Blackmagic releases £439 Ultimatte

Blackmagic Design have showcased four new models of virtual set tool Ultimatte 12, starting at £439

The four new models – Ultimatte 12 HD Mini, Ultimatte 12 HD, Ultimatte 12 4K and Ultimatte 12 8K – dramatically decrease the cost of the Ultimatte.

Ultimatte 12 HD Mini (pictured below), which costs £439, was specifically designed to provide Blackmagic ATEM Mini customers with the benefits of broadcast quality keying to enable them to build fixed camera virtual sets.

All models of Ultimatte 12 enable the user to key using stills for backgrounds, eliminating the cost of external equipment.

All the models produce identical quality compositions. The processing automatically generates internal mattes so different parts of the image are processed separately based on the colours in each area.

This means hair, for example, is given the resources necessary to ensure smoother transitions between colours or other objects in the scene. Blackmagic says everything is “handled by new maths and sub pixel processing that’s designed for incredible quality and clarity.”

For live work, Ultimatte 12 features one-touch keying, which analyses a scene and automatically sets over 100 parameters so “customers get great keys without having to do a lot of extra work,” says Blackmagic.

The Ultimatte 12 4K and Ultimatte 12 8K models feature 12G-SDI connections so users can operate with current HD video formats as well as future Ultra HD and 8K video formats.

All Ultimatte 12 models include the free Ultimatte Software Control for Mac and Windows.

Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, said: “Ultimatte has been the world’s most powerful broadcast keyer for over 40 years. We’re excited to be able to bring the power of this incredible technology to more customers in HD, Ultra HD and up to 8K with the Ultimatte 12 Generation 2 models. From the Ultimatte 12 HD Mini model up to Ultimatte 12 8K, all models feature the same advanced processing and algorithms for amazing broadcast composites and even cinematic virtual sets. I can’t wait to see what our customers, especially those who are new to keying, can do with the new Ultimatte.”

Simon Westland, channel marketing director, Blackmagic, told Broadcast: “The Ultimatte Chromakey products take our IP, tech and patents and make them accessible to a wider market. You just load the background into the Ultimatte box, connect the camera signal and it gives you a live composite. It comes with all the control to enable finessing, as well as a software control interface.”

The Ultimatte 12 HD Mini will be priced at £439; Ultimatte 12 HD is £789, Ultimatte 12 4K is £2,175 and the Ultimatte 12 8K is £6,105.