela'.

Homebrew's technical studio director, Chris Gardner, needed a studio system that could be assembled and configured quickly, and provide Homebrew a technical advantage over the market.

Although South African broadcasters are not yet accepting Ultra HD, it made sense to get ahead of the curve, so that we can meet their content needs now and in the future, Chris says. And the beauty of embracing 4K now meant that we could facilitate high-quality live streaming and event video, allowing us to diversify our production portfolio.

For live studio acquisition, Homebrew has implemented six URSA Broadcast equipped with Blackmagic Studio Viewfinders and Canon KJ20 x 8.2 BIRSE HD b4 optics. Two ATEM Camera Control Panels complete the chain and are used alongside the SmartView 4K and SmartScope Duo to rack and match the incoming feeds.

For talkback and tally, the workflow relies on the ATEM Talkback Converter 4K, which provides program return, comms and control back to all of the camera positions via 3G SDI.

The balance of flexibility and great image quality from the URSA Broadcast chains works perfectly for the varied portfolio of work we undertake, explains Chris. Working as extensively as we do with light, bright color palettes, both skin tone reproduction, and color accuracy was essential, especially during a live broadcast.

12G-SDI cable runs carry video with embedded audio from the studio floor to a Smart Videohub 40x40 in the broadcast gallery where each ISO camera feed is recorded to SSD using dedicated HyperDeck Studio 12G. The broadcast decks are also used for VT playback.

All of this is fees into the central production desk where an ATEM 4 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K with ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel is used to produce the live program mix.

Transitioning between traditional broadcast and live streaming workflows couldn't be simpler thanks to Blackmagic Design. Simply take a program feed from the ATEM via an AUX out through the Blackmagic Web Presenter in a computer and then stream using OBS.

We've been incredibly impressed, not only by this flexibility but also the ease of design and installation, concludes Chris. To put it in perspective, it took two of us just four weeks to design, wire, install and deploy the system, and that includes building custom elements and racks.

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About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world's highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design's DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company's Emmy award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

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