Realizing 4K HDR in Asia with Infinity Multimedia
It’s the 20th anniversary for Taiwanese renowned band, Mayday, with Infinity Multimedia Production being engaged to record and produce the band’s Kaohsiung concert. Together with Sony Professional Solutions Taiwan, Infinity has created another milestone for the concert scene in Taiwan – the first in Taiwan to produce a concert in 4K HDR with a total of 20 units of Sony 4K/HDR cameras deployed.
Established in 1986, Infinity has over 30 years of media expertise and provides the latest offering to the Taiwan broadcasting and content creation market. Striving to constantly improve by acquiring the latest technical knowledge and equipment, Infinity aims to satisfy the growing and ever-changing demands of the industry.
“It is a challenging landscape for us but we constantly push our limits and work with partners to ensure that we are at the forefront of development. At the moment, we see the lack of adoption of 4K in the Taiwan market and it is difficult to expand the market,” said Lin Jiawei, Vice President, Infinity Multimedia Production. “Nonetheless, we are glad that we have customers who understand the true value and the possibilities 4K HDR can bring to viewers.”
Apart from product quality, reliability, stability and a great reputation with a huge following worldwide, another major factor that Infinity considered when selecting Sony products and solutions for this groundbreaking concert, was Sony’s position as a thought leader in the development of 4K and HDR technology.
The focus of the project was to record the entire Mayday concert at Kaohsiung in the highest picture quality possible – 4K HDR – so that the footage could be used for future plans, such as a feature film. Infinity was mindful of the contrasting lighting used at the live concert and the issue of overexposure. After careful consideration, they decided to film the concert with Sony’s equipment, utilizing S-Log3 and HDR XAVC format to achieve the highest picture quality possible.
“We realize the potential that HDR brings and our customer was also keen for another breakthrough in live concert production. With Sony’s S-Log3, it helps bring out images in HDR beautifully. Not only it improves the recording clip quality, the format also allows our post-production unit to reproduce a better video.” To support this project that fulfills 20 channels of 4K/HDR recording, Infinity had deployed a number of Sony equipment. They include 9 units of the HDC-4300 4K/HD system camera, 8 units of the PMW-F55 Super 35mm 4K CMOS sensor compact CineAlta camera, 1 unit of the HDC-P43 4K/HD point-of-view camera, 2 units of the PXW-FS7 4K Super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor XDCAM camera and the award-winning BVM-X300 4K TRIMASTER EL™ OLED critical reference monitor.
Apart from the equipment line-up, at the heart of the production was Sony’s SR Live for HDR workflow. It equips the team with the ability to achieve images where reality and details are priorities alongside more control and increased freedom during capture. Capable of converting into numerous broadcasts and delivery formats in real-time, the straightforward and efficient workflow delivers 4K HDR and HD SDR simultaneously with HD-based production system. This is extremely important to Infinity as they need to broadcast live in SDR while ensuring the HDR format is available for post-production.
To ensure the success of this first 4K HDR live production in Taiwan, Sony Professional Solutions Taiwan put together the finest – expertise, trainings and on-site assistance – to support Infinity throughout the process. “We are very honoured to have Sony specialists from Japan HQ and Hong Kong alongside the Taiwan team to assist us personally. Without their expertise and knowledge sharing, we would not have achieved the best with this project, creating a milestone in Taiwan’s live production history.”
Responsible for numerous broadcasts and live productions, Infinity truly understands that the key to success is having an efficient workflow and reliable equipment that produces the best image quality. “In a live environment, we cannot afford mistakes. To us, Sony is the epitome of reliability and never fails to deliver groundbreaking innovation to the industry. Together with my crew at Infinity, we look forward to more collaboration and surprises from Sony in the near future.”