On the IBC show floor, Teradek's Colin MacDonald explains how Bolt 7 adds a dedicated 900 MHz data radio to its zero-delay video system, letting productions send camera control and telemetry wirelessly.
Teradek’s Bolt 7 is a major upgrade to its long-running wireless video system and the first model designed to carry both zero-delay video and on-set data through a single device. Colin MacDonald, Lead Product Manager, said the new system marks "a pretty major step" for the company and for productions looking to simplify their wireless workflows.
"Wireless video is the main thing we've done for years," MacDonald said. "We've led the industry because we have a method of doing zero-delay."
Bolt 7 keeps that promise but adds a tangential data pipeline running over a dedicated 900 MHz radio, separate from the traditional 5 GHz and 6 GHz video radios. The system is agnostic to Ethernet or USB, meaning productions can push camera control, telemetry, shading, color management or any other IP-based data through the same transmitter-receiver pair.
"You not only get your zero-delay video, but you also get your data," MacDonald said. "It's essentially a wireless Ethernet or USB cable."
The system supports up to six receivers per transmitter, allowing mixed configurations across video village, control rooms and handheld monitors. Bolt 7 also introduces onboard recording, with an SD card slot enabling encoding directly on the receiver or monitor, part of Teradek's push to consolidate multiple on-set tools into one ecosystem.
MacDonald said Bolt 7 has been in development for roughly two and a half years, undergoing extensive internal testing before being placed with early customers. While Teradek is not yet naming those testers, he confirmed that real-world trials are underway.
"Bolt has always replaced the SDI cable on set," MacDonald said. "Now we're not only replacing SDI, we're replacing Ethernet and USB for anything you want to send wirelessly."
The transmitter is 20% smaller, bringing 12G-SDI 4K capability into a form factor similar to the compact Bolt 6 LT. Pairing has been redesigned with wired pairing and network-style pairing using the 900 MHz radio, "like connecting your laptop to WiFi," MacDonald said.
For the first time, Bolt features a full-color display, replacing the long-standing monochrome OLED. "There's a lot more we can build into the operating system now," he said. "Diagnostics and tools become much easier."
Bolt 7 remains fully compatible with previous generations and integrates with Teradek's broader ecosystem, including zero-delay monitoring on iPads.
MacDonald said the timing of Bolt 7 aligns with a broader shift in the industry. "AI is everywhere, but the bigger trend is data," he said. "AI feeds off data, and productions are capturing more of it than ever. Now we need to be able to move that data around."
He pointed to Sony's new DP7 monitor, announced at IBC, which uses Bolt 7 to transmit both video and camera-control data wirelessly. "You want to control the camera from the monitor remotely," he said. "That's all happening through Bolt 7."