The latest Atomos Sumo 19 has been making inroads into the world of broadcast as not only a pretty sweet HDR monitor, but also a ProRes/DNx recorder. The company’s biggest monitor to date, the Sumo 19 got its first trial in a broadcast environment at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Hungary last month. Young athletes from 50 countries competed in 130 events, which were broadcast live across Europe both on TV and online. A televised highlight show also ran every day – and Atomos ensured that the production team could quickly and easily edit all the material.
The challenge was to record in a common codec from a range of different cameras with different native formats. There were regular ENG and EFP cameras, drones, cable cams and smaller cameras all shooting HD.
Production head Alexander Bognar explains:
“We were really looking for technology which fits our needs: many locations, different cameras, different production equipment. Everyone who works in the media knows that if you come with different material you have to convert [with] a really big process in post-production.” With such tight deadlines, reliability was key too: “Atomos – you just plug it in and it works,” enthused Bognar.
The solution was to record the feeds from all the events and interview locations onto Atomos recorders in the broadcast compliant ProRes codec. A combination of the Sumo 19, Shogun Studio dual recorders and Samurai Blade SDI recorders were utilised. There were Shogun Studios in larger OB vans, Samurai Blades in smaller facilities, and several Sumos in the main interview and editing areas.
Bognar explained: “Atomos products were really the only solution for us to choose to ensure a workflow that granted us the fast post production and ability to really get the [recording] equipment on set and have it mobile…with usability and flexibility with all kinds of broadcast equipment.
“Every OB van was equipped with the Shogun [studios] and did a really, really perfect job and we were happy that the post production editing suites got the material right on time…this was only possible with Atomos products.”
Another feature of the new Sumo 19 also proved invaluable – the high brightness screen allowed the production to monitor their DJI Inspire 2 drone footage outside in the summer sun. This allowed the drone operator and the second operator to see a big picture from the Inspire 2 at the same time as keeping eyes on the live event from ground level.
After the successful deployment of the Atomos solution, Bognar was enthusiastic: “The philosophy behind Atomos products is absolutely great, and I believe that the broadcast industry is in need of such innovative and creative equipment.”
Atomos Sumo Highlights and Features
- 1920 x 1080 Touchscreen Display
- 10-Bit FRC Monitor Processing
- HDMI 2.0 and 12G-SDI Inputs/Outputs
- 1200 nits Brightness
- HDR Mode with 10-Stop Dynamic Range
- High Bright Mode for Rec. 709 Viewing
- 4K up to 60p
- 1080p up to 240 fps
- 10-Bit 4:2:2 ProRes & DNxHR Encoding
- 12-Bit Raw Recording from Select Cameras
- Records to 2.5″ SSD media
- Price: $2,495 (B&H, Adorama)
The Atomos Sumo19 also made an appearance on the set of a recent music video shot on the Panasonic Varicam 35 via Quadlink to the Shogun Inferno. The above Behind the scenes video was shot on Panasonic GH5 and Ninja Inferno.
If you are heading to IBC 2017 in Amsterdam in mid-September you can check out the Sumo 19 at the Atomos booth in Hall 11 Stand D25 and get a hands-on demo.
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