Creativity Connected: Sony Electronics Demonstrates Next-generation Tools and Ecosystems for the Media Industry at IBC 2025, Sept. 12-15 in Amsterdam

The Sony IBC 2025 exhibit will present a powerful combination of hardware and software solutions—including camcorders, studio cameras, monitors, switchers, and storage—seamlessly integrated with the latest advancements in Cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and IP technologies. Together, they form a dynamic and connected ecosystem designed to elevate content creation and streamline media production workflows, for news and live production or filmmaking.

Authenticity and Real-time Creativity

As AI-generated and manipulated content becomes increasingly sophisticated, the need for trusted, verifiable imagery has never been greater, especially for media professionals. Sony is a member of the steering committee of C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) and is involved in the organization’s efforts to track media’s provenance.

Building on those efforts, the new PXW-Z300 is also the world’s first camcorder[1] to embed digital signatures directly into video files. The model also features 1/2-inch 4K 3-CMOS Exmor R® sensors, the latest BIONZ XR™ image processing engine, and a dedicated AI-processing unit. At IBC, Ci Media Cloud will also preview functions helping news organizations to verify footage provenance by displaying the electronic signature information compliant with the C2PA standard.

Cloud-native Tools, Applied Intelligence and Enhanced Connectivity for Agile Workflows

The newly launched PXW-Z300 camcorder incorporates a dedicated AI-processing unit and an image processing engine. This enables high-precision subject (human) recognition based on face, eye, skeletal structure, and posture information. It also features an auto-framing function that automatically adjusts composition to keep human subjects centred in the frame.

A perfect companion to the PXW-Z300 is the new compact data transmitter LiveU TX1, co-developed with LiveU under a strategic alliance. It is scheduled for commercial release in 2026, and will be exhibited for the first time at IBC. It supports resilient bonded transmission for faster data transfers using multiple network connections and enables automatic file transfers simply by connecting the device to a camera via USB. These features streamline video production by allowing direct file transmission from the field. In addition to USB connectivity, SDI support is also planned, enabling compatibility with a wide range of Sony camcorders. Sony will continue to offer diverse video transmission workflows to customers through products such as the 5G-compatible wireless communication device PDT-FP1, which enables high-speed, low-latency video transmission, and through collaborations with various industry partners.

5G is becoming more widely used in news and live events workflows for transmission. In July 2025, Sony, BT, and SailGP tested roaming Full HD cameras over a high-capacity network slice, enabling global broadcasts. Select photographers also uploaded real-time images via Sony Alpha cameras and the PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter.

IBC 2025 will see the latest versions of Sony’s Creators’ Cloud apps, an ecosystem for individuals or for enterprise, offering real world benefits that enable simplified unification and collaboration.

Ci Media Cloud’s® LiveSession is now available as an add-on to MediaBox, enabling live, high-resolution review and collaboration with guests via share-link – no Ci account required. A redesigned Adobe Premiere Pro panel is expected to launch this winter, allowing editors to access Ci Workspaces directly, drag and drop assets, import comments as timeline markers, and re-link proxies to source files more easily. A prototype of the Premiere Pro panel plugin will be available for demonstrations at IBC. Platform upgrades, including accelerated transcoding and live stream optimization, boost Ci’s speed and reliability for media teams in 190 countries.

Open Ecosystem and Integration

Software Defined Broadcast (SDB) reflects Sony’s long-term vision for an interoperable, software-centric broadcast future. It aims to decouple media applications from dedicated hardware, enabling them to run as scalable services across commodity IT infrastructure.

Sony is actively integrating products like M2L-X, HawkREPLAY, and Virtuoso into this shared-memory framework, offering high-efficiency media exchange without the limitations of traditional formats like ST 2110. By showcasing real-world implementations of these technologies at IBC, Sony reinforces its commitment to open standards, multi-vendor collaboration, and next generation broadcast architectures.

As the industry moves from hardware to software-based content flows, Sony’s Software Defined Broadcast initiative represents a pragmatic and deployable approach to modern live production. Built around proven components such as Global Event Manager (GEM), Stream Relay, M2L-X live production switcher, and Ci Media Cloud, Software Defined Broadcast’s current capabilities enable intelligent orchestration and automation of complex multi-venue workflows. An ongoing UK major sports project demonstrates this in action—delivering scalable, efficient, and cost-effective production using cloud-native infrastructure.

With dynamic provisioning, and remote collaboration capabilities, Sony is helping redefine sports production. This marks the evolution from hardware-intensive deployments to agile, software-led ecosystems that can meet the demands of today’s distributed production models, while also opening the door to greater sustainability and scalability in live media delivery.

Aligned with the wider SDB vision, Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations will demonstrate a complete broadcast ecosystem with HawkREPLAY, HawkNEST, and Configure REPLAY. The system delivers 4x UHD slow-motion replays, advanced asset management, and remote production capabilities. It integrates seamlessly with Sony technology, offering a fully unified, cinematic-grade workflow for live sports and event broadcasting. At IBC 2025, Hawk-Eye Innovations is announcing HawkREPLAY in the Cloud, launching in 2026, to offer cloud-based instant replay.

Sony Networked Live is a modular, partner friendly and ever-expanding ecosystem designed to optimize live production workflows by leveraging IP networks for remote and distributed production. Part of Networked Live’s ecosystem, Nevion, announced support for hardware-accelerated SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) to its software-defined media node Virtuoso. This upgrade, added to existing low-latency HEVC compression functionality, enables broadcasters to leverage unmanaged networks, including the Internet, for applications such as connectivity back-up or GCCG (ground-to-cloud-cloud-to-ground) transport. Nevion’s VideoIPath’s latest release focuses on usability including desktop simplification, multi-language support and single sign-on (SSO), designed for easier workflow handling for live production.

Additionally, upcoming enhancements to the CNA-2 Camera Control Network Adapter will boost operability for broadcast including Scene File upload/download via PC, an intuitive WEB-MSU control panel, and Global Multi Camera System (GMCS) support for the HDC-P50A POV box camera. The update also introduces multiple 12-unit support through WEB-RCP and adds compatibility with the BRC-AM7 and ILME-FR7 4K pan-tilt-zoon (PTZ) cameras, streamlining multi-camera workflows and expanding system flexibility across live production environments.

As part of its V2.4 scheduled for October 2025, the MLS-X1 software-based platform will introduce several new features and improvements, harnessing the capabilities of its hybrid architecture to deliver enhanced flexibility, performance, and operational efficiency. Enhanced functionalities include incorporating combined logic from Tally and XpT statuses for more dynamic workflows, through Advanced Conditional Actions, but also expanded DME effects by utilizing GPU power to offer a broader range of effects. The V2.4 software will also deliver greater flexibility in node combinations, for more versatile configurations of MLS-X1 capabilities and functions.

In parallel, there is a growing demand for space-saving solutions in sports broadcasting, with the recent HDC-P50A camera meeting that need. The HDCE-500 camera extension adapter (planned for March 2026) is compatible with the HDC-5000 series, HDC-3000 series, and HDC-P50A system cameras. Positioned between the camera and CCU, it powers the camera and supports transmission up to 10 km by converting optical to single-mode fiber. When used with the HDC-P50A, it enables power and video transmission via a single SMPTE cable, offering greater operational flexibility.

In response to content creators’ demand for plug-and-play studios, Sony’s Simplified Live ecosystem will also showcase a user-friendly all-in-one studio set up from capture to content distribution that allows influencers and content creators to professionalize and automate their set ups, without compromising on image quality.

Virtual Production and Immersive Innovation

Sony’s exhibit at IBC 2025 will showcase the evolution of Spatial Content production through solutions including digital cinema camera VENICE 2, camera tracking system OCELLUS, the latest Crystal LED CAPRI and VERONA displays for Virtual Production imagery, along with Version 3.0 of the Virtual Production Tool Set.

Sony will demonstrate a tool that simplifies match-move work (traditionally done manually) by utilizing tracking data (camera trajectory data) recorded with the camera tracking system OCELLUS, alongside its Virtual Production Tool Set Version 3.0, scheduled for release in Winter 2025 or later. All new features in V3.0 will be provided free of charge, including Viewing Angle color correction, Ray Tracing Acceleration, and Color Calibrator’s updates such as Calibration for Third-party Cameras and LUT creation functionality with 2D plates.

Sony will present new software updates for its Cinema Line cameras that broaden creative workflows. The FX3 and FX30 can now record in Blackmagic RAW via HDMI to Blackmagic’s Video Assist devices. Meanwhile, a planned February 2026 update[2] will enable the FR7 to support OpenTrackIO, SMPTE’s open-source virtual production protocol, allowing standardized high-precision lens data output and smoother integration with third-party tools and Computer Graphics engines, improving industry-wide compatibility and scalability.

Additionally, nablet, a German company specializing in media codec technology, has released the X-OCN plug-in for macOS[3] this month, enabling X-OCN footage recorded with VENICE 2 and BURANO to be used with Apple’s Final Cut Pro. A further demonstration on the stand will bring together the VENICE Extension System Mini with Sony’s Spatial Reality Display (ELF-SR2) in a 3D content production workflow. This setup allows glass-less, real-time monitoring of 3D images for immediate and accurate depth checking on set, improving both visual fidelity and production efficiency.

For more information about Sony’s exhibit at this year’s IBC, please visit https://pro.sony/ibc.

[1] Based on Sony’s research, this is the first camcorder to support the C2PA standard for video content as of July 2025.

[2] Availability and specifications are subject to change without notice

[3] macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later