Bedford, England (June 27, 2019) – Polecam, the world leader in lightweight carbon-fiber platforms and remote systems for the broadcast and live event markets, is pleased to announce the appointment of “Manios Digital & Film” as the brand’s exclusive US distributor. This marks Polecam’s official expansion into the US market, following strong sales across the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.

“We are excited to work with the Manios Digital team as we expand sales into the US market. As a well-established and respected company in the region, we are confident that Steve and his team have the knowledge and skill to deliver our hero product, the new AutoPod (v2), into a variety of different markets,” explained Steffan Hewitt, Managing Director Polecam.

The Polecam AutoPod (v2) is a remotely operated camera elevation platform, featuring a low-profile for unobtrusive camera shots at close range. Budget-friendly and perfect for mounting single or multiple PTZ camera systems, the AutoPod (v2) has been used by venues around the world for notable performances, including Adele, and Josh Groban. Extremely versatile, the AutoPod (v2) has also been used by Finnish broadcaster YLE, reality show ‘Big Brother’ and EA Sports producers.

“The AutoPod (v2) is an innovative product that can be used in a variety of applications for broadcast studios, live events, and even reality television. We are excited to work with Polecam and begin offering this new and very unique product to dealers and broadcast integrators across the United States,” said Steve Manios, President of Manios Digital & Film.

For product video “in action” and more information: http://www.polecam.com/autopod and for more information on Manios Digital, or to schedule a product demo of the Polecam AutoPod (v2), please contact chris@maniosdigital.com or call 1 (818) 760-8290.

Polecam is Designed to Perform, Engineered to Perfection

##

About Polecam:

Polecam Limited was founded in 1998 by Steffan Hewitt, BSc(hons) Metallurgy & Material Science. Polecam is the recognized world leader in lightweight carbon fiber based camera platforms and remote systems for use in the broadcast, film, tv, industrial and medical sectors. Continuing to successfully design and manufacture unique systems from its headquarters based in the United Kingdom and is supported by an extensive network of global partners providing local sales, service, and support.

About Manios Digital & Film:

Manios Digital & Film is a leading source for premium-quality tools used in broadcast production, digital cinematography and by independent camera operators. With a tradition of excellence, the company acts as a bridge between manufacturers of world-class imaging products and professionals who depend on them.

Founded in 1992 by Steve Manios, Jr., Manios Digital provides cinematographers, camera operators, and photographers with the very best production tools backed by informed technical advice and timely support. More than 25 years later, quality, experience, and service remain the company’s core values. Manios provide demonstration equipment, technical support, and advice – with the added benefit of in-house engineering service, support, and repair. Manios Digital is the exclusive US distributor for Cartoni Camera Supports, Hawk-Woods power solutions, and Kinotehnik LED lights.

Fremont, CA - November 28, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Living As One, LLC, a global leader in multisite and live streaming solutions for houses of worship and corporations, has developed their popular Multisite Platform around the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K. The products provide high quality capture and playback for Living As One’s flagship turnkey streaming solution designed to reliably live stream UltraHD video content to remote locations and to the web.

Texas based Living As One, LLC is focused on improving communications within and between geographically broad organizations. The company was founded in 2014 to fill a void in the professional video market for a highly resilient live streaming solution and now serves a growing number of multi location non profit and for profit organizations around the world.

“The Living As One Multisite Platform delivers reliable, high quality video with zero loss to remote locations, and one of the ways that we make sure that happens is with the DeckLinks,” said Paul Martel, CEO of Living As One. “Our Encoders and Decoders ensure that 100% of video content is successfully transmitted throughout the entire streaming path, from the broadcast location, to our cloud transcoder, to any location in the world, even in the case of a complete internet outage. The DeckLinks have been reliable and affordable, allowing high quality capture and playout of professional video signals in a compact system.”

The Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K provides realtime video capture for the Multisite Encoder, while the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K is used for live/DVR playback with the Multisite Decoder. With this system, Living As One is able to provide flawless streaming of one UltraHD broadcast or two 1080p60 feeds with guaranteed synchronization at playback sites.

Multisite Encoders, available in Single Channel and Dual Channel models, capture professional audio and video through HDMI and SDI and use either h.264 or h.265 (HEVC) codecs to efficiently compress one or two channels of video and up to 16 channels of perfectly synchronized audio. Feeds are then live streamed to the Living As One content delivery network, with the encoders automatically resending content that may be lost during transmission through a patented method, regardless of the duration of any network interruption.

The Multisite Decoder, which is designed with volunteer operators in mind, includes a simple to use video player that runs on dedicated hardware and allows playback and pausing of live video. Regardless of whether the video is playing or paused, Multisite Decoder’s advanced algorithms will continue to buffer live video ahead of time to a local SSD to prevent interruptions in playback. Living As One used the DeckLink SDK along with the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K to create the Decoder application providing these zero content loss playback capabilities.

One of the features most useful to Living As One is the DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K and Mini Monitor 4Ks ability to support 16 channels of audio and any standard video format.

“By providing 16 channels of audio, the remote viewing experience can be way more immersive because audio from any element of an event can be streamed and played in remote locations in whatever way works for those venues. For example, Crossroads Church in Cincinnati Ohio broadcasts their band’s instruments and click track on individual audio channels so that the band’s at their remote campus can sync and play together. Other churches send audio from audience microphones to give an ‘in the room’ experience to viewer’s at remote venues. And some like the Global Leadership Summit send audio from multiple real time language translations which can be distributed locally at the remote venues with RF headsets or even a phone app. We were able to build these capabilities into our platform through the DeckLink’s easy to use SDK, which is another huge advantage from using Blackmagic Design,” Martel said.

“The Multisite Platform allows our church customers in particular to connect and share their messages across the globe, and the ease of use and reliability that the DeckLinks give us makes that possible,” he continued. “With the introduction of the DeckLink product line Blackmagic removed the price barrier for developers to obtain high quality video capture and playout devices, and that allowed us at Living As One to focus on creating our resilient streaming platform. In effect, Blackmagic Design has helped us change the way organizations around the globe broadcast.”

About DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K

DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K and DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K both models support all SD, HD and Ultra HD formats up to 2160p30. They are low profile 4 lane generation 2 PCI Express cards that include 6G-SDI and HDMI 2.0a connections. This means the high quality connections support broadcast quality 10-bit YUV and 12-bit RGB video, along with the latest Rec. 2020 color and support for high dynamic range (HDR) formats and HDR metadata. Both DeckLink Mini 4K models are fully compatible with the Blackmagic Desktop Video SDK, making them perfect for OEMs or developers that are building custom playback or recording solutions.

For more information about Living As One, please visit https://livingasone.com/.

Press Photography

Product photos of DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K, DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

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

PHILADELPHIA—Pope Francis’ historic visit to the U.S. is making non-stop headlines. Much of the population has been captivated by his genial personality and thoughtful message, but some are working behind the scenes to ensure that television coverage captures the important moments of this tour.

One of the companies charged with making sure we get to see the Pope is RGB Broadcast Video Services in Philadelphia, which was responsible for installing a complex camera system in that city’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Broadcast Engineering Extra had a chance to talk to Joe Pagano, CEO and chief engineer of RGB Broadcast, to better understand how a company assembles a television system fit for a Pope.

Joe Pagano, CEO of RGB Broadcast, adjusts a Panasonic AW-HE130 camera in the Basilica. (All photos by KYW-TV photographer Joe Garvin)

BE Extra: What sort of work does RGB Broadcast do? What are a couple other large projects that you’ve done?

Pagano: We’re a broadcast equipment repair center and installation company. We even do work on helicopters. We’ve been involved with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for more than 15 years, doing video engineering and planning special projects. We moved Merck Pharmaceuticals video systems from one building to another and we also do frequent work for US Helicopters, which outfits choppers for broadcasters.

BE Extra: How did you get the contract to install the systems in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul?

Pagano: Our longstanding commitment here gave the Archdiocese confidence in our abilities, so they came straight to us. An unnamed donor actually gave the funds for the project, and that made it possible for us to do the work.

BE Extra: How long did it take to get the job installed and functioning? What were a couple of the tricky or unexpected things that you had to deal with?

Monitors were installed throughout the sanctuary to provide views of the altar.

Pagano: About three months, because of the age of the building. Working in a 200-year old building, the cable paths were all old brick and mortar. It took my 30 years’ of experience to figure out ways to install and cable the gear. Core drilling, running cables behind trim – lots of tricky things to do on this project without disturbing the aesthetics of the building.

BE Extra: What are a couple of the important equipment items that you installed? Why did you decide on those items?

Pagano: We decided to go with Panasonic broadcast-grade cameras because they fit the budget and far exceeded the necessary specs. We used six AW-HE130 cameras, which are HD-SDI, and we also had AW-HE870 cameras on pan/tilt heads with 20x Fujinon lenses. Pretty much everything is wired up for HD-SDI in 1080i format. The HE130 cameras have built-in 20x zoom lenses, which are good. The Fujinon 20x lenses on the HE870 cameras are a little brighter.

RGB Broadcast fabricated a full master control in the upper sanctuary of the Basilica. The switcher is a NewTek 800 series, with Blackmagic Design 20 x 20 routers. Monitoring goes through a Blackmagic 16-input multiviewer. This gear fit the budget and provides excellent video.

Two Panasonic AW-HE870 cameras with 20x Fujinon lenses were installed on pan/tilt heads to capture the coverage in 1080i HD.

We used Belden 1794A cable throughout the system. It fit the budget and provides great signal characteristics. We used about 2,500 feet of 1794A on the project, and we also used Belden HD connectors. We evaluated the cable and connectors in advance of the project and determined it was the right product for us.

BE Extra: Audio can be particularly difficult in big cathedrals. How are you acquiring and handling the audio?

Pagano: Audio in master control goes through a Soundcraft audio board, which is fed from the house sound system. House sound has independent feeds from the altar, choir locations and elsewhere throughout the Basilica. There are probably 23 mic sources that feed the Soundcraft board.

BE Extra: How does the signal get out of the Basilica?

Pagano: It leaves from the rear of the building at an interface panel for truck connection. There are program feeds, tie lines, clean feeds from individual cameras, intercom feeds and other sources. We will feed two trucks for sure, and have capacity for six more.

BE Extra: What happens to all the gear once the Pope leaves? How long do you expect teardown to take?

Master Control for the project uses a NewTek switcher, Soundcraft mixer, and Blackmagic Design routers and camera monitors.

Pagano: All the gear is permanent. It was done specifically for the Pope’s visit, but it upgrades an existing SD system that RGB Broadcast installed 12 years ago. This new gear replaces all that old gear. The Basilica documents and archives special funerals, ordinations and other events, some of which are televised. That’s why they wanted the upgrade.

BE Extra: Do you have any important takeaways from this project? Did you learn anything new?

Pagano: After 30 years in the business, you always learn something new. On this project, you can always teach an old dog new tricks. In this case, there were new things about the HD cameras and cabling that impressed me. Just keeping an open mind is part of a successful installation.