3DPlay, Newtek's assault on the slo-mo market

NewTek has taken a decisive step to enter the complex slow motion replay market with its 3Play multichannel system. Among other possibilities, 3DPlay allows you to capture all the action with synchronized continuous recording and viewing of up to three video sources (thus replacing three high-definition video recorders), offering slow motion replays instantly from the moment the recording begins without interrupting the capture.

NewTek has taken a decisive step to enter the complex slow motion replay market with its 3Play multichannel system. This is a single chassis unit with an external control surface, the 3P-10. The main structure is very small in terms of space and weighs just 9 kilos.

The external control surface is the size of a keyboard and uses a single USB for connection. The front of the main chassis features BNCs for each SDI or component input/output along with BNCs for digital audio input/outputs for channels 1/2 and 3/4 of each of the video channels. The system has four channels for balanced analog audio inputs/outputs per video source, along with a dozen 1/4 jack input sockets.

3Play features inputs and outputs for three channels of HD-SD-SDI, component, Y/C, or composite video, along with up to four channels of embedded audio with SDI inputs and three AES/3/SPDIF, or four balanced analog I/Os per video channel.

Supported video formats are 1080i/59.94, 720p/59.94 and 480i/59.94, with optional support for 1080i/50 Hz, 720p/50 and 576i/50. The genlock channel is achieved with an SD/HD card analog signal (normal or tri-level).

The video is compressed in MPEG-2 VBR, I-frame, and the audio is uncompressed with sampling at 48 kHz and 24 bits. 3Play can store up to thirty hours of material with ten hours on each of its three continuous channels, supporting SMPTE 292M, SMPTE 259M, SMPTE RP-155, and ITU-R BT.656 standards.

The 3P-10 control surface includes a T-type fader as well as speed dial buttons to select 25, 33, 50, 75 and 100 percent of normal playback speed. Thanks to the “Alt” key we could also call other functions such as loops, quick jumps forward or backward.

Multiple possibilities

Among other possibilities, 3DPlay allows you to capture all the action with continuous synchronized recording and viewing of up to three video sources (thus replacing three high-definition VCRs). Newtek's proposal allows you to offer slow motion replays instantly from the moment the recording begins without interrupting the capture.

The operator can also organize replays into separate lists using color coding to easily distinguish teams, players, periods of play, event types, highlights... as well as play key elements at any time at variable speed from multiple camera angles to give the viewer a complete view of the action. 3DPlay also allows quick export of recordings from selected video segments including EDLs for quick review.

3DPlay can be configured as a single output (sending a mixed replay of multiple camera angles to the mixer) or three (the operator controls the playback speed while the mixer receives all three outputs allowing the filmmaker to choose the camera angle). Recording from three independent cameras can also be carried out simultaneously, providing the possibility of editing the event later to maximize flexibility and functionality.