回顾:Cerevo柔性无线点灯系统

The value of a 理货 system is one you appreciate after you've done a few scripted multi-camera events with camera operators and talent. 视频是录制的还是流媒体的, 让所有人都知道摄像机什么时候在工作, 看哪台相机, 等, is what a tally system does by shining a bright red light over the active camera.

理货

关于广播系统, tally is a communication from the video mixer to the camera control unit (CCU) down a dedicated cable to the camera itself. 相机上的灯, and any attached monitor or accessory enable everyone to know which camera is the one to look at (and which one not to walk in front of.)

Blackmagic Design has an innovative system that sends tally—and even communications—back to the camera on the same SDI cable the camera is using to send video to the video mixer. 再也没有专门的摄像机控制单元了. Blackmagic's “decentralized” system means you can run a software or hardware camera control panel if you want. 这是非常经济和灵活的.

但如果你不使用黑魔相机与黑魔混音器, 或者用别的系统, 也许有无线摄像头, 计数变得更有挑战性. 在NAB，我看到Cerevo正在展示该公司的电池驱动汽车, wireless Flex理货 system in their booth and I asked them to send a loaner for me to look at.

Flex理货

我之前评测过Cerevo的硬件——确切地说，是这家公司的 LiveWedge 4输入HDMI视频混频器 它也可以流或记录(但不能同时进行). 这是一个细长的小单元，表面控制最小, 但联网的安卓平板电脑可以提供更多功能, 更容易访问所有设置, 甚至还有一个音频混频器, 低于1美元,000.

他们的弹性(下面的图1) is a package of 4 "Lamps" and a "Station" unit you connect to your video mixer via Ethernet. 它与LiveWedge一起工作(当然), 但Cerevo表示，它也适用于其他视频混音器. The Cerevo website has instructions for networking the Flex理货 with Blackmagic and TriCaster mixers. TriCaster是我更感兴趣的东西, 因为我有一台TriCaster, 并将其用于无线NDI摄像头.

图1. Cerevo flextly

如何在无线摄像机上进行计数? NDI can carry a tally signal, but does the device on NDI have a way to actually show the tally? 在最近的一次拍摄中，我在我的四台有线摄像机上增加了两部手机. The cellphones were running the NDI app so they were available to me as cameras 5 and 6. But there was no way for the talent to know when I was on that little phone tucked into the corner of the room for a "behind the scenes" view of the production.

这就是无线计数系统真正派上用场的地方. 您可能不需要对每个输入都使用它. 一些摄像头可能有一个集成计数. 但你可以在需要的地方添加它. 这确实使它非常灵活.

硬件

弹性装卸站(下面的图2) is a small box with ethernet and power (USB 5v) ports and a series of lights across the top. I'm told that it operates around 433 MHz so it's not going to interfere with, 或被…干扰, 2 . WiFi或无线视频信号.4 GHz频段.

图2. Flex理货站

灯本身(下面的图3) have 6-12 hour internal batteries (depending on brightness) that charge with a micro USB connection. 顶部有两个扁平的按钮和一根薄薄的透明塑料条. Holding the bottom-left button down for a few seconds lights up the thin bar with a blue LED showing the device is powered up.

图3. 灯

灯下(下面的图4)有一系列非常小的dip开关, 使用二进制打开和关闭, allow you to designate the number of the camera you'd like a particular unit to light up. 如果你想要1，你把第一个推上去. 2表示第二个向上，第一个向下，3表示两个都向上，以此类推. Thankfully, Cerevo provides a hard, fine-tip pointer to help you adjust those little switches.

图4. 灯下的开关

灯顶部的另一个平按钮(下面的图5) is for adjusting the brightness of the red tally indicator (front and back) in four brightness settings. 在视频中, you can see the brightest of them you can see illuminate my face in a room with the lights on, 所以它很亮. 把它放在一个黑暗的工作室里，它肯定会脱颖而出.

图5. 平坦的, round button on the left powers the unit on; the button on the right is for adjusting tally indicator brightness.

如果您需要为它们长时间运行供电, 您可以提供5V USB电源的微型USB端口上的单位. There's also a wired connection that’s helpful if, for some reason, the wireless has issues.

最后, there's a set of silicone front covers which have a Figure 8 cut-out in the middle so you can remove pieces to provide a visible number for the camera. 当计数灯被点亮时，它更明显. 但即使它背后只有白色塑料, 它应该仍然有足够的对比度，工作得相当好.

然而, 我收到的硅胶片上没有多少唇印, so in testing they constantly just slid off the front of the tally lamp. 该系统设计用于处理16个理货灯, 硅胶里只有一个数字, 在第9题之后, 你运气不好. 最后, you can probably do just as well with a clear layer of packing tape and then a thick black magic marker writing the number of the tally.

With the Cerevo LiveWedge, the network connection worked beautifully (下面的图6). 你可以在视频中看到. The Flex理货 also has an RS-485 port for a GPIO wired connection to almost any video mixer that has hardwired tally support.

图6. 使用Cerevo LiveWedge

结论

If you're looking to add a third-party tally to an existing system, 只有几个选择. flextly是灵活的、可扩展的和无线的. For situations like mine where my TriCaster Mini lacks any physical tally port, 寻找一个可以在以太网上工作的解决方案, and then wireless to the tally lighs themselves is a good solution indeed. 能够运行16个理货灯, the Cerevo can easily handle the needs of most small-to-midsize productions.