
On 8 April, Blackmagic Design announced HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR a new innovative broadcast deck with advanced H.265 8K recording combined with touch screen user interface and traditional broadcast deck controls. HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR will be available in June 2019 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
The new HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR features the trusted reliability of HyperDeck combined with new innovations such as space saving H.265 files, optional internal cache, 3D LUTs, native 8K and HDR support. With the ability to record native 8K in H.265, customers get reduced storage costs and amazing image quality. The large touch screen ensures a perfect view of their recording as well as control over all deck settings. Customers can then add HyperDeck Extreme Control to transform it into a traditional broadcast deck. This means HyperDeck Extreme is the perfect solution for the next generation of broadcast, live production and digital signage.
HyperDeck Extreme has an innovative touch screen user interface with deck controls as well as a large screen to view their recording. Then add a HyperDeck Extreme Control for traditional broadcast deck controls and a large shuttle knob that feels incredibly luxurious to use. Customers can even rack mount the HyperDeck and the controller. HyperDeck Extreme also includes 2 media slots, Quad 12G-SDI for 8K, analogue connections for archiving, USB-C external disk recording, plus a front panel speaker and headphone jack. There’s also an optional cache that eliminates dropped frames if their media becomes full or is too slow. Both AC and DC power connections are also included for studio or on location use.
With its amazing versatility, HyperDeck Extreme is also great for live production as a master recorder, clip player and for recording ISO cameras. The analogue inputs allow customers to record from old video tapes, so legacy programming can be used on the latest streaming services or for use in editing. Digital signage in 8K is easy with HyperDeck Extreme as it has 10G Ethernet for fast media uploads, plus it features a simple remote control protocol. Customers can even use it as a field recorder as it includes HDMI, SDI and analogue inputs with built in scopes and 3D LUTs. The scopes also help customers QA masters to ensure compliance with broadcast standards before streaming and broadcast.
HyperDeck Extreme Control lets customers connect to legacy broadcast decks, set an in and an out point, then edit. Just add HyperDeck Extreme 8K and HyperDeck Extreme Control to each legacy deck to keep them all archiving constantly with just one operator. It’s even possible to edit across formats by using Teranex Express to convert tapes from SD to HD in one step. Customers can control a wide range of decks, including Digital Betacam, 1 inch C format, and Betacam SP.
The latest Quad Link 12G-SDI is included so it’s possible to record and playback in full resolution 8K for amazing quality. The SDI connections are multi-rate, so customers can use Quad Link 12G-SDI to get compatibility with other 8K products, or switch to SD, HD or Ultra HD using the single link 12G-SDI connection. To allow regular CFast cards to be recorded at high resolution 8K, HyperDeck Extreme uses modern H.265 files for 8K recording and playback. This means HyperDeck Extreme 8K is perfect for connecting to the latest 8K televisions and projectors.
The innovative touch LCD user interface provides incredible control. On screen, there are dedicated buttons for play, stop and record, plus a mini timeline for scrolling through their recordings. Customers can even image swipe to jog. The LCD includes a heads up display of timecode, video standard, media status as well as audio meters. Scopes can be enabled via the touch screen as well as focus and exposure assist. There’s also an extensive range of settings all controlled from the large LCD. Plus customers can load and save 3D LUTs. Customers also get direct buttons for transport control, enabling the 3D LUT and remote enable.
HyperDeck Extreme Control extends their HyperDeck Extreme to add traditional broadcast deck controls. It works like a traditional broadcast deck with a familiar layout. Customers can control up to 8 decks via industry standard RS-422 control. Customers can even rack mount to the HyperDeck Extreme to create a single “broadcast deck” unit. Because it uses standard RS-422, customers can control old broadcast decks and perform edits using set in and out points. That’s perfect for archiving work. Plus customers can even edit between frame rates if standards converting between formats.
HyperDeck Extreme features full internal waveform monitoring so customers can ensure compliance to broadcast standards when used on high end work. The waveform display provides a traditional luminance (brightness) levels view of their input or playback signal. The vectorscope display allows customers to see the intensity of colour at 100% SDI reference levels. Customers also get RGB and YUV parade displays which are ideal for colour correction and checking for illegal levels. Histogram shows the distribution of white to black detail in their images and highlights or shadows clipping. The built in scopes can be overlaid on live video, or as a small picture in picture view at the top right of the scope.
The SDI and HDMI connections are multi-rate, so handle SD, HD, Ultra HD and 8K. SD formats include NTSC and PAL. 720p HD standards include 720p50 and 59.94p. 1080i HD interlaced formats include 1080i50 and 59.94. 1080p HD formats include 1080p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60p. Customers can even do 1080 PsF formats. Ultra HD is supported up to 2160p59.94. 2K and 4K DCI rates are available up to 25p. 8K standards are included at 4320p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94 and 60p.
8K has 4 times as many pixels as Ultra HD so HyperDeck Extreme 8K uses H.265 files for 8K recording to reduce costs and make working with 8K files easy. H.265 files are extremely small and range from 60:1 to 285:1 compression ratios which means much lower file sizes. Customers can use H.265 for all 8K, Ultra HD or progressive HD formats. HyperDeck Extreme 8K even supports ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 LT for recording and playback plus ProRes 4444 for playback to fill and key out.
HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR includes professional audio for modern broadcasters or archiving from older broadcast decks. When working in SDI formats, customers can record 2, 4, 8 or 16 channels of audio in real time. For capturing legacy programming there are 4 XLR analogue audio inputs that let customers record all 4 channels from Betacam SP decks. Customers can monitor using 4 on screen audio meters with user selectable VU or PPM ballistics. For consumer devices such as VHS, DVD and set top boxes, there are also direct HiFi audio inputs. HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR might be the latest in 8K technology, however the analogue connections have also been designed to low noise and low distortion broadcast specifications.
Multiple languages are fully supported so customers don’t need to learn another language to use it. Support is included for English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish.
With 10G ethernet, HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR is perfect for digital signage because remote uploads are extremely fast. All models use an easy text based protocol plus customers can use Telnet to test control commands. To upload media files remotely, customers can use FTP, or even use simple FTP client software. When the ethernet protocol and FTP is used with large USB-C disk arrays, HyperDeck Extreme becomes a great broadcast server for ingest, media management and playout.
There’s a wide range of Blackmagic Design products customers can use with HyperDeck Extreme, including the HyperDeck Extreme Control for adding traditional broadcast deck controls. Plus it uses the industry standard RS-422 deck control protocol so it works with any broadcast deck. It’s possible to add the new Blackmagic MultiDock 10G to use regular SSDs for compatibility with media from other HyperDeck models. HyperDeck Extreme 8K is also a perfect mastering recorder with the new ATEM Constellation 8K, or for clip playback and ISO reordering. For monitoring, the Teranex SDI to HDMI 8K allows broadcast monitoring on a television and it also has monitor calibration, 3D LUTs and on screen scopes.
The files from HyperDeck Extreme 8K are common they are compatible with all operating systems or in most video software. Media can be formatted using ExFAT or HFS+ so customers can easily access the media on computers and access the files like regular disks. DaVinci Resolve is perfect for use with HyperDeck because it features editing, colour correction, audio post production and visual effects all in one software application.
“We think the new HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR will offer customers a whole new generation of technology while enabling a new wave of 8K production,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Even if customers don’t need 8K, we think this new HyperDeck has so many features, it will become the centerpiece of live production, digital signage and broadcast!”