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The FAQs on automated quality assurance
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The transition from tape-based to file-based video and audio recording allowed a completely new approach to the business of checking that programmes and interstitials conform to broad-cast industry standards prior to transmission. The Vidcheck team designed the world's first au-tomated broadcast quality control product. We have been working on file-based content analy-sis and repair since 2003 and are probably the most experienced and innovative team active in this area. Our flagship solution is Vidchecker. The following short article addresses some of the questions most commonly fielded by potential customers. |
| Tags: iss116
| vidcheck
| vidchecker
| test and measurement
| Thomas Dove
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The Future of LED Lighting
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From the moment the LED light entered the broadcast, media and entertainment world its key differentiator was its energy efficiency compared to traditional tungsten studio lighting. LEDs use far less energy in the region of 90% less than tungsten lights and produce less heat. In addition, they are far more portable and generally have a longer lifespan; all benefits that are all now well recognised. |
| Tags: iss116
| led lighting
| rotolight
| anova
| anova pro
| cinesfx
| Rod Aaron Gammons
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Realising the ideal
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On 26 July 1916 there was a public meeting in New York. It was called by a group led by Charles Francis Jenkins (and more on him in a moment). But the guest speaker was Henry D Hubbard, at the time the secretary of the US National Bureau of Standards. This is some of what he said:
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| Tags: iss116
| smpte
| standards
| dick hobbs
| Dick Hobbs.
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Dance hall days are over for professional lighting
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Photon Beard has made lights since before the days of electric power.
"What's that, you say"?
Well, it's true. Photon Beard started in 1882 when the founder, R.R. Beard, invented the automatic gas regulator. Yes, the thing that allows you to barbeque that steak in summer sunshine, or any time of year that you fancy grilled food. In the days before R.R. Beard's invention, a lot of lighting was limelight, which was created when an oxyhydrogen flame was directed at a cylinder of quicklime (calcium oxide). The light was produced by a combination of incandescence and candoluminescence, which is basically a fancy way of saying "lime burns and gets brighter the hotter it gets."
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| Tags: iss116
| photon beard
| lighting
| led
| highlight led
| Peter Daffarn
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The return of the Minimoog
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The iconic Minimoog is making a return and a return well worth the wait! As this was the world's first portable synthesizer and became the role model for all electronic keyboards, the Minimoog Model D was and now is a synthesiser force to be reckoned with. First released in the 1970's, it became popular worldwide and attracted attention for its fantastic sound of Moog's commonly known modular synthesizers.
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| Tags: iss116
| minimoog
| editors keys
| Beth Zarkosh
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The future of timing and timecode
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It is SMPTE's 100th anniversary! I hope that all readers have had a chance to view the Centennial Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN2yYrEFMFQ) and to contemplate that 100 years ago we were in the dawn of the cinema era, where different equipment used different frame rates, different sprocket sizes, different frame sizes and the concept of distributing and delivering content between different manufacturers was a real headache. |
| Tags: iss116
| timecode
| timing
| IP
| amwa
| Bruce Devlin
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Everything you need to know about true IP
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In its own way, every trade show - whether IBC, NAB or CABSAT - is full of firsts. New companies, new partnerships and most importantly, new product releases all want to make their presence known. Nearly all of these firsts however are either a) in response to a hot industry topic or trend or b) trying to predict the next industry trend. |
| Tags: iss115
| true ip
| aperi
| Joop Jensen
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Intimate and Extreme
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It's the intimate views and unusual angles that make the difference to the viewers' enjoyment of any event, and specialist RF cameras can turn a Director's vision into a production that's as gripping as being at the game - or almost |
| Tags: iss115
| aviva rugby
| rf camera
| Tony Valentino
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Up in the air with Dick
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In the last issue of this magazine was a very interesting article by Lee Sheppard of SGL, talking about the pros and cons of archiving in the cloud. While there is a lot of conversation about cloud storage, its pluses and minuses, I have to confess to still being slightly confused about the practicalities and economics of it. So armed only with Google and the calculator on my iPhone I set about some back of envelope thoughts. |
| Tags: iss115
| sxs
| sgl
| archiving
| cloud
| dick hobbs
| Dick Hobbs.
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Making OTT monitoring and compliance manageable and economical
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Consumers today regularly use their smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices to view Internet-delivered content. While their widespread embrace of over-the-top (OTT) services via an array of distribution outlets present today's video program owners and distributors with tremendous opportunity, it also presents new challenges in ensuring not only service quality, but also compliance with FCC regulatory requirements. |
| Tags: iss115
| volicon
| ott
| fcc
| Gary Learner
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The true benefits of the media factory ideal
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As an industry we know that to be successful in the new multi-platform, multi-format environment there are hurdles that broadcasters and other content owners must overcome. These include: the introduction of non-linear offerings, which require different services to be managed in parallel; the reduction of revenues from conventional linear channels, which increases output while reducing costs; access to content across multiple platforms; and integration of news and production environments and the business systems that control them. So how can this be achieved? |
| Tags: iss115
| tedial
| uhd
| mam
| opl
| Julian Fernandez-Campon
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FBI Interview
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This issue we chat with Ann Charles, a freelance Broadcast Technology and radio production consultant.
Give us your elevator pitch. Who are you and what do you do?
Hello, I'm Ann Charles and I'm a Radio Production and Technology Consultant. I help individuals and companies get the most out of their station's technology so they can make the best programmes in the world. |
| Tags: iss115
| fbi
| femaies in broadcast
| sudan
| Ann Charles
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On the road with AMG
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Established in 1994, AMG Television Productions started out as a video production company filming small club rallies on a local basis. The first TV contract came in 1995 when they were commissioned to film the Safety Devices Hillrally for a program on Sky Sports. The following year they filmed the complete Hillrally championship along with several rally championships. |
| Tags: iss115
| rally
| outside broadcast
| edius
| Andy Glossop
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Seeing things with a 360 viewpoint
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One of the benefits of working in teaching support is you often get opportunities to explore and experiment with lots of new kit that has been purchased for teaching or research. I have spent the past couple of years supporting the activities that take place within the Creative and Cultural Industries TV Studios (CCI TV for short) at the University of Portsmouth, and I assist in all kinds of areas such as live video production, video editing and outside broadcasting. Aside from sharpening my own skills I also get to help others learn and develop as well. |
| Tags: iss115
| tvfutures
| portsmouth uni
| ccitv
| 360
| vr
| Michael Parsons
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Do you have a MAM solution
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One of the top questions I get asked at trade shows is, "Do you have a MAM solution?"
Well, yes. Of course. It's what we do; but thank you for asking. What you should be asking is, "What differentiates your MAM solution from the rest of the MAM pack?" |
| Tags: iss115
| mam
| tmd
| mediaflex
| Paul Wilkins
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The new world of playout
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Consumers know what they expect from a television channel. They expect programmes, of course, but they also know they are going to get commercials, trailers, station idents, graphics, break bumpers, squeezebacks and hot starts, bugs and brand identities, and more. |
| Tags: iss115
| pixel power
| playout
| ip
| James Gilbert
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Freelance finance
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As a freelance cameraman working on varied productions, you need to be sure you always have the right kit for the job. Acquiring the latest equipment is a necessity, not a luxury; the difficulty is being certain you will be able to manage the cost. How can a freelancer be sure he can finance his equipment? |
| Tags: iss115
| freelance
| finance
| Peter Savage 2
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Innovations getting you ready for the transition
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There has been much speculation about the migration away from cable and the potential disappearance of set top boxes. However, regardless of what happens in the future, we cannot escape the fact that a multitude of sources is streaming content into people's living rooms and this is having a significant impact in consumer's use and choice of devices. Whether it is cable, satellite or broadband, the ability to control and interact with this content has increasingly grown in complexity and the choice of viewing and device options is becoming more diverse. |
| Tags: iss115
| uei
| ip
| Menno Koopmans
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The modern day media manager
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As industry trends move towards all file-based workflows from production to post production, there are several concepts and traditional industry practices that need to be modified and adapted for the transition. This spans throughout the entire production process in order to ensure that all deliverables are being recorded, edited and stored within the requirements of the designated workflow. |
| Tags: iss115
| pronoloy
| mam
| Jonathan Aroesty
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The changing face of streaming
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I have been in the streaming business for more than 20 years and I've witnessed a number of major shifts in the industry. Currently we are experiencing such a shift as we see a massive increase in users viewing content but also a sea change in how it's being discovered and viewed. Over the last few years there has been a continual rise in the use of online video, with Cisco predicting 82% of all Internet traffic will be video by 2020 . By 2020 there will be nearly a million minutes of video content being delivered every second. The sheer volume of video makes it more important to understand how to ensure your content reaches its audience. |
| Tags: iss115
| streaming
| facebook
| api
| Jake Ward
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Building Out Storage for UHD
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As the next big thing in video, from capture and production through to display in the home, 4K and ultra-high-definition (UHD) video offers many benefits. Most notable of these is an eightfold increase in resolution as compared with 1080i, the established standard for HD broadcast. A number of other significant enhancements to image quality are also helping to drive interest in the adoption of this format. |
| Tags: iss114
| uhd
| storage
| harmonic
| Andy Warman
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Bringing Realiability to the Unpredictability of Reality TV
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Synonymous with reality TV, Endemol 's 2015 production of Wild Island was set in a remote location off the coast of Central America. The German-produced series, supported by MoovIT production services, featured 14 ordinary citizens left to their own devices to survive on an uninhabited tropical island with no food or water for 28 days. With six cameras covering the action and antics, the production team, who were located on a neighboring island fours hours away by boat, brought an EditShare XStream EFS with integrated Flow to wrangle the 20 to 30 hours of footage they received per day. |
| Tags: iss114
| xstream
| EFS
| editshare
| airflow
| Martin Bennett
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Meeting the Challenges of Media Assett Management
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It's been 20 years since Microsoft founder Bill Gates uttered the words "content is king," and never has that statement been more true in media production environments. And yet, ask producers in any high-pressure broadcast operation to name their biggest challenges, and you can bet that managing video assets - finding them, accessing them, and using them efficiently and effectively - is high on the list. |
| Tags: iss114
| mam
| hdr
| nas
| lfts
| lto. catdv
| Dave Clack
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OTT A Multiscreen Environment
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Just when pay-TV operators and content providers seemed to be facing an insurmountable number of challenges related to OTT multiscreen delivery, the cloud has emerged as their saving grace. During this Q&A session, Sefy Ariely, EVP Americas at Viaccess-Orca, discusses the advantages of using a complete cloud-based TV Platform as a Service (PaaS) for OTT multiscreen delivery, explaining the differences between relying on the CAPEX vs. OPEX model for broadcast delivery, from an infrastructure and cost point of view. |
| Tags: iss114
| ott
| pay-tv
| paas
| tvaas
| Sefy Ariely
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The Challenges of Streaming
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The purpose of this article to highlight the challenges facing small and medium streaming services. It is intended to look at how to achieve successful live and pre recorded content by means of streaming. In this article I would like to share the knowledge and the experience I have gained so far. I will also talk about the kit I use, how it is used and the methods I have developed. Another aspect of this article is LOGISTICS which is a very big part of streaming. |
| Tags: iss114
| streaming
| iptv
| vod
| Joseph Ail
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Content Security in the CLoud
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Security is a difficult topic. There is no such thing a generic security. You always secure yourself against specific threats and hope the solution is generic enough to cover other similar classes of threat. For example - placing an expensive lock on the front door of your house prevents the specific threat of gaining access by using the door handle on the door. It gives you no protection at all from someone using a diamond tipped chainsaw to cut through the house to make a new door. |
| Tags: iss114
| cloud security
| saas
| paas
| Bruce Devlin
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Canon C300 MkII Reviewed
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It 's been just over eight months since the release of the updated C300 camera the C300 MkII and almost five years since Vincent Laforet shot Mobius with a pre-production C300. In a landscape dominated by self-shooters and the continued rise of internet video, the C300 perhaps surprisingly like it 's forefather the 5DMkII came to become a solid staple of broadcast / reality production, independent film and online content. In fact, it became the most hired camera in Great Britain, so when I was offered the opportunity to shoot for two weeks with the MkII on a job and review the camera for KitPlus, I was keen to really get to grips with the new offering. |
| Tags: iss114
| canon
| c300 mkII
| DSLR
| steadicam
| Ben Sherriff
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Bridging the Gap between Broadcast and Online
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Social media and VOD services have increasingly become more important platforms for the telling of news and current affairs stories.
Just a few years ago news producers would create a show for a particular time slot but now, news segments are published online almost immediately after being created. To do this however, each platform having its own format and preferred settings, content must be exported for upload in a specific way. |
| Tags: iss114
| vizrt
| vod
| Petter Ole
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Girl Power
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This month I was going to write about something important about the future technological platforms of our industry. It would have been incisive, enlightening and enriching. It really would have been. |
| Tags: iss114
| girl power
| snh48
| Dick Hobbs.
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Breakthrough
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How do you become a Hollywood Film Producer?
Or a Second Assistant Director?
Or a Gaffer?
Truth is, theyre not particularly straight-forward questions to answer. But that doesnt mean you should give up there and start working in a jam factory as your school careers advisor recommended. |
| Tags: iss113
| Anattic
| Tucano
| Director
| Gaffer
| Film Producer
| Julia Belle
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Smaller, Lighter, High-Capacity Batteries
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The desire for longer run-times from smaller and lighter batteries, has always been keenly felt by users of high power consumption digital cinema style cameras. The new generation of cameras is smaller but the power consumption, in most cases, has increased. High-capacity Li-Ion batteries of 150Wh or more provide longer run-time, but with increased capacity comes increased size and weight. |
| Tags: iss113
| Batteries
| NAB 2016
| PL150
| PAG
| PL96
| RED
| PL150e
| Steve Emmett
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A Marathon Filming Review
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A marathon filming review...
60+ interviews filmed, edited and promoted within 24 hour...
A 26 mile marathon in anyone's world is a long way with cobbles, uneven surfaces, steps and thousands of people in your way. However I'm not talking about the recent London Marathon but our adventures' at NAB 2016 in Las Vegas. |
| Tags: iss113
| NAB 2016
| DVX-200
| PIX-E5
| IDX SL-VBD96
| NP-F
| Simon Tillyer
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NAB Review
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As I emerge from the customary post-NAB haze and try to formulate a coherent analysis of the 2016 show, perhaps the most striking realisation is that despite pacing the halls for four long days, I barely scratched the surface. The scale of the event, much like Las Vegas itself, is simply extraordinary, with over 100,000 attendees and nearly 1900 exhibitors. Right from the first morning of the show, my social media feeds have been full of reviews of amazing products and technical advancements, many of which I just didnt get time to see. Here, however, are some highlights of the things I did manage to get to. |
| Tags: iss113
| NAB 2016
| Las Vegas
| Black Solo
| Kahuna
| C-Cast
| ObjectMatrix
| Nexis
| Matrixstore
| XStream
| Alexa 65
| XT
| SXT
| Varicam LT
| Dual Iso
| PTZ
| HDC-4800
| PXW-Z450
| HDC-4300
| L10
| L20
| L30
| C300
| Canon
| CN18-80 4K
| ENG style 4k
| NDI
| Duncan Payne
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TV Futures
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I used to hate audio. Every time we recorded audio on a location shoot, something seemed to go wrong. It was a nightmare. And because I didn't understand it, I avoided it and would do anything to not be responsible for recording sound. However, eventually it got to a point where I hated how much I hated audio more than I hated audio itself! It became frustrating that I couldn't get it right, and I didn't want to have to avoid it anymore; I wanted to become a master of audio. That may have been slightly ambitious, but still, I was going to try. |
| Tags: iss113
| Audio
| TV
| CCI TV
| Radio
| Student
| Gemma Frith
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