KitPlus | Articles

Insiders View - A few Days in the Desert

i At Finepoint, we always get excited about attending the NAB show. With tens of thousands of video professionals from around the world gathering together, NAB is a great opportunity for us to get exposure to all the latest news and technology in the world of video and post production, as well as giving us the chance to catch up with all our indust...

Submitted by Giles Bendig

Published 01 August 2017

A Bluffer Guide to....CMOS

i I like to break my employers\' cameras. For me, there is nothing more exciting than considering a daring location to install a micro camera system. It could be in a trackside breaking board at a motorsport event (culminating in slightly-too-extreme close up of, say, a Porsche bumper) - or a system installed a tad too high up a tree in a jungle (w...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 01 August 2017

The Masters of Dirt - Extreme Production

On 22nd April 2017 Inside the Masters of Dirt, the world\'s wildest unscripted motocross reality series, will launch exclusively on INSIGHT TV in 4K UHD. Produced by Masters Of Dirt (M.O.D) and XTreme Video, the series follows the adrenaline-addicted crew that produces the popular freestyle motocross arena show of the same name. Boasting upwards of...

Submitted by Rian Bester

Published 19 May 2017

Is now the time to compromise on investment

It would seem on the face of it that many broadcasters and production companies are trimming spending to the bone, or at least postponing it in anticipation of more lucrative days to come. While that may seem prudent, and is in some cases a necessity, there\'s an equally valid argument that periods of economic downturn, real or perceived, are the p...

Submitted by Mike Ransome - new

Published 19 May 2017

New workflows floating on the horizon

The way in which we consume content has fundamentally changed. We want to watch what we want, when we want, where we want and how we want, and we want to find programmes quickly, preferably in HD or increasingly UHD. Content is king and in order to satisfy consumer requirements it is essential media companies can locate their material quickly and e...

Submitted by Lee Sheppard - new

Published 04 April 2017

Driving the Bandwidth Conundrum

At the time of writing, there is a story on the IBC website with the headline "In five years the problem won\'t be bandwidth, but knowing what to do with it". That seemed to me to be an interesting assertion, so I read on. Now I appreciate there are few who are as old as I am, but if you are you may remember the claim, in the early days of nuclear...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 04 April 2017

Where university meets universe with Tim Peake

If you had told me last year that, going into my second year at the University of Portsmouth, I would have met and interviewed Tim Peake, then I would have probably laughed and said something along the lines of "I wish". Well, turns out I didn\'t have to wish, because I did just that. As a second year in Television and Broadcasting BSc I\'ve starte...

Submitted by Georgia Thirtle

Published 13 January 2017

Broadcasting virtual reality to the world

Following the recent launch of a number of virtual reality (VR) headsets, such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, VR is introducing new and compelling platforms for broadcasters to deliver their content, and new ways for audiences to consume. While the way that audiences consume content continues to shift, with the ratio between viewing on fixed scre...

Submitted by Steve Plunkett

Published 13 January 2017

Top gadgets for 2017

Wow - 2016 - we certainly didn\'t see you coming. Thankfully, one thing we can reliably see coming in the midst of our increasingly unpredictable futures, are the beautiful range of shiny inventions, gadgets and technological wonderment of the year 2017 - so put today\'s headlines to one side and enjoy this rare opportunity to take a look at a reli...

Submitted by Beth Zarkosh

Published 13 January 2017

Review: Transvideo Starlite RF

The Transvideo StarliteRF is a new lightweight wireless monitor system that ticks many boxes and satisfies new and developing monitor requirements. Rental companies are reporting a rising demand for lightweight shooting kits even for commercials and movies, increasing use of hand-held, use of Steadicam, gimbals and other body rigs which keep the ca...

Submitted by Marcus Brent-Smith

Published 07 December 2016

Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Reviewed

The yeti finally arrived earlier this year - I call it so, because for almost twelve months until BVE 2016 we\'d only seen it in pictures! So getting my hands on one in a real word environment was an absolute no brainer, when Simon Tillyer dropped me a line offering the opportunity to review the camera for KitPlus. I\'ll cut right to the chase with...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 07 December 2016

IBC - how was it you

IBC 2016 was very much a launching show, with more new products and updates than in many recent IBC\'s or NAB\'s. With so many of these announcements directly in the remit of a cameraman, blink and you\'d miss the next big thing in camera and lenses news. With this in mind, this review focuses on camera and lenses only. One consistent factor among...

Submitted by Duncan Payne

Published 10 November 2016

Test and measurement in a multiformat world

The evolution of television technology since the days of 525-line and 625-line standard definition has left a large legacy of standards which modern broadcast systems now have to recognise and process. In today's video and audio business, creatives and technical staff have to be ready to handle a multiplicity of signal types. In its standard form,...

Submitted by Kevin Salvidge

Published 24 August 2016

On the road with AMG

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...

Submitted by Andy Glossop

Published 22 July 2016

Intimate and Extreme

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 almostThe Aviva Rugby Premiership Final at Twickenham was not just a high profile 4K event, it was a multi-camera event usin...

Submitted by Tony Valentino

Published 22 July 2016