Grass Valley Delivers Ultra Slow-Motion Technology to Broadcast Rental in the Netherlands

For ultimate camera flexibility and superior image quality like never before, the Netherlands-based rental house Broadcast Rental has purchased the LDX XtremeSpeed (LDX XS) 6X ultra slow-motion camera system, along with companion XCU XtremeSpeed XF Fiber base stations and camera adapters from Grass Valley, a Belden Brand. Broadcast Rental is a full-service rental house and expert in super and ultra slow-motion cameras. It supplies leading broadcast technologies to clients around the world.

Introduced at NAB 2014, the new LDX XS builds upon the success of Grass Valley’s powerful LDX Series of advanced imaging cameras. Available in both standard and compact form factors, the LDX XS is a handheld, ultra slow-motion camera with a host of unique features. It delivers instant time-to-air without the need for internal camera storage, and it seamlessly integrates into live workflows with 3X and 6X speeds (plus a live 1X standard speed output). To eliminate the problem of light flicker in super and ultra slow-motion image capture, the LDX XS camera is equipped with AnyLightXtreme to correct artificial light flicker, which can be visually disturbing to viewers.

“By adding Grass Valley’s new LDX XS cameras to our equipment roster, we’re broadening our customer base and giving them the ability to work in super slow-motion and ultra slow-motion applications, as well as perfectly integrating into existing workflows.” said Geert Paul Slee, CEO at Broadcast Rental. “The cameras deliver stunning image quality at impressive frame rates—the first time we tested them we were immediately impressed.”

The LDX XS takes advantage of Grass Valley’s proprietary Xensium-FT CMOS imagers that deliver superb picture quality, high sensitivity and high dynamic range for a wide variety of production applications. To fully support triple-speed 1080p and sextuple-speed ultra slow- motion operations, Grass Valley developed a new fiber transmission— XCU XtremeSpeed XF Fiber, which is a future-ready transmission system that effortlessly manages the large bandwidth required by LDX cameras. The rack-mounted XCU cradle is fully compatible with the 3G transmission XCUs, which makes the XCU chassis easily removable and transferrable between OB vans, studios or any location. Customers can convert a normal speed camera position into a high-speed camera position in just minutes.

“Having only been on the market for a few weeks, we’re already seeing the LDX XS break new ground for broadcast professionals,” said Said Bacho, Senior Vice President, EMEA, Grass Valley. “With the addition of the LDX XS, Broadcast Rental can not only widen its pool of customers, but it can help them deliver super and ultra slow-motion capabilities like never before.”