Sony has launched a new set of high-grade picture monitors from its TRIMASTER range at this year’s BSC Expo in London. 

The PVM-X2400 (24’’) and the PVM-X1800 (18.4’’) monitors provide high picture quality and accurate colour reproduction thanks to specified and dedicated panels from Sony, which offer ultra-high definition with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and an impressive brightness of all-white luminance of 1000 cd/m2.

Magewell has announced a versatile new conversion product that seamlessly brings together the worlds of IP-based streaming and baseband AV presentation equipment. The new Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI multi-protocol, SRT-compatible streaming media decoder will make its first public appearance in stand 8-G475 at the ISE 2020 exhibition in Amsterdam.

While earlier Pro Convert models transform professional AV signals to and from NewTek’s NDI® AV-over-IP technology, the new Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI decodes a standard H.264 (AVC) or H.265 (HEVC) compressed video stream into a high-quality HDMI output for connection to baseband monitors, projectors and switchers. Supporting a wide range of streaming protocols for maximum source compatibility, the low-latency decoder is ideal for applications including multi-site video distribution between corporate, educational and church campuses; remote production; surveillance monitoring; digital signage and more.

The Pro Convert H.26x to HDMI is Magewell’s first product to support the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) open source protocol. Enabling secure, resilient, low-latency video delivery over unpredictable networks, SRT ensures high-quality streaming experiences even over the public internet. Magewell is a proud member of the SRT Alliance. Other supported protocols include RTSP, RTMP, UDP, RTP and HTTP streaming.

Sound stage licensed to meet growing demand for studio space in Australia as content creation surges

Melbourne, Australia, 28 January 2020 – Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has agreed the long-term licensing of Stage 5 at Docklands Studios Melbourne. The 750m² sound stage is equipped for entertainment, game, panel, lifestyle, live-audience television shows, commercial shoots and events. The decision to take on the large site is part of Gravity Media’s plan to extend its local service offering and also meet growing demand for high-end studio space from content creators.

A key attraction with Stage 5 is its location, just five minutes from the centre of Melbourne, which is widely considered the screen and arts capital of Australia. The facility is ideal for all types of productions. It can hold an audience of up to 400 people and has many of the features of a traditional television studio with a sound attenuation of 50dB(a), motorised lighting hoists, silent air-conditioning and a super flat epoxy floor for camera pedestals. It also comes with eight dressing rooms, an audience holding area and production space.

CVP, one of the UK’s leading production solutions providers, will be providing hands-on experience with some of the latest kit to reach the UK market at this year’s BSC Expo 2020 (Friday 31st January to Saturday 1st February, Battersea Evolution, London).

Featuring a set inspired as a homage to the BSC’s 70th anniversary, the showcase at BSC Expo will allow customers to compare like-for-like options and to get hands-on with the equipment they are interested in — along with all the necessary accessories — to find out how their creative desires can be best fulfilled.

Following the appointment of Matthieu Straub as the company’s technical and operational consultant to France and the Benelux countries in the summer of 2019, FilmLight is delighted to announce that it has now established a permanent presence in Paris. By sharing premises with ARRI France, FilmLight is developing a strong hub for creative and technical knowledge and events.

The hub will host the first of FilmLight’s Colour Day workshops in 2020, on 28 January. One of the advantages of sharing the centre with ARRI is that it underlines the seamless workflows from camera to finish, using the BLG format for render-free viewing and creativity. The BLG grading metadata is stored in the ARRIRAW and QuickTime headers, ensuring the content and its look are permanently linked.

The Paris Colour Day on 28 January, aimed at creatives and technicians in production and post production, will see FilmLight’s workflow specialists, Straub and Thomas Eberschveiler unveil new FilmLight tools. Attendees will also hear from guest colourist Stéphane Azouze about his collaboration with directors Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand on the recent award-winning documentary ‘Woman’. Finally, colour scientist Florine Bel will share her image expertise and discuss her work developing film aesthetics, colour spaces and conversions.

The shared space has already hosted successful events, including a workshop day for DITs. Led by Straub, with guest speakers from Netflix and from post house Mikros, the group discussed the latest developments in colour space management and workflows. ARRI’s presence allowed the discussion to include ARRI Looks and how they can be incorporated into FilmLight BLG post production. In the demonstration area, they featured an ARRI ALEXA camera feeding Prelight and Daylight software, allowing the delegates to experiment with look development and make comparisons between standard and high dynamic range colour spaces.

Explaining the importance of bringing together creative artists and technicians, FilmLight’s Matthieu Straub said “My background is as a digital image technician, and I know how directors and cinematographers are increasingly relying on DITs to find technical solutions to their demanding creative requirements. “Our intention is to use our demonstration and meeting space here on the Rue René Boulanger to be a place where we can encourage the sharing of knowledge and experiences, to help the French cinema industry achieve ever greater things.”

The Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) announced today that it will be enhancing its JT-NM Tested program to improve transparency and to foster even greater industry participation. The JT-NM will publish testing criteria, and vendors will perform testing at their own facilities. The Joint Task Force is made up of a consortium of industry partners including the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE®), and the Video Services Forum (VSF).

Standards validation of vendor test results will be confirmed at a testing event scheduled for the week of March 16. The overall results will be made available to the industry via a published catalog of results and via badges that participants can display on their booths at the 2020 NAB Show. (Past catalogs are available at http://jt-nm.org.)

ATEME, a leader in video delivery solutions for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT, has been announced as a recipient of the i-Nov Innovation Contest grant for the IA4SEC project, involving its state-of-the-art video technologies.

The video industry market continues to face a changing landscape with increasing complexity of video payload standards such as HEVC, AV1, VVC / H.266 and EVC / MPEG-5 part 1. ATEME’s technology offers customers a path to the latest video techniques by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI).  

In the context of this project, ATEME proposed several levels of innovation in AI for video delivery. This included improvements in core encoding to enable bitrate reduction, Content Adaptive Encoding for higher video quality, and elastic encoding orchestration to optimize media supply chain and cloud usage. 

Mickael Raulet, VP Innovation, ATEME commented: “We are very proud to have been awarded a grant for the IA4SEC project. It highlights the value of our innovation teams and our expertise in video coding, which we have developed over time to help our customers transform their video delivery services. 

Imagen,the leading SaaS video management platform business, has been chosen by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body of tennis, to manage and distribute its extensive content archive of 15,000 assets dating back to the 1940s from the Davis Cup and Fed Cup competitions. 

Following a project in which the ITF digitised its content catalogue, which previously existed only in physical copies across multiple formats, including VHS, betacam, SD and HD tapes and 2K film, the ITF engaged Imagen to store, manage and share its content in order to generate more value from its assets and actively commercialise content. The Imagen content portal provides the ITF’s internal teams with instant access to high-resolution video from its entire archive. 

Kelly Fairweather, ITF Chief Operating Officer said: “Imagen was the clear market leader in this field and offered a wealth of expertise and knowledge when it came to getting this project underway. Imagen listened to what we aspired to achieve with this project and came up with a bespoke solution that we felt was ideal and has allowed us to exploit the maximum benefit from our content.”

Having opened an office in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in 2019, Broadcast Solutions are pleased to announce a new member of the UK team. As of January 2020, JP Delport will join the company and take on the role of Sales Director (Broadcast Solutions UK). With this addition, Broadcast Solutions has now underpinned its commitment to the UK market and is able to facilitate an increasing demand for their products and services with a dedicated team of six experts based in the UK full time. 

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has promoted Ed Tischler to the position of Acting Managing Director. In this new role, Ed will be responsible for the strategic direction and commercial performance of all Gravity Media’s UK-based operations, which include Media Services & Facilities, Production & Content and Equipment Rental & Sales. This appointment follows the recent move to the single brand of Gravity Media late last year and Ed will take the lead in integrating the former Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast and Input Media businesses in the UK. In addition, Layla Cook has also been promoted, becoming Gravity Media’s new UK Broadcast Equipment Rental Manager. 

Ed will report directly into John Newton, Gravity Media’s CEO. In the UK he will work closely with James Gander who continues to oversee Gravity House, the Soho post-production facility, as well as the integrated workflows service for live broadcast and feature film post-production and Steve Norris, the new Director, Production and Content. 

Layla will now oversee Gravity Media’s extensive inventory of the latest professional equipment which includes 4K-ready lenses, cameras and live production tools.