RED books NAB booth for V‑RAPTOR XE

RED Digital Cinema plans to use the 2026 National Association of Broadcasters Show to push deeper into live production, not just cinema cameras. The company said it will show the V-RAPTOR XE at booth C5325 in Las Vegas during the April 18-22 event. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) The National Association of Broadcasters lists the 2026 show in Las Vegas for April 18-22, with exhibits open April 19-22. RED’s own booth number, C5325, matches the company’s event announcement. (nab.org) (britishcinematographer.co.uk) RED said the booth demos will center on live production, multi-camera setups and Internet Protocol-based broadcast integration. The company also said it will show new Cine-Broadcast workflow updates, RED Connect and broadcast color tools. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) In plain terms, RED is pitching a cinema camera as part of a television truck workflow. RED Connect sends live R3D camera data over an Internet Protocol network from a compatible RED camera to a camera control unit through Ethernet. (red.com) That matters because live sports and concert crews usually choose broadcast cameras built for switching, shading and replay, while RED built its name on digital cinema. RED said its Cine-Broadcast Module has already been used on broadcasts by CBS Sports and NBC Sports Group, and Fuse Technical Group has integrated RED gear into live event infrastructure. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) The V-RAPTOR XE itself is not a brand-new platform. RED introduced it in September 2025 as a streamlined version of the V-RAPTOR [X], keeping the 8K large-format global shutter sensor, offering RF and Nikon Z mounts, and listing it at $14,995. (theasc.com) RED’s current V-RAPTOR line is built around an 8K large-format sensor with a global shutter and 17-plus stops of dynamic range. Those specs matter in live environments because global shutter captures the whole frame at once, which reduces the skew and wobble that can show up with fast motion. (red.com) The new piece at NAB is the software around the camera. RED said firmware 2.2 Beta adds automatic record triggering from external tally commands on a video switcher, so crews can save R3D files only for the parts of an event that were actually taken live. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) RED also said the update brings full support for its Broadcast Color Pipeline and Phantom Track inside RED Connect. The company said those changes enable workflows including 4K 240-frame-per-second slow motion for EVS replay systems and full 8K live production. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) The booth demo is set to include a basketball scene and a live virtual reality workflow aimed at Apple Vision Pro-style viewing. RED said Monks will provide custom server infrastructure for camera switching, ultraviolet mapping, composite graphics and multichannel audio. (britishcinematographer.co.uk) The timing also fits RED’s ownership change. Nikon completed its acquisition of RED in April 2024 and said the two companies would combine their technology and distribution strengths while keeping RED’s product lineup and dealer relationships in place. (nikon.com) So the booth booking is really a marker of where RED wants to compete in 2026: not only on film sets, but on sports, concerts and other live shows where image quality now has to move across a network as fast as the action. (britishcinematographer.co.uk)