Broadcast Sports International (BSI), a Broadcast Services Company of NEP Group, announced the release of the smallest UHD wireless video transmitter available on the market today, the Mini Tx UHD, which measures just 85mm long by 56 mm wide and 28mm deep.  BSI, one of the premier providers of wireless technology solutions to the broadcast industry, developed this new transmitter entirely in-house, including the development of a new mini encoder.

Peter Larsson, President of BSI, explains the genesis of the project. “A client approached us needing an ultra-tiny wireless camera solution, and at that point we realized that the industry hadn’t yet developed the technology necessary to make it happen, because encoders were too large.  So, we decided it was time for us to create the solution on our own, starting from the ground up by creating an encoder in-house.  We wanted the final product to not just be small, but to solve as many other problems as it could: be easy to cool, capable of transmitting UHD video, use less bandwidth and have a long-lasting battery.  We really created the ultimate challenge for ourselves, and the product lives up to that challenge.”

BSI’s Mini Tx UHD can transmit in two entirely different frequency bands (e.g., 2GHz & 7GHz) via its software-defined radio, offering complete on-site spectrum flexibility without the need for changeable radio modules. But, even with its compact size, the Mini Tx UHD includes all the features expected from a traditional wireless video transmitter, and more, with pre-distortion, GPS, WiFi and a 3-axis accelerometer as standard and a dual UHF receiver to add robustness and flexibility to the camera control.

The Mini Tx UHD is part of BSI’s family of RealFreedom wireless camera systems, which offer extensive camera control features via manufacturers’ RCPs, as well as complete remote control of all transmitter RF, audio and video parameters from the RealFreedom receive system with a user-friendly interface.

Lead R&D/RF Engineer for BSI, Sacha Rossek, says “One of the major disappointments of the low-latency encoders currently available has been inadequate UHD picture quality at typical single pedestal COFDM bandwidths. This leaves most operators having to use dual pedestal to achieve the required picture quality for wireless UHD broadcast applications.  Even with its small size, our in-house encoder offers significant improved picture quality at typical bit rates compared to the COTS encoders currently available.”

In order to provide the most compact solution while maintaining maximum flexibility, the Mini Tx UHD includes changeable connector panels to suit a variety of applications, whether it is a single UHD/HD video input, quad HD inputs or in-car CAN-Bus.

Additional features include:

• Video formats up to 2160p59
• Camera control via dual integrated UHF receivers
• HEVC (H.265) and AVC (H.264) video encoding at 8/10-bit 4:2:2
• Up to 32Mbps video bit rate (63Mbps with dual pedestal)
• Low latency (typical link latency < 80ms)
• 4 channels of embedded SDI audio
• 2 channels of analog audio (mic/line level + phantom power up to 48V)
• MPEG1L2 audio encoding
• Integrated GPS, accelerometer and Wi-Fi
• Supports HDR (HLG, PQ, S-log3)
• Integrated user interface and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth control from any mobile device.
• Power: DC 8 to 20V, 14 Watts (typical)
• Tx frequency options from 1.4 to 12GHz

The Mini Tx UHD has already been used successfully on several major events, and BSI’s R&D team is continuing work to develop new features that will provide more flexibility in an ever-changing wireless environment.