MGI to Represent Hybrid in Gulf Region

MONTROUGE, FRANCE—Media Group International will now sell and support Hybrid’s virtual studio and robotic camera products in the region, according to a dealership agreement the two groups recently signed.

MGI will support and sell Hybrid’s flagship Krypton 3D tracking virtual studio solution, the Neon trackless virtual set, the Chrome broadcast robotic jib and Hybrid’s line of robotic camera systems.

“Hybrid’s line of robotics and virtual sets are very innovative and fit perfectly into our current lineup,” said Paul Wallis, sales director, UAE, MGI. “We’re looking forward to learning as much as we can about the technology in order to share this knowledge with our current and prospective customers throughout the Middle East. In particular, we’re very excited to showcase the virtual studio in a box [Neon] system, as this solution can potentially be very cost effective, while enabling our clients to produce live shows with dynamic virtual sets.”

The Neon trackless virtual studio solution is a user-friendly system that simply requires software running on a PC. Neon supports up to five live HD/SD camera inputs and can be controlled via Hybrid’s Ozone software controller or through BPI I/O production switchers, such as Broadcast Pix, Sony or Grass Valley production switchers.

Rather than camera tracking and calibration technology, the Neon 3D virtual studio solution enables virtual camera movements in real-time from fixed cameras on set. The 3D virtual scenes are photo-realistic and anti-aliased. Users can either use Neon’s set design tools or import virtual sets created using 3D Max, Maya, Softimage or other modeling software.

Within the past year, MGI has entered into several notable partnerships to help diversify its business. MGI recently signed a deal with HoloVis International, as well as recent agreements with VidiGo, Visual Unity and never.no.