MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is bringing native SMPTE ST 2110 connectivity to MultiDyne’s fiber camera platform, providing a direct path for integrating digital cinema cameras into modern IP production environments. Introducing the SilverBack-IP, the newest member of its SilverBack Seriesof fiber camera adapters, which help content producers bring the cinematic quality of digital cinema cameras into live multi-camera production.
“SilverBack-IP represents the natural evolution of our fiber camera adapter platform as the industry moves from SDI toward ST 2110,” said Jesse Foster, director of strategic accounts and products, MultiDyne. “Our customers want to continue using the cinema cameras and production workflows they know, but they increasingly need those cameras to live natively within an IP infrastructure. SilverBack-IP essentially becomes a camera-centric ST 2110 edge device, giving the camera and operator everything they need while bringing video, audio and data directly on and off of the network.”
The lightweight, vendor-agnostic adapters convert digital cinema cameras for SMPTE studio-camera workflows and have been deployed across live sports, concerts, television productions, houses of worship, and other professional production environments. Purpose-built for the industry’s transition from SDI, SilverBack-IP retains the series’s mobility, camera flexibility, and familiar operational benefits while moving the transport layer to IP. The new design enables production teams to connect their preferred cinema cameras directly to SMPTE ST 2110 networks while maintaining the camera-centric workflows that have made SilverBack a fixture in live cinematic production.
SilverBack-IP features dual 25GbE network interfaces and supports SMPTE ST 2022-7 hitless protection across the two fibers within SMPTE hybrid cable, providing redundant network paths for demanding live production environments. Two 12G-SDI and two 3G-SDI connections accommodate a broad range of HD and UHD workflows, with video, audio, intercom, and data encapsulated and de-encapsulated as standardized IP streams.
The IP architecture removes many of the point-to-point limitations associated with traditional camera chains. Rather than requiring signals such as intercom, timing and video to be discretely connected and distributed through dedicated hardware, SilverBack-IP makes those signals available within the ST 2110 network infrastructure. Integrated intercom, for example, can operate as an ST 2110-30 audio essence flow, allowing production teams to source and associate intercom audio through the network instead of a dedicated point-to-point connection.
SilverBack-IP also introduces a studio camera-style physical design that puts controls, menu access and system status directly in front of the camera operator. Full-size professional connectors complement the operator-centric interface, marking a departure from the traditional ENG-style cameraback configuration of earlier SilverBack systems. The result is a familiar studio-camera experience while retaining the flexibility of adapting a digital cinema camera for live production.
“IP changes the equation because connectivity is no longer bound to a dedicated camera chain,” added Frank Jachetta, CEO, MultiDyne. “Signals become network resources that can be associated and distributed wherever they are needed. SilverBack-IP gives broadcasters that flexibility at the camera edge without asking operators to give up the workflows and ergonomics they already understand.”
