Is The Panasonic AW-UE100 PTZ the ideal 4K/60p live streaming camera?

Panasonic recently showed off the brand new AW-UE100 PTZ Camera. What makes this camera special? It's the first 4Kp60 PTZ Camera to use NDI|HX and SRT! 

What is SRT? Check out this webinar we did on the subject right here!

The AW-UE100 also features a new motor for smoother panning and tilting. In other words, it'd be great for live remote productions. 

Here are some specs on the AW-UE100.

• 1/2.5-type 4K MOS sensor
• UHD 4Kp60 video
• 12G-SDI
• 3G-SDI
• HDMI
• IP

"It is a 4K 60p camera with direct drive so it can play in all verticals our current 4K and HD cameras perform in. It's our first PTZ camera within the Panasonic lineup that has High Bandwidth NDI, Direct Drive, as well as 4K at 60p for SRT." - Hamid James (Product Manager - Panasonic).

Direct Drive

Direct Drive means there aren't as many gear in the camera itself. Thus there is more direct access between the camera head and its motor. The result is much quieter movement and a quicker response time. We can see this type of camera exploding the the sports industry which usually need that quickness to capture events. 

Where does it fit with other Panasonic Cameras?

Panasonic says the UE-100 will fit between their AW-UE150 and their AW-HE1030. Panasonic has always considered the UE150 to be their top-of-the-line product. 

To compare the UE150 to the UE100: 

UE150:

• 75.1 degree FOV
• Supports V-Log for HDR
• Full NDI

UE100:

• 74.1 degree FOV
• Does not support V-Log
• NDI|HX

The fact the UE100 supports 4Kp60 with NDI|HX (high efficiency) is super exciting because it means less bandwidth is needed and smaller latency. 

Pansonic is looking to push the poundries of not just their PTZ lineup, but PTZ cameras in general. While the UE150 is a broadcast level cameras, the UE100 is designed from the get go to be an intermediate solution for those looking to push their live production further. They predict the UE100 will push the boundaries if streaming it supports NDI, RTMP, RTMPS, and SRT. 

AR & VR Applications

Hamid James said, "Free-D is a standard protocol that outputs positioning data via the PTZ camera. What that means is that the PTZ camera can output pan, tilt, zoom, focus and iris data over either Ethernet, or serial communication in sync with genlock input. This data is ingested into a VR engine similar like Unreal gaming engine or similar solutions. Once you have talent within your VR environment, and you’ve created AR assets around this talent, the Free-D position information from your PTZ camera can position the assets correctly around the talent in the VR environment."

That's all quite common in news and sports broadcasts. This is stuff like live updates. Think election night with live updates of voting numbers and such. That's a case of AR and VR being used. 

Panasonic is looking to make their Free-D AR or VR application easy for the every man. The hopes is to no longer need specialists so any place like a  House of Worship can implement these tools. This is a plugin that's free for the UE100. 

Expect the UE100 to arrive in August 2020! 

Learn more about Panasonic here!

Read the original article here!

Check out the Videoguys webinar on Panasonic Pro PTZ Cameras!