By site editor Dan Chung:
Our good friends and sponsors at Teradek have unveiled their new offerings for NAB 2014. To broadcast news shooters, the most attractive will be the three new transmitters and three new receivers in the Bolt family for live wireless video. These send an uncompressed, 10bit 4:2:2 signal over the unlicensed 5GHz band from your camera to the receiver unit. In a news situation this can give you up to a 2000ft line-of-sight range from your Sat truck or fixed line internet connection for a breaking news story, or back to your video village during a live event, depending on the model.
The Bolt Pro 300 TX has both HDMI and 3G-SDI inputs but uses internal antennae that cannot be augmented with higher gain ones. I see this as being well suited to Steadicam and brushless gimbal work on set.
The Bolt Pro 600 TX steps it up with a new RF design that extends the transmission range to 600ft line of sight. You can add higher gain antennae and these should give a stronger link over long distances. Like the 300 TX it also has HDMI and 3G-SDI inputs.
The top end Bolt Pro 2000 TX has an amazing 2000ft line of sight range. It can also handle HDMI and HD-SDI and antennae can be augmented for increased range and resiliency. This unit is the one I would choose for high end broadcast applications.
The new matching receivers also offer HDMI and 3G-SDI connections. The Bolt Pro 300 RX has a fanless design, internal antenna and a LEMO power connector.
Step up to the Bolt Pro 600 RX or 2000RX receivers and you gain a LCD screen to aid pairing and check status. It is also half the size of Teradek’s previous long range receiver.
Bolt Pro 2000: Long Range & Reconnect Testing from Teradek on Vimeo.
Perhaps the most innovative product from Teradek this NAB is the new GRAB video engine. This is optional on the 600RX and 2000RX receivers and essentially turns the Bolt Pro into a wireless capture card. The signal can simultaneously output to 3G-SDI and USB 3.0 outputs – allowing for live monitoring and simultaneous ingest to a NLE or live production switcher.
When GRAB is connected to a PC or MAC it appears as a built-in video source that can be seen by just about all pro video apps and software. Imagine shooting an event and having an editor immediately editing the material as it comes in wirelessly.
Newsshooter will be live at NAB from the Teradek booth from 11am to 12am PST and again from 3pm to 5pm this coming Monday, then again at different times through the week. Check out the live stream here or on the Teradek website.
