High End TV Launches New 4K HDR Truck With Cobalt Digital Gear

High End TV, a video production company specializing in multi-camera systems for broadcast and high-profile entertainment events, has tapped Cobalt Digital’s card-based platform for 4K HDR Multiviewer and HDR conversion solutions in its newest truck. Symphony is High End TV’s most sophisticated endeavor to date and is fully fabricated with 4K HDR technology and will be rolling out with Cobalt Digital’s 4K in and 4K out 9971-MV6-4K Multiviewer and 9904-UDX-4K HDR processor on board.

High End TV’S Adam Mills

“People want 4K and they want HDR,” says Adam Mills,  High End TV’s president. “Cobalt’s 4K HDR Multiviewer solution also has TSL protocol and HDMI built-in on the same card making it the perfect product to drive what I’d say is the best monitor wall in existence. This truck is built to be future-proof first and foremost, and capable of shoots with full 4K throughput. Cobalt makes that possible.”

High End TV’s Symphony is outfitted with 4K cameras and a 60-input HDR monitor wall, prompting Mills to seek solutions that could support the heightened level of image quality that the advanced formats deliver. “There were other manufacturers that supported 4K in, but only 1080p out,” explained Mills. “Cobalt had the only solution that takes 12G  HDR  signals in and outputs 12G HDR signals out. Now clients don’t have to  trust that we’re shooting in 4K and recording in HDR; they can actually see for themselves.”

Following a thorough search and evaluation, Mills chose Cobalt’s 9971-MV6-4K 12G/6G/3G/HD/SD UHD Multiviewer to drive Symphony’s monitor wall. The openGear card represents Cobalt’s next generation of advanced UHD high-capacity channel Multiviewers  and offers the ultimate in flexible 4K monitoring.  Ultra-simple setup and ease-of-use are achieved with one-button template presets, and its fully-flexible design allows custom configurations that can be changed on-the-fly,  a necessity in a production truck.

Mills also noted that the 9971-MV6-4K allows users to view the monitor wall in full-resolution even if the production isn’t being shot in 4K, a feature he particularly likes. “You can have a 4k consumer monitor coming out of the HDMI with 1080p inputs and a quarter of that screen shows you all 1080p lines. Once you see it, everything else just looks blurry.” he explained.

“The 9971-MV6-4K along with Cobalt’s 9904-UDX-4K are two breakthrough products that  make Symphony an outstanding accomplishment,” said Mills.

“High End TV’s Symphony is such an exciting project for Cobalt Digital,” commented Chris Shaw, the Company’s executive VP of sales and marketing.“Adam Mills really understands the differentiating features and functionality that make our Multiviewer and HDR converter stand out over the competition, and we’re thrilled that he is passing that heightened quality to his customers.”

High End TV also selected Cobalt’s 9904-UDX-4K for SDR/HDR and HDR/SDR conversion. The card incorporates Technicolor’s Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) as well as its single layer HDR (SL-HDR) technology allowing operators to eliminate the need for any standalone boxes and their associated high costs per input.

openGear controllability for all the phases also factored into Mills’s decision. “Real estate is precious in a truck,” he added, “so having the chain of control on one system computer instead of in several boxes in the racks is great.”

Concluded Mills, “We were getting interest from ‘A List’ entertainment acts before Symphony even rolled out from the truck fabricator’s floor.”

For more information on Cobalt Digital, please contact Chris Shaw at [email protected].