A STUDIO IN MY BACKPACK!

SlingStudio is the world’s first affordable, live streaming, wireless, portable, multi- camera, broadcasting system and it was ‘ made’ in India

The incredible camera power available in a smartphone today — professional grade still images and ultra high definition 4K movies including slow motion — has disrupted the business of broadcast video as nothing else in the last 50 years. And the option of live streaming via YouTube, Facebook or WhatsApp, has made each one of us into potential newscasters, able to compete with the best and brightest if we are in the right place at the right time.

There was one small element that separated amateur broadcasters from hardcore professionals — a studio where the output from multiple cameras, some indoors, others anywhere in the world, are captured, edited and broadcasted, complete with subtitles, banners, crawling text and graphics. Now, in a feat of significant innovation, engineers at the Indian end of US- based Internet TV solutions provider, Sling Media, have shrunk a TV production platform to fit into a backpack.

The core of the system is the SlingStudio, a 1.5 kg table- top, battery- operated unit that can wirelessly connect up to seven recording sources — fully functional video cameras, handycams or even smartphones. It connects these devices with an app called Studio Console and runs on an Apple device, typically an iPad. The app allows you to edit and mix the video streams, add in- line audio and running text, display the output as quad windows or picture- in- picture and broadcast live to your own channel or to YouTube or any messaging app which adheres to what is known as RTMP or Real Time Messaging Protocol.

You can also store the live video and edit it later, using tools like Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro... all this in 4K- quality TV. The most useful feature is that any compatible smartphone ( all Apple phones and select Android phones) can serve as cameras that wirelessly connect to the SlingStudio console. If you have older handy- cams or movie cameras that don’t come with wireless, you can either wire them using a mini HDMI port or insert a very useful Camera Link device, the size of a small remote, provided by Sling, to create a wireless connection.

While the SlingStudio main unit sells for under $ 1,000, a full starter pack with a battery, Camera Link unit and extra USB expanders all in a backpack costs $ 1745. Sheer word- ofmouth excitement among TV professionals has led to the availability of the system in India at sites like Amazon at prices upward of ` 2 lakh. But a word of caution — there is currently no support in this country. You need iOS devices — iPad and iPhone — to be sure it works, though some made for US Android phones may meet the required standard.

But you can’t keep a great idea down. At the Bengaluru Centre of Sling Media, where I got to try out SlingStudio, a floor full of engineers are supporting the US market and already innovating to widen the scope and reach.

THE SLINGSTUDIO IS A 1.5 KG TABLE- TOP, BATTERYOPERATED UNIT THAT CAN WIRELESSLY CONNECT UP TO SEVEN RECORDING SOURCES — FULL FUNCTION VIDEO CAMERAS, HANDY- CAMS OR EVEN SMARTPHONES