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Apple Could Use 'Broadcast Quality' iPhone Cameras to Stream WWDC 2020 Sessions

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"American Idol" is one of many shows to be on hiatus amid the ongoing health crisis, and last month we learned that filming is being done remotely using iPhones to finish out the current season.

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According to a new TechCrunch article, the home studio rigs provided by ABC to "American Idol" hosts and contestants comprise a three-camera setup, including three iPhone 11 Pros, a tripod and a ring light, with production teams helping with camera setup and editing at a safe distance from home.

Apple also provided a statement for the article, saying its iPhones offer a novel portable solution for professionals to deliver "broadcast quality" video, despite the stay-at-home restrictions.
We know that people are relying on their favorite shows while staying at home, and we are happy to be a part of that process with the team at American Idol. iPhone offers a unique solution to deliver broadcast quality video, in the palm of your hand, while keeping production staff and on-air talent safe and in their homes.
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Apple's consumer equipment has been used before to produce TV shows and other broadcasts from home. For example, well-known talk show host Conan O'Brien shoots his show from home using an iPhone, while all of his guests use Skype and the rest of his crew is working from home.

Apple itself is planning to use iPhones for streaming broadcasts at WWDC 2020, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, although the extent of this reliance on iPhones is likely to be limited to developer sessions. Expect Apple's keynote presentation and other prominent broadcasts to involve more professional studio rigs and tracking equipment.

Apple's virtual WWDC event kicks off next month and will be hosted in the Apple Developer app and the Apple Developer website. The event will be free for all developers, and Apple's keynote is likely to fall on on June 22, when WWDC begins.

Article Link: Apple Could Use 'Broadcast Quality' iPhone Cameras to Stream WWDC 2020 Sessions
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/12/wwdc-2020-streamed-using-iphones/
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OK Apple now do this for the front-facing iPhone cameras and Mac cameras. We really need higher quality front cameras, as good as the rear cameras, in the age of video conferencing. This includes larger lenses, OIS, larger pixels, and high-output, high-CRI LEDs.

More people are going to use the front camera than the rear camera.
 
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mozumder said:
OK Apple now do this for the front-facing iPhone cameras and Mac cameras. We really need higher quality front cameras, as good as the rear cameras, in the age of video conferencing. This includes larger lenses, OIS, larger pixels, and high-output, high-CRI LEDs.

More people are going to use the front camera than the rear camera.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it sucks to only have 720p on a Macbook
I hope they'll launch a new feature in macOS to allow using an iOS device's camera instead for video calls. I know there are some third party solution to the problem, but I'd like it to be part of the os.
They introduced a feature called continuity camera on Mojave, but it doesn't provide video. They should extend that feature to add live video stream, an iPhone or iPad camera is way better than the 720p installed on the Macbooks
 
miniroll32 said:
Call me naive, but I figured they were just going to stream pre-recorded videos on the day/time? It would at least make sense to just do it in the same vein as...

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Yeah, for sessions I don’t see why they wouldn’t be recording them right now. There are way too many possible techincal issues if you have 100 live sessions streamed from 100 different developers own houses. If they offer some kind of labs, this would make sense.

My guess for labs will be timeslotted groups of 25-50 devs in a video chat where you can queue up questions and watch them answer for everyone. To control it, you will only be able to select X number of labs per developer account (To make sure people aren’t just going into random labs that they don’t have any interest in.) It won’t be as “personal” as the one on one from the in person labs, but I think that would be really difficult to replicate if you have 50,000 devs that want a one on one session.
 
High quality, indeed.

Incidentally, I just sold my Canon DSLR as it was very much redundant since the iPhone 11 Pro. Not that this was the expected outcome, by the way.
 
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Would have considered using Logitech Brio 4K cameras (using cropping where needed), Blue Yeti microphone, tripods, ring lights, a Mac and ethernet to the router. Always thought the compression used by the iPhone 11 Pro was a bit heavy out of the box TBH.
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I had several Sony RX100s (M3, M4 and M5) and while I loved them to bits, the lack of integrated GPS and auto-upload to the "cloud" and carrying around two capable compacts eventually made me sell the M5 and I'm just sticking with the iPhone 11 Pro.
 
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recoil80 said:
Yeah, it sucks to only have 720p on a Macbook
I hope they'll launch a new feature in macOS to allow using an iOS device's camera instead for video calls. I know there are some third party solution to the problem, but I'd like it to be part of the os.
They introduced a feature called continuity camera on Mojave, but it doesn't provide video. They should extend that feature to add live video stream, an iPhone or iPad camera is way better than the 720p installed on the Macbooks
Click to expand...

I honestly think they neglected the FaceTime camera because nobody was probably using it. Nobody could have predicated that everybody is now doing videoconferencing to work. That said, for the vast majority of cases 720p is more than sufficient. I don’t think most people care about getting 1080p for videoconferencing.
 
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Just no. "broadcast quality" would mean a 422 codec in HD, far less compression and a lot of other things, from the technical sides alone.

Then there's hardware requirements (4-8 audio Tracks, nice Lenses,...).

Iphones have good cameras for a phone, but they don't hold a candle to TV cameras or even DSLRs. Yet.

There's a reason a decent camera lens cost's more than an iphone. Computational photography and cheaper storage will probably close that gap someday but not that soon.
 
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apart from good marketing, this would be a good move by apple to prove the iPhones can really be "pro" and be used in Pro production of a sort. If they pull it off, particularly without anyone noticing (imagine an announcement at the end), then they can get a free pass on the branding they currently use for the top end iPhone camera; a real tickbox should we say. If they continue to use non apple cameras for events, they surely can't keep telling us the new iPhones are "Pro".

So I would like to see apple do this. Steve Jobs was well known for actively using all of apples products (in a different light), and this goes to show a company who really believes in their own products, which i'm not always seeing from apple as of late.
 
If I was Apple... I would create a bunch of remote kits! Basically, a pair of iPhones with tripods and one ring light and one panel light, one iPhone with a stabilizer handle for moving about, two iPad's one as a prompter with a tripod setup, the second iPad setup as the video switch and editing station for all of the feeds. With all of the needed apps setup on the iPhone's & iPad's.
 
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mozumder said:
OK Apple now do this for the front-facing iPhone cameras and Mac cameras. We really need higher quality front cameras, as good as the rear cameras, in the age of video conferencing. This includes larger lenses, OIS, larger pixels, and high-output, high-CRI LEDs.
Click to expand...

The iPhone 11 already has a 4k front facing camera. It's the Macs they don't care about.
 
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iPhones and broadcast quality? You’re joking right?

As far as I know there isn’t even a way to get video out of an iPhone without it being heavily compressed with H.264 or HEVC.

iPhone are definitely adequate to stream sessions or just about anything from people’s homes, but they come nowhere near the level of what we use in TV broadcast.
 
Samsung pulled the same stunt at their last event and TBH it was a noticeable drop in quality compared to pro gear. iPhone isn't go to be any different due to physics but if anyone can pull it off it'll probably be Google with their computational photography leadership.
 
YetAnotherAppleFan92 said:
iPhones and broadcast quality? You’re joking right?

As far as I know there isn’t even a way to get video out of an iPhone without it being heavily compressed with H.264 or HEVC.

iPhone are definitely adequate to stream sessions or just about anything from people’s homes, but they come nowhere near the level of what we use in TV broadcast.
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I’ve only used it a couple times, but can’t Filmic Pro capture uncompressed?
 
YetAnotherAppleFan92 said:
iPhones and broadcast quality? You’re joking right?

As far as I know there isn’t even a way to get video out of an iPhone without it being heavily compressed with H.264 or HEVC.

iPhone are definitely adequate to stream sessions or just about anything from people’s homes, but they come nowhere near the level of what we use in TV broadcast.
Click to expand...
I’m guessing you’re not a fan of American Idol, however it was indeed broadcast.

There’s another episode coming up, check it out if you want to see iPhones used in TV production.
 
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They could have used screen sharing and camera recording in MacBooks if they have updated the 720p cameras.
 
Paradoxally said:
The iPhone 11 already has a 4k front facing camera. It's the Macs they don't care about.
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Ooooh... Apple doesn't care about Macs! Such a mean company.

There's a huge difference between what's required in a phone's rear-facing camera, often used by owners for making quality photographs and videos of important travels, portraiture, fine art, urban photography, children's sporting events, important documents, etc, and, what's needed for making FaceTime calls to friends from a computer.
 
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