Manipulate and Edit

Will Strauss#

Author: Will Strauss#

Published 1st November 2014

Issue 94 - October 2014

It will come as no surprise to many but the results of a survey unveiled at IBC have shown once again that some European broadcasters are struggling to keep up with the speed of technology change. Faced with new ways of working and constantly shifting goalposts, not to mention reduced budgets, many technology decision makers don’t know which way to jump right now.

That is what Marquis Media Partners discovered as it attempted to expose the key challenges currently facing the broadcast industry in its most recent piece of research.

The media consultancy asked more than 100 senior executives about their businesses’ most pressing issues and found that 40% were uncertain about what technology to invest in if they want to satisfy customer needs while more than half (53%) said that ‘keeping up with the pace of change’ was an issue.

Andrew Ioannou, a partner at Marquis Media Partners, said: “The majority of organisations are attempting to move forward and anticipate the new nature of future viewing habits even if they are not yet sure precisely what these will look like. However, there are a few concerns. To quote one respondent: “The company I work for is stubbornly trying to ignore the signs.” For those organisations who are not yet embracing the need to change, the fear is that they will simply be left behind.”

Other fi ndings showed that 37% of respondents are “unsure how to drive our technology strategy to remain fl exible for whatever emerges” while 41% did not how best to monetise new opportunities.

The results indicate that while technology advances and innovates quickly, the pace of change is not always to the benefi t of everyone. As they sell their wares, manufacturers and developers would do well to remember that and to consider how they can support ‘change management’ as part of their efforts.

File recovery

Sound Devices has added FileSafe technology to its multidrive, network connected video and audio rack-mounted recorders as part of the 2.02 fi rmware release. Incorporated into the Video Devices PIX products, including the 270i, 260i and 250i, as well as the Sound Devices 970, FileSafe recovers video and audio fi les if, during recording, drives are unintentionally removed or power is lost. “Pulling a drive mid-recording with a Windows, MAC or other hardwarebased recording system will most likely result in corrupted fi les,” said Dan Desjardins, software development manager at Sound Devices. “It’s taken some clever engineering to make FileSafe work, especially with high bandwidth ProRes and DNxHD video fi les.”

www.sounddevices.com

Live audio

IBC saw the launch of QUANTUM.Live Table-Top (TT), the newest addition to Fairlight’s live console family. Including the EVO.Live digital audio mixing system, and based on Fairlights audio processing and control surface hardware, the live consoles can be switched between live and post production usage. They are available from 12 to 60 faders, as standalone chassis, In-Surface modules and Table-Top confi gurations. The entry level QUANTUM.Live TT is the smallest console in Fairlight’s Live line-up.

www.fairlight.com.au

Audio Post

Goldcrest Post has added three new digital intermediate theatrical grading suites to its London HQ. Supplied by reseller Jigsaw24, the suites are built on 4GPU Linux DaVinci Resolves for editing and grading, and also include 1 GPU Linux and Mac Resolves for preparation and lab work. Two of the suites feature a 10 meter throw with 6.5 meter screens including a Barco DCI projector. All the workstations are connected to a half Petabyte San Media storage system.

www.goldcrestfi lms.com

Fairlight also launched the second generation of its Crystal Core (CC-2) technology. Incorporating 1000 playback channels, 100+ output buses and 100 live inputs it can be teamed with Fairlight’s new v5 operating software to offer “the ultimate professional solution for the demanding delivery requirements of today’s broadcast industry.” CC-2 features a processor chip that is fi ve times more powerful than the chip in its CC-1 engine but is compatible with the same hardware.

www.fairlight.com.au

Visual effects

At IBC 2014 Autodesk unveiled Extension 2 for Flame 2015 which includes support for Shotgun Software, a cloudbased production tracking, review and asset management platform. The integration will enable Flame artists to share project work with producers, supervisors, clients, managers and other artists in the cloud and accelerate the fl ow of diverse project media across creative pipelines. Shotgun was acquired by Autodesk earlier this year.

www.autodesk.com

Conversion

Decimator Design has launched an HDMI/SDI cross converter with scaling and frame rate conversion capabilities that does the job of several devices. The MDHX offers 14 different modes and could act as an SDI to HDMI or HDMI to SDI device or a Down, Up and Cross converter, amongst other things. Anthony Pidgeon, the managing director of Decimator Design’s UK and Europe distributor Symbiosis, said: “The MD-HX is feature packed and cost effective. We think it has the potential to become the leader in this market space.”

www.decimator.com

On-set grading

IBC2014 saw the offi cial launch of Daylight, Filmlight’s new grading product for on-set and near-set production. Daylight is designed to be a “decision tool” that will help DoPs and directors establish looks and visualise what they have shot on set or on location. It encompasses a number of features, including: AJA SDI output; shot fi ltering and sorting; HTML report generation; RED GPU decoding; media consolidation tools; multi-format deliverables; and support for the latest camera codecs.

www.fi lmlight.ltd.uk

Cloud editing

Forbidden Technologies used IBC to unveil a new interface for its Forscene cloud video platform as well as additional logging, workfl ow and review capabilities and a media asset management (MAM) system. Chief executive Stephen Streater said: “The new Forscene now has an interface to match its ten years of leadership as a high-performance professional cloud video platform. The new consistency makes for a unifi ed experience from end to end, and a design that easily accommodates today’s HD technology.” The MAM system provides for both media access and ingest server control, search and review options and for moving media.

www.forbidden.co.uk

Re-timing

Big Pic Media has been appointed as the UK distributor for Cinnafi lm’s Tachyon Wormhole automated fi le-based retiming technology. Based upon Wohler’s RadiantGrid Intelligent Media Transformation Platform, the Tachyon Wormhole offers content producers the ability to shorten or lengthen content by as much as 10 per cent of its runtime while preserving not only video and audio quality, but also closed caption integrity. Wohler Technologies is the exclusive master distributor for Tachyon Wormhole.

www .wohler.com

Monitors Sky has bought Canon’s DP-V3010 professional reference displays for its three Mistika post-production suites. The DP-V3010 features a custom-developed image processor - designed and manufactured by Canon - that helps to ensure consistent brightness and colour, making it easier to achieve a higher level of uniformity across the entire screen during post-production editing.

cpn.canon-europe.com

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