I had a chance to visit with SWIT Electronics USA (San Jose, CA), the US Subsidiary of SWIT Electronics Co. Ltd. (Nanjing, China). SWIT originated in 1996 and produced what it says was the “first intelligent Ni-MH battery SC-2112D for NP-1 style cameras”. SWIT Electronics was founded in 2004 and went public in China in 2014. The company has always focused on batteries and other products such as monitors and LED lighting for the broadcast industry.
At CCW, I had a chance to talk to Goubin Zhu, President of SWIT USA. He explained that in addition to various format converters and other accessories, SWIT focuses on monitors for both field and studio use. The centerpiece of their booth was the S-9204 Multiviewer and switcher intended for either studio or field use. This unit has four HD-SDI inputs, all with HD-SDI loop through, plus 1 HDMI multiview output and one HD-SDI switched output. The multiview output can be all four inputs in a quad configuration, split screen with two outputs or any input individually.
Also on display was the S-1161 Studio Monitor. This is a 15.6” monitor with FHD (1920 x 1080) resolution, 10 bit color and the inputs needed for studio use, including 3G/HD/SD-SDI, HDMI and CVBS. The loop-through output was via HDMI. There were a variety of software tools needed for production, including 2-channel SDI/HDMI audio meter displays, time code and focus assist.
Zhu showed me the S-1017F 7” LCD monitor with 1024 x 600 resolution in two different versions. The –F version was on the table top and the –H version was mounted on the JVC camera used to show the SWIT accessories. The –F version had HD-SDI and HDMI inputs plus various functions needed in a camera monitor such as waveform monitor, vector scope, focus assist, etc. The –H version did not include these camera monitor functions but did include 3G-SDI inputs. Both monitors also came in EFP versions which added picture-in-picture functions.
SWIT was also demonstrating its new S-4913T/S-4913R wireless transmission system. This system uses professional WHDI to transmit uncompressed video from the camera to the receiver over the 5GHz frequency band, the same used by Wi-Fi. Zhu said there had been no interference in the system from others using the same frequency spectrum at CCW. In a line-of-sight application in a RF-quiet area, the system works over up to 200M. The signal is transmitted with AES 256 bit encryption. At the output end, the S-4913R converts the signal to SDI for wired connection to the next element in the signal chain.
SWIT was demonstrating its products with a JVC camcorder giving a live view of CCW. On the camera was mounted a SWIT LED illuminator, a S-1071H monitor as a viewfinder and a S-4913T transmitter. In the booth was a S-4913R receiver connected to a S-1017F monitor. Not too surprisingly, the entire signal chain worked correctly and the image appeared on the S-1017F monitor with no noticeable lag time.
When I asked Zhu about a full HD camera monitor, he told me about the new S-1092 8.9” monitor, which was not on display at CCW. This monitor has the features of the S-1017 series, including 3G-SDI, camera monitor functions such as focus assist and embedded audio meter display, plus picture-in-picture. It has 1920 x 1200 resolution, which allowed display of the full HD image with room at the bottom for additional information without obscuring part of the image. – Matthew Brennesholtz
