AJA Reveals Product Updates Ahead of NAB 2024
4K/UltraHD down-conversion and AMF support for ColorBox, BBC HLG LUTs v1.7 for FS-HDR and ColorBox, SRT bonding for BRIDGE LIVE, and more help M&E, pro AV teams harness emerging workflows
Grass Valley, California(10 Apr 2024)
Grass Valley, CA (April 10, 2024) – AJA Video Systems today announced significant enhancements across some of its most popular solutions for broadcast, production, post, and AV professionals, including a new feature-packed v2.1 software update for its ColorBox solution for color managed workflows, available as a free download today. On display at the NAB Show, April 14-17, 2024, in the AJA booth (SL3065) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the new releases are inspired by customer feedback and designed to help professionals keep pace with evolving standards, formats, protocols, and codecs, and streamline workflows.
AJA President Nick Rashby said, “From color management to streaming, IP video, data management, and beyond, media production pipelines are evolving fast, and our goal is to make sure customers can take advantage of the latest technologies quickly and with greater cost-efficiency to improve their day-to-day operations. Our latest innovations bring new capabilities that give users more flexibility to focus on what matters most in the field – reliably delivering quality content.”
ColorBox v2.1
As high-quality, color management and monitoring become a production-standard across film, episodic, broadcast, and live event environments, AJA is announcing a feature-rich update to its powerful AJA ColorBox device for real-time color managed workflows. ColorBox v2.1 introduces several new features and improvements inspired by customer input that support emerging workflows – from 4K/UltraHD down-conversion and 4K/2K cropping to new ACES Metadata File (AMF) support, ARRI Wireless Video Optimized LogC4 (WVO) compatibility, and more. AJA ColorBox v2.1 software is available as a free download today. Building another layer of confidence into the device, AJA also announced that ColorBox and Pomfort’s Livegrade have been recognized as the first recipients of joint logo product certification status by the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES).
FS-HDR v4.3
With FS-HDR v4.3 firmware, AJA’s real-time HDR/WCG converter and frame synchronizer will include the latest BBC HLG LUTs v1.7, as well as new motion adaptive deinterlacer and channel-to-channel HFR sync controls. Updated BBC HLG LUTs v1.7 bring updates to LUT 9 for improved reproduction of bright saturated colors and LUT 21, which offers a wider color gamut SDR output. A new motion adaptive deinterlacer control improves performance with some interlaced video containing fast motion by adjusting the amount of motion adaptation used. AJA has also updated channel-to-channel HFR sync control to be user-configurable, so it can be easily turned on or off depending on production needs. FS-HDR v4.3 will be available in Q2 2024 as a free update.
BRIDGE LIVE v1.16
AJA will showcase advancements for BRIDGE LIVE, the IP video workflow multi-channel transcoder used to facilitate remote production, two-way interviews, live event streaming, and synchronous multi-cam backhaul with HDR. It also supports cloud contribution, program return, confidence monitoring, collaborative production, and generation of ABR ladder profiles to hand off for OTT packaging. Packed with enhancements that include SRT bonding, AAC-HE v2 encoding/decoding, 20-bit Dolby E passthrough, and other additions that give users more flexibility in the field, BRIDGE LIVE v1.16 will be available for download in Q2 2024. It is free to customers with current maintenance agreements, and bug fixes are available to all users at no cost.
AJA Desktop Software v17.1
Releasing in Q2 2024 as a free downloadable update, AJA Desktop v17.1 software for AJA KONA, Io, and T-TAP products delivers new capabilities, including the ability to pass metadata such as SCTE-104, Dolby Vision, Closed Captioning, and SMPTE Time Code. The release also adds support for Thunderbolt™ on Linux.
FS4 v3.1
Many user-inspired improvements are included in the v3.1 firmware release for AJA’s FS4 four-channel 2K/HD/SD or single-channel 4K/UltraHD frame synchronizer and up/down/cross-converter. With the update, customers can enjoy powerful enhancements, such as motion adaptive deinterlacing control and improved, user-configurable channel to channel HFR sync control. FS4 v3.1 will be available in Q2 2024 as a free downloadable update.
HELO Plus v2.1
A free firmware update for the HELO Plus H.264 streaming and recording device features a new SRT Stream ID parameter to Caller mode, the addition of SRT Listener mode as a user selection, a view of the B-frame setting of each encoder in the status page, and more. It will be available as a free download in Q2 2024.
Diskover Media Edition v2.2.3
New features, plug-ins, and enhancements for AJA Diskover Media Edition data management and curation software round out AJA’s NAB announcements. Available now, AJA Diskover Media Edition v2.2.3 delivers an enriched metadata catalog via a new arrival date attribute, a plug-in for Autodesk’s popular Flow Production Tracking creative project management software (previously ShotGrid), and a host of other useful new navigation, host-aware file action, task panel, and analytics improvements designed to streamline workflows. Upon availability, users can also set up a trial of the software in minutes using an OVA (open virtual appliance).
Learn more about AJA’s latest product releases and updates via AJA’s What’s New Page, and visit AJA’s NAB booth (SL3065).