BFV's Big Interview: JVC Professional

JVC Professional is a leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality video and data products. Aimed at professional users, the company provides its customers with products and solutions, enabling them to retain and enhance their competitiveness in their given industries. This month, John Kelly, General Manager, JVC Professional, answers our questions...

BFV: I know it is very early 2017, but how does the year appear to be shaping up for the company?
JK: From a general economic standpoint, it varies greatly by region; from our London office we deal with all of Middle East and Africa, as well as UK and Ireland. So there is a rather wide range of circumstances across the region, ranging from currency, political and economic factors. From a more specific point of view, with regard to the production and broadcast markets, we see these as basically stable at the moment across the region, with a number of projects ongoing and anticipated. From a technology aspect, the ongoing trend towards IP production is one which will continue in 2017, and as a leader in IP-based acquisition technology, we continue to see a strong demand for IP solutions.

At IBC last year, JVC made a number of key announcements, such the launch of several new monitor ranges and the JVC VIDEOCLOUD. Can you tell us more about the platform, its uses, and how has the response been since its introduction?
JVC VIDEOCLOUD is a very interesting and important development for the company, as it moves away from a traditional hardware sale that has been the fundamental basis of our business for many years, and towards a model which is recurring-revenue services based. In addition, the JVC VIDEOCLOUD is aimed at a very wide demographic who have a requirement to host, manage and distribute content, and therefore one which is not simply acquisition/production orientated. This includes corporate, institutional, educational and independent production, and many of these types of customers we would not have necessarily dealt with in the past. One of the challenges therefore for us is to reach out and identify those target customers for whom JVC VIDEOCLOUD is a potential solution, so we are looking a new ways to try to engage with this audience. The response to those customers already using the platform has been very positive, one of the main benefits being that, unlike some other public hosting platforms, with JVC VIDEOCLOUD, the rights to the content is 100% retained by the user. Therefore the potential to maintain control of your media assets is inherent when using JVC VIDEOCLOUD, and this gives the assurance of maintaining control of valuable assets.

As the demand for IP connectivity continues to grow, and network infrastructure increases in capacity, how does this influence or shape upcoming product developments? For example, the GY-HM660E camcorder has IP capability; is this functionality becoming a more popular requirement among your customer base?
The trend towards IP acquisition and delivery has been growing for some time now, and we see an increasing understanding of the use and benefits of IP delivery in our customer base. It is clear that the roadmap from 4G to 5G and beyond mobile data services means that in the future, IP will form the backbone of broadcast infrastructures, and therefore it is important that customers engage with the technology now to understand the potential benefits. Looking towards product development, IP technology is currently built in to nearly all of our current camera range; we consider it core functionality of a professional camera and this will continue through to future products. It is likely that in future we will also see IP technology embedded into an even wider range of products in the future, as demand grows.

Are there any key trends you believe the industry should watch for closely this year?
In addition to IP connectivity, HDR is one of the key trends in the industry at present. It is now quite well understood that HDR offers a genuine benefit to the viewer, and unlike 3D, for example, there are fewer practical implications for viewing at home. We continue to study and evaluate HDR technology and its benefits, and one of JVC's recent product introductions in this regard is the DLA-Z1 projector. This is a 4K native projector with HDR capability, and is very well suited to colour grading and post-production applications. JVC has a long history in supplying projection technology into the area of colour grading, and the DLA-Z1 projector is likely to continue that history. The performance of the Z1 stems from JVC's own D-ILA projection technology, which offers very high contrast ratio and highly accurate colorimetry. Therefore the combination of native 4K resolution, HDR capability, high contrast and accurate colorimetry meet all of the key requirements for post-production and colour grading environments.

What should visitors expect to see from JVC at BVE 2017?
We will be showcasing all of our key products on the booth at BVE this year. This includes our full camera range, including the recently-launched GY-HM620E and GY-HM660E ENG camcorders, which offer class-leading sensitivity and multiple codec support. Also from an acquisition point of view we will be showing our 4K camcorder range, including the GY-HM170E, GY-HM200E, and GY-LS300, which has recently benefitted for an upgrade to 120 frames/ second recording in HD mode.
Also showing for the first time is JVC's latest range of production monitors, the DT-V G2 series. There are four new models in production sizes 17”-24”, and within this range is included models with 10 bit IPS panel technology. JVC has always been a leader in cost-effective, high quality production monitors, and we are confident the new DT-V G2 series will continue this trend.
Also on display will be JVC's new KY-PZ100 PTZ camera; this is JVC's first PTZ camera, and addresses what is a growing market for robotic solutions. The KY-PZ100 is unique in its IP connectivity, offering high quality live streaming, remote camera control and FTP file transfer. This is coupled with a mechanical design which offers near-silent and highly reliable pan-tilt operation, and a PTZ controller, the RM-LP100, which offers simple-to-operate touchpanel control.

With the addition of the Streamstar IP-based live production switcher, and JVC VIDEOCLOUD, we have a full range of production solutions on the booth, from acquisition through live production to content management and delivery.

www.jvcpro.co.uk

This article is also available to read at BFV online here, page 5.

(JP/LM)