Arri’s New Alexa 35 Live Xtreme Aims to Transform Sports Broadcasts
Arri’s first camera launch in its new ownership era has arrived, and it’s the Arri Alexa 35 Live Xtreme.
The Arri Alexa 35 Live Xtreme promises to “elevate live entertainment coverage to new heights” thanks to its wide range of high framerate (HFR) outputs, professional broadcast-friendly workflow, and high-resolution image sensor. It’s a specialized, broadcast-friendly version of the Arri Alexa 35 Xtreme the company launched last year.
The highlight feature here is 8x slow-motion HD footage via traditional SDI workflows, plus 2x slow-motion 4K UHD video, without the need for any specialized, dedicated slow-motion camera. This is a particularly big deal for sports, where slow motion is a huge part of typical broadcasting. Slow-motion replays are a mainstay across every professional live sporting telecast. That said, Arri also touts the capabilities of its new Alexa 35 Live Xtreme for live event coverage, such as concerts.
These new slow-motion capabilities arrive alongside Arri’s typical image quality, including the company’s celebrated cinematic color rendering and natural-looking skin tones.
“Since a separate high-speed camera is no longer required, the HFR content now has the same Arri look as the regular feed, and a consistent visual style is assured across both the live coverage and highlight reels,” Arri explains. “When using Alexa 35 Live Xtreme on a live production, everyone from the engineers and operators to shaders and directors can do their job in the normal way.”
When used alongside standard Arri cameras, there is also a sophisticated motion blur control feature. Arri says this enables producers and broadcasters to better match the look of standard-speed cameras by blending “two or more phases” to create natural motion blur without impacting HFR output.
On the inside, the Arri Alexa 35 Live Xtreme features a Super 35 format Arri Alex 4 CMOS sensor with a traditional Bayer color filter array. This is a custom-developed sensor that Arri uses in Super 35-format Alexa and Amira series cameras.
It can capture ArriRAW video up to 4.6K resolution in Open Gate, which is a 28 x 19.2-millimeter image area at 4608 x 3164 resolution. In this mode, frame rates top out at 80 frames per second. The camera can record 16:9 4.6K at 95 fps, 16:9 4K UHD at 125 fps, 3.8K at up to 190 fps, and HD at 260 and 330 fps. ArriCORE can be shot at up to 660 frames per second in 2K and HD resolutions.
Arri promises up to 17 stops of dynamic range, and the camera’s electronic shutter ranges from 1s to 1/8000s, or 5 to 356 degrees of shutter angle. The camera records in Arri’s proprietary ArriRAW and ArriCORE file types, as well as Apple ProRes 4444 XQ, ProRes 4444, and ProRes 422 HQ. It is worth noting that some of the fastest frame rate options require the use of a “sensor overdrive” mode, as CineD has tested with the standard Alexa 35 Xtreme, which comes with a substantial dynamic range hit. This is typical of high-speed cameras.
Arri’s core sales pitch here is that broadcasters no longer have to choose between having a specialized HFR camera or a standard broadcast unit. The Alexa 35 Xtreme Live promises to do both without compromising performance or usability for either situation. That is potentially a huge deal, especially for sports or other events where camera space is at a premium.
Pricing and Availability
Arri says Alexa 35 Xtreme Live is available for purchase now, although at the time of writing, no retailer has opened up orders. B&H has listed different configurations, saying they are coming soon. However, it is a safe bet that it will be an expensive camera.
The Arri Alexa 35 Live Standard System, which includes a camera with a base license, along with numerous adapters and workflow tools, is $115,400. The Arri Alexa 35 Xtreme, without any of those live production tools, starts at around $70,000. The Arri Alexa 35 Xtreme Live will surely end up somewhere in that general ballpark.
Image credits: Arri
