John Snow, Sr. FPGA Architect at Cobalt® Digital, is the recipient of SMPTE’s Excellence in Standards award in recognition of his long-standing participation and leadership in the SMPTE Standards Community. Snow was honored during the Annual SMPTE Awards Gala which included a virtual ceremony and social reception on Wednesday, November 11. With a wink and a nod, SMPTE encouraged ‘attendees’ to don their finest black-tie attire and remotely honor industry luminaries and next-generation leaders.

VUALTO, a leading live and on-demand video streaming and DRM provider, has announced it is expanding its strategic partnership with Media Excel, a leading provider of multiscreen encoding solutions, to include sales and support services for Media Excel’s products in VUALTO’s regions of operation.

FSR, a leading manufacturer of a wide variety of infrastructure solution products for the audio/video, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), education, corporate, hospitality, and government markets, has announced that its recently released Smart-Way Raceway system is the recipient of an Award of Excellence from Tech & Learning Magazine. The awards program evaluates and salutes outstanding products that are improving the way educators work and students learn. Smart-Way Raceway was honored in the “Best re-invention of a classic” category.

“For 40 years, Tech & Learning has reported on how edtech products are improving teaching and learning,” says Tech & Learning Group Publisher Christine Weiser. “In keeping with this mission, our 2019 Awards of Excellence contest focused on stand-out products that are both unique in the K-12 market, as well as those that are helping schools solve specific problems.”

The Smart-Way Raceway System provides a cost-effective way for schools to get the power and data connections to the exact locations they need for reliable, safe connectivity, making it ideal for classrooms and collaborative work environments. Today’s classrooms are breaking from traditional settings with more flexible furniture and seating arrangements creating a real challenge to transport power and data efficiently. Smart-Way eliminates obstacles by allowing schools to position connections anywhere in the room, delivering the power necessary for students to benefit from the technology that comes with today’s advanced devices and connected workspaces.

As part of a strategy of continuing investment to track with the latest market requirements, Finepoint Broadcast, a leading UK dry hire provider of production and OB equipment to the global marketplace, has announced the further addition of a range of Canon lenses to its hire stock portfolio.

The additions include the standard Canon CJ24, plus the Canon CJ45 and large UJ90 lenses (UHD DIGISUPER).

Finepoint Broadcast Hire Manager Clive Northen said, “Finepoint has not seen the disruptive business peaks and troughs of recent years that have been so prevalent in various broadcast sectors. To the contrary, our growth has been steady and continuous, due in part to our continual evaluation and investment in technologies, such as these Canon lenses, that provide a direct benefit to our customers.”

Finepoint Broadcast Chief Engineer Andrew Mckenzie said, “The Canon CJ24 is an acclaimed telephoto lens with a 24x broadcast zoom and a focal length of 7.5-180mm that offers 4K performance that is ideal for on-the-shoulder newsgathering. The ultra-high zoom CJ45 is packed with innovative, class-leading technology that is perfectly suited to wildlife and live-sport deployments.

And with a 90x zoom, 9-810mm focal length, and image stabilisation that's fully compatible with 2/3" 4K cameras and broadcast environments where HDTV is currently in use, the Canon UHD DIGISUPER 90 lens is perfect for expanding Finepoint Broadcast’s 4K lens range.”

May 30 marks the 2019 kick-off for Cine Gear Expo at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

The Expo opens with the Film Competition screenings on Thursday, in Paramount’s Sherry Lansing Theatre. Winners will receive prizes like cameras, lighting, support, and accessories thanks to the generous donations of the Film Series Sponsors.

The ‘down-the-lens’ interview is quite commonly seen in documentary programmes where the subject is talking directly to the camera rather than to an unseen person off-camera. This very powerful technique is performed using a two-way mirror box setup, which allows the subject and interviewer to see each other via the mirror and maintain a natural, relaxed conversation without the distraction of the camera lens and crew.