Bluebell Opticom Launches BCX-760 Series

Bluebell Opticom has revealed its BCX-760 Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) point-to-point fibre link. This camera-back interface enables connection and signal transport between a camera and an OB truck or base station.

The BCX-760 interface maps all signals presented at the back of any broadcast camera onto a 10GbE point-to-point link, ensuring safe, interference-immune, high-quality transport over longer distances than before.

The BCX range will transport digital 3G-SDI program video and return video as well as composite feeds for genlock, analogue audio for intercom signals, and 10GbE for network access. A single fibre cable eases rigging, and customers can link multiple cameras over the same cable using Bluebell's muxing and wavelength-management systems.

The BCX-760 Series products are designed to create connections in a range of OB environments such as special-event venues, ENG sites, sports arenas, and golf courses. They can also serve as a replacement for heavy SMPTE hybrid connections on cameras in a studio setting, and in certain variations can be deployed to link and control remote robotic cameras.

The Series includes four basic products – a a camera-back unit, a throwdown box for the camera end, and a 19-inch, 1-RU base unit in both single-channel and dual-channel versions.

Paul Felix McCann, Managing Director, Bluebell Opticom, said: "This is not the industry's first camera-back interface, but it is the first to rely on 10 Gigabit Ethernet, which provides real-time uncompressed 3G-SDI with full control (RS232/422/485 and GigE) and genlock in both directions, from the camera and back to the camera. The BCX-760 is fully symmetrical and uses industry-standard, 10G Ethernet SFP modules — copper or fibre — so it reduces the cost. This is a brand-new approach to transporting front-end content for high-quality television. Remote production is the future, and the BCX-760 Series is yet another way Bluebell is contributing to the evolution of the industry."

A prototype of a BCX-760 system will be demonstrated at NAB 2016, booth N4322.

The BCX-760 range will be available in the third quarter of 2016.

Image: Bluebell BCX-760 Series.

www.bluebell.tv

(JP/LM)