Panasonic will allow the great concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic to be brought to the whole world live and in 4K HDR

Thanks to Panasonic technology, with the 4K-UB300 multipurpose cameras, and the Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), the Berlin Philharmonic concerts will be available in Ultra High Definition in 4K streaming live and on demand for users around the world.

Classical music lovers are in luck because starting next summer those who cannot enjoy the concerts of the Berlin Philharmonic in the emblematic building designed by Hans Scharoun of the Berliner Philharmonie in the German capital you will be able to follow them live in 4K HDR around the world and from any device.

Thanks to the technology of Panasonic already Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) The concerts of one of the most important symphony orchestras in the world will be available in Ultra High Definition.

Ten years ago, the Philharmonic launched its Digital Concert Hall through which, by subscription, you can have access, via live streaming, to all of the Philharmonie's subscription concerts, in high-definition video and with high-quality sound. Likewise, through a VoD (Video On Demand) service, subscribers can have access to the digital archive of all the concerts that have been broadcast, historical concerts, documentaries and interviews with the artists.

Now, all these services will also be available in 4K with the highest image and sound quality to the delight of music purists. By purchasing 7, 30 or 365-day tickets (whose prices range from 9.90 euros to 149 euros), users will be able to access both live and on-demand the main Philharmonic concerts in 4K, as well as additional material such as interviews, educational programs...

The so-called Digital Concert Hall, accessible from any PC/Mac, STB, connected television or streaming services such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV or Roku, will allow the Philharmonic to open up to society, to other territories on the five continents and, in turn, access new audiences such as the youth target.

UHD production will take place in 4K HDR and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) thanks to a 4K glass to glass project powered by Panasonic.

After two years of close collaboration between Panasonic and the Philharmonic, their agreement now goes one step further to adopt 4K with the best possible quality and the production of the best filmmakers and sound engineers.

In the summer of 2017, the deployment of the infrastructure began, integrating the first compact 4K cameras on a hybrid HD/4K studio. This installation has allowed the recording of 40 concerts in 4K, although live streaming was not yet possible.

This coming summer, will replace the current AV-HS6000 (1080 50p) mixer with the new Panasonic AV-HS7300 4K mixer allowing the signal to be distributed both in direct streaming in 4K and to a post-production room for editing different pieces.

The capture will take place in 4K UHD 3840×2160 a 50p, HDR HLG with AVC Intra Class 4K 4:2:2 encoding at 10 bits. In audio, the chosen format is WAV at 48 Khz 5.1 at 24 bit stereo.

One of the conditions that the Philharmonic imposed on Panasonic is that the cameras had to be able to be operated in total synchronization for frame editing with 4x3G-SDI outputs.

8 Panasonic 4K-UB300 cameras

eight multipurpose compact cameras (Panasonic 4K-UB300) have been deployed in different strategic points of the concert hall, robotizing their movements thanks to a system of Vinten Radamec FHR-35. In production control, eight AK-HRP1005/1000 ROP panels allow each unit to be controlled with total precision.

The UB300 cameras have a large format MOS sensor that captures a 3.4 um pixel, the same as the popular 3000.

In addition, they allow simultaneous output in both HD and UHD and are compatible with B4 mount lenses. In this case they have been equipped with 2/3” lenses Fujinon.

All signals from the cameras are routed to the production control via fiber, using a headquarters Utah 288 to direct these signals as well as those from production servers, playout, multiscreen...

The camera has high sensitivity (F11/2000 lx) and low noise (signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB), thus making the most of a venue like the Berliner Philharmonie where lighting conditions are very limited in the service of music. Furthermore, since it does not have any type of display or LED, it does not distract the attention of the orchestra at any time.

The AK-UB300 offers salidas UHD (4x 3G-SDI) y HD (1x 3G-SDI y 1x HD-SDI) simultáneas, HD cropping function or streaming support and IP control. It also stands out for the cinematic look of its images thanks to the whore who-gamma and 12 vector color correction and Easy matrix adjustment.

In addition, the operator can choose, using the crop function (UHD Crop) from the RP itself, to obtain an HD image from a 4K image with 4 times more zoom. And all this, with a weight of just 1.6 kilos and small dimensions.

It should be noted, on the other hand, that both in production control and in the editing room, the Philharmonic's technical team has reference monitors BT-4LH310 31" from Panasonic. For listening, they have opted for Genelec monitors, while the storage is entrusted to a server from Cinegy together with several units AJA Ki Pro Ultra and the NLE Edius edition of Grass Valley.